Taylor Swift explains why the word Woodvale appears on her Folklore cover art

Musician admitted that in this case, her habit of dropping ‘hints and clues and easter eggs’ had gone ‘too far’

Taylor Swift has explained why the word “Woodvale” was spotted on the cover of her album, Folklore.

The word had sparked speculation among fans that Swift was planning a third album under that name, following the release of her second surprise album of 2020, Evermore.

However, the musician was interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel and debunked the theory, explaining that the word’s appearance on the Folklore cover art was down to an error.

“I tend to sort of be annoyingly secret-agent-y about dropping hints and clues and easter eggs,” she said.

“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 they’ll notice lots of things in music videos or whatever.  And sometimes I take it too far and I make a mistake.”

She went on to say that, while she was working on Folklore, she was too afraid to tell even her management or closest collaborators what the album title would be.

Instead, she chose a “fake code name” for the album that featured the same number of letters, and decided on Woodvale.

“[I] wanted to see how they would look on the album covers, mocked them up, then decided I don’t actually want to have a title on the album cover. And we forgot to take the fake code name off of one of them,” she said.

Evermore also had a codename (“November”), Swift said, but this time she remembered to remove the word from the album mockups.

“This album is like a season of Lost,” Kimmel quipped.

In response to the late-night host joking about the prospect of a third album, Swift responded: “Jimmy, I’m so tired. I’m just so exhausted. I’ve tired myself out, I have nothing left.”

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Evermore has received positive reviews from critics. The album features collaborations with Swift’s longtime songwriter and producer Jack Antonoff, as well as Bon Iver, The National’s Matt Berninger, and US pop band Haim.

Read The Independent’s four-star review here.