'Error 321' Taylor Swift website crashes, sending fans on frantic hunt for 'red herring'

I’m sorry, the old TaylorSwift.com website can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because it crashed Sunday afternoon for about two hours. Swifties believe the site was riddled with Easter eggs teasing the announcement of the re-release of her sixth album “Reputation (Taylor’s Version).”

Swift’s website appeared to show an error message hours before the Grammys. The first line was “Error 321 Backend fetch failed.” Error 321 is a communication error that would appear on a fax machine with a poor telephone line connection. “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” is a line from Swift’s track “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead single on “Reputation.”

There was no mistaking the “Reputation” era during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

Then there is a random line in bold: hneriergrd. Online sleuths have unscrambled it to get “red herring.” A red herring is a “a clue or piece of information that is, or is intended to be, misleading or distracting.”

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Swift recently changed her profile picture on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook to a black-and-white version of her “Midnights” album cover.

The singer is up for six Grammy nominations on Sunday and would make history if she wins album of the year for “Midnights.”

Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ‘Error 321’ Taylor Swift website crashes, sending fans on frantic hunt for ‘red herring’