Taylor Swift fans are waiting with bated breath for the release of her highly anticipated new album, “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” on Friday.

In Chicago, Swifties have a chance to get something extra before the launch, but they don’t know exactly what it is.

“I think they’ll be Easter eggs for a music video that’s coming out,” said Whitney Hansen, who came to see a giant mural with a huge QR code painted on the side of a building Tuesday afternoon. “I think he’ll release a music video at like 3am on Friday.”

Hansen and other Swift fans say the mural, located at 25 W. Grand Ave. in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, contains clues about the album’s release. It’s filled with the letters “TTPD” and the number 13, clues that TODAY.com describes as “telltale signs” that the mural and QR code are intended for Swifties.

“We have the three ‘TTPD’s, followed by four ’13s,’” said Dani Filip Bermúdez, another Swift fan who came to see and hopefully decode the message. “If you do Taylor math, you add the threes and the ones, and you get 16, which is today’s date. But I’m still waiting for more.”

Later Tuesday night, the singer posted a cryptic video to her Instagram page, titled “TTPD Timetable.” The video showed clocks pointing at two, typewriters inside an office labeled “The Department of Tortured Poets,” and a cork board listing Friday as the album’s release day. The cork board also displayed the number 14 using tally marks.

As crews worked to finish the mural Tuesday, about a dozen people stood in line to try to scan the QR code, but a large construction elevator had blocked their view. As of Wednesday afternoon, the mural appeared to be finished, or at least not blocked off.

And as the week progressed, the fate of the QR code continued to change.

When scanned on Tuesday, the QR code led to a YouTube short on Taylor Swift’s page with the message “Error 321.” On Thursday morning, a different short appeared on YouTube.

“A letter from the department,” said the title of the last video, accompanied by a red heart. A typewriter is shown with the sound of a clock in the background. Then the typewriter writes the letter “T.”

A similar mysterious note appeared on Swift’s website in February, hours before she announced “The Tortured Poet’s Apartment” at the 2024 Grammy Awards. It read:

“Error 321 Backend recovery failed

Backend recovery failed

hneriergrd

TED:321

“Varnish Cache Server”

The confusing “hneriergrd” turned out to be an anagram of “red herring.” And “DPT: 321,” read backwards, hinted at the new album’s title, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Dressed in a white and gray Taylor Swift sweatshirt, Kristen Blevins stood on the sidewalk in front of the mural Tuesday, working to decode what the new message could mean and its connection to the previous puzzle.

“It’s a very good secret that she’s kept,” Blevins said. “The red herring is something that confuses you or distracts you. I think this could be the conclusion of that.”

So what exactly will happen when the clock strikes two? Or a different time? For now, Swifties will have to wait.