The Tortured Poets Department

The 66th Annual Grammy Awards were held on Feb. 4, 2024. Among the many winners was Taylor Swift, who won two Grammys. Swift has always regarded 13 as her lucky number, so when she won her first award of the night, her 13th Grammy, for Best Pop Vocal Album, Midnights, Swift stunned viewers by announcing her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. 

Ahead of the award show, Swift’s fanbase, the Swifties, had speculated that something was coming that night. This came as Swift changed her profile picture to black and white, sending fans into a frenzy. Fans immediately started suspecting the announcement of Swift’s next re-record, Reputation (Taylor’s Version), which featured a black and white album cover. However, they were not expecting a brand new album. 

Shortly after announcing the album on stage, Swift posted the album cover and teased it, with the words “All’s fair in love and poetry”, signing it as the ‘Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department’. The new album has a black and white cover, the same colors Swift’s outfit at the Grammys.

The day after announcing the album, Swift took to Instagram to release the setlist. The album has 16 tracks. The album also includes two unexpected features: Post Malone on the first track “Fortnight” and Florence + the Machine on the eighth track “Florida!!!!”

While on her Eras Tour, Swift also revealed 4 bonus tracks: “The Manuscript”, “The Bolter”, “The Albatross”, and “The Black Dog”. Each track is featured on a different album vinyl or CD variation. With each announcement of the bonus tracks, Swift also teased possible new lyrics from the album.

When talking about the album on the Eras Tour, Swift revealed that it “reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life. I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”

In the week leading up to the album release, Swift also worked with Apple Music to tease hidden words in the lyrics of her other songs. Every day, a new word is hidden in the letters of a random song from Swift’s large discography, and fans must find it and decode the word of the day. However, fans don’t know what these words mean yet, and they hope to find out before the release of the album.

The Tortured Poets Department is set to release on Apr. 19, 2024.