Taylor Swift website crashes hours before Grammy Awards: What does ‘hneriergrd’ mean?

Taylor Swift’s official website appeared to crash on Sunday evening (February 4) just hours before the singer was due to attend the Grammy Awards. Fans were shocked to see black webpage with the words “Error 321 Backend fetch failed hneriergrd” when they clicked on the TaylorSwift.com site. 

No need to panic as every Swiftie knows things aren’t always what they seem. Many fans were quick to share their thoughts on social media that the website crash was actually a set up and they began unravelling all the Easter eggs that Taylor Swift left. 

Firstly the black and white website page comes after Taylor had recently changed all of her social media images to a black and white picture, fuelling rumours that the singer was about to release the re-recorded Reputation album (Taylor’s Version). 

Another Easter egg was the seemingly innocent word “hneriergrd”. Some people may have just seen the error code and clicked off the site straight away but if you look closer at the word it is actually an anagram for the word ‘red herring’ and as we all know a red herring is a piece of information that is intended to be misleading or distracting.

Taylor Swift made history at the Grammy Awards after winning the Best Album of the Year Award for Midnights. During her acceptance speech Taylor Swift announced that she will be releasing a new album on April 19 called The Tortured Poets Department. 

Following the announcement the website was back up and working within seconds and all new black and aesthetic images of the new album covers.  It seems as though the website didn't actually crash after all and it was just a way to announce the new album launch. It was a Taylor Swift-style PR stunt that worked well but didn’t fool the Swifties. 

Natalie Dixon is NationalWorld’s Lifestyle reporter. If you liked this article and want to read more about celebrities, fashion and beauty you can follow Natalie Dixon on X (Twitter) here.