Five things we know about Taylor Swift’s next album The Tortured Poets Department

How she revealed the news

In classic Taylor-style, the pop singer gifted fans with a surprise announcement of her new album. Remember the time Taylor announced Midnights, when she took the stage to accept an MTV Video Music Award in 2022? At the 2024 Grammys, Taylor won her 13th Grammy for the same album, in the best pop vocal album category.

A live on stage announcement was entirely unexpected. She said, “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years. Which is that my brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department.”

Yet, fans were reading onto the details. The reveal came just hours after Taylor sent many fans into a frenzy by when her social media profile pictures changed to black and white. Swifties were sure this was related to her re-recording of Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Her website was also down before the Grammys ceremony, and a mysterious error code read hneriergrd, which many signalled to be “red herring.” Moreover, Taylor also wore a black and white gown, which many thought were Easter eggs too hard to ignore ahead of the Reputation (Taylor’s Version) reveal. If Taylor is to be believed, there’s certainly more.

Album release date

The Tortured Poets Department will drop on April 19, 2024. This also makes the release right in the middle of Taylor’s Eras Tour, although nothing has been revealed yet as to how the album will be released in-between her tour, which has a setlist.

The Album cover

Minutes after Taylor Swift got off stage post announcing her brand new album, her social media account shared the album cover art. It featured a black-and-white image of the singer lying on a bed with her hands wrapped around her body. Along with it was shared a set of handwritten song lyrics which read, “And so I enter into evidence/ My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / The tick, tick, tick of love bombs/ My veins of pitch black ink.”

She signed off below, saying: “All’s fair in love and poetry… Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”

Album track list

According to a listing on her official website, Taylor’s new album will contain 16 tracks. There is also one bonus track titled The Manuscript. Only two guest features are in the new album, which includes Post Malone and Florence and the Machine.

On Monday, Taylor unveiled the track list on her social media. The album also contains the vinyl, CD and cassette editions. Fans can also claim a book-bound jacket of 24 pages that contains three handwritten lyrics and unseen photos.

The track list is given below:

Side A

Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)

The Tortured Poets Department

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

Down Bad

Side B

So Long, London

But Daddy I Love Him

Fresh Out the Slammer

Florida!!! (Florence + the Machine)

Side C

Guilty as Sin?

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

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Side D

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

The Alchemy

Clara Bow

Bonus Track: The Manuscript

Is there a dig at The Tortured Men’s Club?

The Tortured Poets Department? Why does that name sound familiar? What is the album about? Or rather ‘who’ can it be about? These questions have already developed fan theories, where many believed that Taylor’s next album is about her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.

More signs? During a December 2022 interview on Variety’s Actors on Actors with Joe Alwyn and Normal People‘s Paul Mescal, the two actors had revealed that there is WhatsApp group chat with them and Andrew Scott, which is named Tortured Man Club. Joe even said, “It hasn’t had much use recently!” Fans had a field day with memes about the album reveal and what’s in store for Joe Alwyn this April.

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