Taylor Swift Has Left the World Shocked Again

Taylor Swift Drops Brand New Album “The Tortured Poets Department” 

Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash

On Feb. 4, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her 11th album “The Tortured Poets Department” (TPD) while accepting Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights” at 13th Annual Grammy Awards. During her acceptance speech, Swift left fans utterly shocked with the news of a brand new album coming out on April 19. 

“My brand new album comes out April 19th,” Swift said during her acceptance speech. “It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage.”

“TPD” will feature 16 new songs and one bonus song titled “The Manuscript.” Two of the songs on the album feature other artists. The first song on the album “Fortnight” features singer Post Malone, and the song “Florida!!!” features Florence and the Machine. Other songs include “The Tortured Poets Department,” “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “Down Bad,” “So Long, London,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” “Fresh Out the Slammer,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” “loml,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” “The Alchemy” and “Clara Bow.”

Three days later when Swift took the stage for her first show in 2024, she gave the crowd some information on the upcoming album.

"I’ve been working on Tortured Poets since right after I turned in Midnights," Swift said. "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.”

Since Swift’s announcement there has been lots of speculation as to who the album might be about. According to fans, Joe Alwyn, Swift’s ex boyfriend, had a groupchat titled “The Tortured Man Club.” The timeline of when Swift first started working on the album and when news came out about their split also align. The singer revealed she had a backup plan to announce the album in Tokyo, Japan if she did not end up receiving a Grammy.

“Going to the Grammys, going in, I had this plan,” Swift said. “I thought, ‘OK, if I’m lucky enough to get up there and win one thing tonight, I’m just gonna do it. I’m just gonna announce my new album.’”

Overall, fans are over the moon about this unexpected announcement. Many Swifties are also eager to see if “TPD” will be added to “The Eras Tour” setlist as well. Though there was much speculation that Swift’s next album would be “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” this new album is being accepted with excitement and open arms all throughout Swiftie nation.