With Taylor Swift being the #1 artist in the U.S. right now, fans wonder when she will release “Taylor’s Version” for one of her most popular albums: “Reputation.” However, Swift tricked fans by showing an “error.” that stated “red-herring,” meaning a distraction. Fans later realized after the words to the so-called “error”, that Swift is releasing a whole new album: “The Tortured Poets Department”
After winning her 13th Grammy Award in the Best Pop Vocal Album category for “Midnights” on Sunday night, she announced during her speech that she had a brand new album coming out. Although Swift’s fans were expecting it to be her fifth re-recorded album Reputation (Taylor’s Version), they were later in complete shock, and rather excited, when they found out that it would be her eleventh studio album in the making. In a 2023 Time interview, she described the “Reputation” album creation as “a goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure.” Although the media gossip was a major inspiration, recurring romantic themes of love and friendship that had been dominant in Swift’s songwriting remained intact. Dressing as the Reputation At the Grammy Awards during her speech, Swift wanted to give back to fans and let them in on a secret that she had been keeping underway for two years.
“My brand-new album comes out April 19th,” Swift had explained during her acceptance speech. “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage.”
Now, of course, fans didn’t know this at the time, which would explain the surprise that Swift had led on. With Swift being nominated for over 500 awards and winning 324 of them out of the 500, this would explain the hard work that Swift has done to build her music career. “I’ve been working on Tortured Poets since right after I turned in Midnights,” she expressed to the crowd. “I’ve been working on it for about two years. I worked on it throughout the US tour. Soon we’ll get to hear it together.”
Fans are extremely excited and wonder what exactly this album will include. Swift did not hesitate to keep fans wondering, dropping the official tracklist on Monday night for the new album. Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, will feature 16 songs and one bonus track, titled “The Manuscript.” Other titles include: “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” Swift is known for having different artists featured on her tracks, will this new album include this? So far, it includes two features. The first track, “Fortnight,” includes a feature by Post Malone, a popular American rapper and singer. Another song is titled “Florida!!!” which features Florence and the Machine, an English indie rock band.
Although this album is full of many surprises, is there a story behind it? Swift is known for secret meanings and connections in her songs and albums for fans to discover. After Swift’s announcement, fans online began looking for connections and clues behind the details she had released. According to some on the internet, the title of the album seems to relate to her ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. Alwyn had completed an interview with Paul Mescal on Actors on Actors in 2022. During his interview, Alwyn revealed that he was in a group chat with Mescal and Irish actor Andrew Scott called “The Tortured Man Club.”
Is this just a coincidence, or are Swift’s fans right? The album will be released on April 19th and is available for pre-order on her website: taylorswift.com
