Taylor Swift is known for hiding clues and secret messages for fans in her work, but the latest easter egg — which fans have speculated is hinting toward a third surprise album release — was actually just an accident, Swift said during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday.
Fans had noticed the word “Woodvale” faintly printed on the album cover for “Folklore,” which led some people to speculate could be the title of an upcoming album connected to both “Folklore” and Swift’s most recent album release, “Evermore,” according to Variety.
When announcing “Evermore,” Swift called the album a “sister record” to “Folklore,” and fans suggested that “Woodvale” could be the “brother” album,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But on Monday, Swift dispelled the rumors.
“I tend to be sort of annoyingly secret agent-y about dropping clues and hints and Easter eggs,” Swift told Kimmel, according to THR. “It’s very annoying but it’s fun for fans and it’s fun for me because they like to pick up on things ... and then, sometimes I take it too far and I make a mistake.”
Swift explained that while she was making “Folklore,” she didn’t want to reveal the title before the album came out. So she chose a “fake code name” with the same number of letters as “Folklore,” which was “Woodvale,” according to USA Today.
She had mock-ups of the album art made with “Woodvale” on it, then decided she didn’t want to put the album title on the cover — and forgot to have the name removed from one of them, according to USA Today.
Kimmel skeptically questioned whether that was true, but Swift assured him that it was, according to CNN.
Swift revealed that “Evermore” also had the code name “November” before its release.
“But we remembered to take it off all the mock-ups of the album covers before we released them this time, so we learned our lesson,” she said, according to Variety.
Although Kimmel continued to press her about the possibility of a third album, Swift didn’t reveal anything else.
“Jimmy, I’m so tired, I’m so exhausted,” she said, according to USA Today. “I tired myself out, I have nothing left.”