Taylor Swift mural pops up by 'the lakes' in Chicago with mystery 'The Tortured Poets Department' message

Swift played the “the lakes” as one of her surprise songs on the first night of the three-show stop in Chicago during the Eras Tour last summer.

Overall Murals, an outdoor advertising company based in New York, oversaw the mural, although a representative said they couldn’t comment on the project.

Swift’s 2006 debut album was the first CD Dennison said she ever owned, and deciphering the superstar artist’s Easter eggs and puzzles has become an addicting pastime. She attended the first Eras Tour concert in Chicago last June, calling it “incredible” and “absolutely mind-blowing.”

“I kind of grew up with her. She’s only a few years older than me, so her life and my life lined up perfectly,” Dennison said. “I turned to her music for pretty much all my inspiration or my heartbreak, or if I’m sad. If I want to cry or be happy I turn to her music.”

Before Swift announced the release of the album — which contains 16 main tracks including two collaborations with Florence + the Machine and Post Malone — at the Grammys in February, a similar “Error 321” message appeared on her website. She’s also hiding clues about the album on Apple Music within lyrics to her old songs and is hosting a library installation with Spotify in Los Angeles.

Kim DeGracia, a 31-year-old Streeterville resident, on the other hand, hopes the 321 countdown is for the much-anticipated “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” album. Maybe the singer will release two albums at once, DeGracia speculated, and “1, 2, 3, Let’s Go B—h” is a common chant when Swift performs “Delicate,” a song on “Reputation.”

DeGracia, who moved to Chicago in January, has been a huge fan of Swift since her debut album. When she saw the mural on TikTok, she knew she wanted to check it out and show her sister.

“Her lyrics are really relatable,” DeGracia said. “She’s around the same age as me, so I feel like I went through different stages, her teenage years, her 20s, experiencing similar things.”