Taylor Swift and Beyoncé: pitted against each other amid album releases

With the release of Taylor Swift’s new album, a whirlwind of excitement and buzz surrounds the singer. The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), Swift’s 11th album, was released on April 19, surprising fans with a secret double album.

The second part of the album, titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” contains 15 additional songs; this album comes to a total of 31 songs. 31 is, when reversed, 13, which Swift has widely acknowledged as her lucky number. In an interview with MTV News back in 2009, the singer said, “I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday, the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks.”

Swift announced the double album on her Instagram account, revealing the additional songs and sharing her album cover.

How Swift and Beyoncé are being pitted against each other?

Taylor Swift announced the release of her album while accepting her Grammy for the best pop vocal album. “My brand-new album comes out April 19,” she said.

A week later, Beyoncé dropped the news of the release of her latest album, “Cowboy Carter,” in a Super Bowl commercial, set to release on March 29. The release of these albums created theories about no one wanting to compete with Swift for the first spot on the Billboard charts.

“Pop-stan Twitter is fierce,” said Jonathan Daniel of Crush Management, which oversees the careers of stars like Miley Cyrus, Green Day, and Lorde. “Partisans treat the Spotify and Billboard charts like a zero-sum game. “It’s their version of sports.”

Swift went on to comment on how Beyonce and her were being pitted against each other. “Clearly, it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when the two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion,” Swift told Time magazine.