Taylor Swift accepted her 13th Grammy in a way only she would — by announcing her next Grammy winner, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift’s 11th album will be out April 19, and of course, it’s got a dramatic black-and-white cover. Swift shared the surprise as she won Best Pop Vocal Album for her last original release, Midnights, continuing a bit of a trend after she announced that album while accepting a trophy at the 2022 VMAs. She’s fully leaning into being a professor (she does have a doctorate) with her first lesson: teaching Swifties all about the five stages of heartbreak and grief that surrounded the album announcement. If you’re really trying to ace her class, Swift even set up office hours at The Tortured Poets Department library, tea-soaked paper included. Takes notes on everything we know about Swift’s newest album below.
When do classes start?
The Tortured Poets Department comes out on April 19. Per Professor Swift’s new timetable, a music video — for newly announced single “Fortnight” — will drop on the same day at 8 p.m. ET. Start cramming.
What’s on the rest of the syllabus?
Swift dropped a track list as she was on her way to Japan for the Eras tour in February. TTPD will feature 16 tracks with one bonus song titled “The Manuscript” on the standard edition. And she’s not running the department alone; Post Malone and Florence + the Machine are both featured on the album, with Malone kicking things off during syllabus week on “Fortnight” (and not on Fortnite; sorry, gamers).
Post Malone’s song “Fortnight,” the opening track, will be the album’s lead single, and it will be part of something called the #ForAFortnightChallenge (again, not Fortnite) on YouTube Shorts, Swift revealed ahead of the release. “I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever,” Swift shared on Twitter. “I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight.”
The first single from The Tortured Poets Department is…………. Fortnight featuring @postmalone 🤍 I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever. I got to witness that… pic.twitter.com/b6cqrHkbE1
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 18, 2024
For the variant collectors, Swift will release (so far) four different versions of the album, each with a new bonus track: “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatros,” and “The Black Dog.” While the last three were only available on her official webstore for a limited time, if history repeats itself, they’ll most likely come back again as the album comes closer.
Any guest lecturers?
According to songwriting credits ahead of the release, Swift has been working with the usual suspects, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. Antonoff co-wrote eight songs on the main album, while Dessner co-wrote five. Two songs, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” were written solely by Swift.
Study up on her “5 Stages of Heartbreak” playlists.
Professor Swift has a master’s in heartbreak anthems and has seemingly leaned into the five-stages-of-grief theory circling around the past month and released “5 Stages of Heartbreak” playlists. As Apple Music puts it: “When Swifties agree upon a theory, Taylor takes an interest—so, naturally, she’s responded by crafting a series of exclusive playlists, choosing songs of her own that fit each stage.” She twisted the knife a bit when she added songs like “Lover” and “betty” to the Denial playlist (the first stage) named after one of the upcoming TTPD lyrics, “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life.” Below are all five of the playlists. Here is a warning: Your favorite Swift love song might have a new meaning.
Which way to the library?
Spotify’s Tortured Poets Department library pop-up, that is. The installation is currently up at the Grove in Los Angeles featuring sheets of tea-stained parchment, fountain pens, a typo, and some Easter eggs for extra credit. Open books show snippets of lyrics including “Even statues crumble / If they’re meant to wait.” The library’s clock is set to 2 a.m. and a calendar is set to Friday, December 13, which fans have speculated could be a future release date in addition to her birthday. Swifties had a field day with this. Some were even analyzing the six open drawers of the library’s filing system for the six years of her relationship with Alwyn, of course.
Wait, I thought Reputation was next?
The initial announcement was a bit of a curveball for Swifties, who’d been expecting Swift to announce her impending Taylor’s Version of Reputation instead. The ties were indeed black, and the lies were indeed white! Along with the announcement and album cover, Swift posted a poem on Twitter:
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
All’s fair in love and poetry …
Sincerely,
The Chairman
of The Tortured Poets Department
Yeah, uh, sorry for all the love-bombing discourse to come. And sorry to anyone else who may have announced an album about a tortured poet at the Grammys.
All’s fair in love and poetry... New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19 🤍https://t.co/WdrCmvLHyA
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 5, 2024
📷: Beth Garrabrant pic.twitter.com/CCPhmSZ2UD
What’s the required reading?
Swifties, being Swifties, immediately started decoding the album announcement, title, and vibes. A theory emerged quickly that the album title is a dig at Joe Alwyn (and maybe Paul Mescal too), as he is in a group chat called “The Tortured Man Club.” Andrew Scott started the chat, which Alwyn and Mescal discussed in their Variety “Actors on Actors” video. With songs titled “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and “So Long, London,” the theories are not lightening up in the slightest.
This post has been updated throughout.
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