The pop star announced her 11th record at the 2024 Grammys.
Taylor Swift gave fans a lot more than they bargained for at the 2024 Grammys, dropping the bombshell news mid-acceptance speech that her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, is arriving this year.
The welcome news came as the pop star was accepting best pop vocal for her 2022 record Midnights — aka, the last album she announced without warning during an awards show acceptance speech. “This is my 13th Grammy – which is my lucky number, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that,” she teased the crowd from the stage at Crypto.com Arena Sunday (Feb. 4). “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years …”
Swift went on to reveal the pending arrival of The Tortured Poets Department before posting the album’s sultry cover almost immediately after she left the stage. “All’s fair in love and poetry…,” she captioned the artwork. “New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT.”
Later that night, the 34-year-old singer-songwriter took home a historic fourth album of the year for Midnights, but Swifties were probably more excited for the new LP announcement, especially because most were expecting that the musician would announce her long-awaited Reputation (Taylor’s Version) at the ceremony instead — so much so that “Rep TV” was trending ahead of the Grammys. Swift has been steadily releasing re-recorded versions of her first six albums since 2021. Following Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989, she only has her self-titled debut and Rep left to go — but clearly, fans will just have to wait a little longer as the Tortured Poets era takes hold.
From the release date to the song titles, see everything Billboard knows about Swift’s 11th album The Tortured Poets Department below.
The Title
Obviously, the album is called The Tortured Poets Department — but fans suspect there are layers to that title. Namely, Swifties were quick to note how similar it sounds to a certain group chat shared by Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal, as revealed by the two actors in a December 2022 Variety interview: “The Tortured Man Club.”
The Cover
In the black-and-white album cover shared by Swift moments after announcing the album, she poses in a black top and shorts with her arms wrapped around her body, lying back on white bedding. Similar to the original 1989 cover, the top half of her face is obstructed.
Stylist Joseph Cassell revealed on Instagram that the photo features Swift wearing a black cami tank top and matching high-rise briefs from Mary Kate and Ashley’s fashion brand The Row.
When It’s Coming
As revealed by Swift in her Grammys speech, The Tortured Poets Department arrives Friday, April 19.
The Tracklist
Swift shared the album’s full tracklist one day after announcing the project, revealing that Tortured Poets has a total of 16 songs plus one bonus track:
- “Fortnight”
“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”
“Florida!!!!”
“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 Alchemy”
“Clara Bow”
Bonus Track: “The Manuscript”
The Collaborators
The Tortured Poets Department tracklist featured two major collaborations: Post Malone, whose name is billed on track one, “Fortnight,” as well as Florence + The Machine on track eight, “Florida!!!”
Both Posty and Florence Welch have sung Swift’s praises in the past, with the rapper calling the pop star “a great f—in’ songwriter” in an October 2023 interview with Howard Stern, and Welch and Swift trading compliments in a 2015 Billboard interview.
“What sets Florence apart? Everything,” Swift said at the time. “Every time I’ve been around her, she is the most magnetic person in the room — surrounded by people who are fascinated by the idea of being near her.”
A Possible Lyric
While sharing the album’s cover art to Instagram, Swift also included a photo of what appeared to be a handwritten lyric from one of the project’s tracks. “And so I enter into evidence/ My tarnished coat of arms,” reads the message, penned in black pink on white stationary labeled “TTPD.”
“My muses, acquired like bruises/ My talismans and charms/ The tick, tick, tick of love bombs,” it continues. “My veins of pitch black ink.”
“All’s fair in love and poetry …,” Swift signed off the note. “Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”
Travis Kelce Approves
Swift’s superstar boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, revealed in a pre-Super Bowl press interview that he got to be one of the singer’s beta listeners for The Tortured Poets Department — and his review was a rave.
“I have heard some of it, yes, and it’s unbelievable,” he told Extra on the field at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. “I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops.”
How Long It’s Been in the Works
During her first Eras Tour show in Japan on Feb. 7 — just days after first announcing Tortured Poets — Swift revealed that the project had been in the making for a little while. “I’ve been working on it for about two years,” she told her crowd at Tokyo Dome. “I kept working on it throughout the U.S. tour, and when it was perfect — in my opinion when it’s good enough for you — I finished it and I am so, so excited that soon you’ll get to hear it.”
She also noted, “I’ve been working on Tortured Poets since right after I turned in Midnights,” which would’ve been a few months before the latter album dropped in October 2022.
‘The Bolter’ Edition
Swift announced a second version of Tortured Poets dubbed “The Bolter” during her Feb. 16, 2024, Eras Tour stop in Melbourne, complete with an alternate cover that reads “You don’t get to tell me about sad” on the back.
In place of “The Manuscript,” she confirmed that this edition of the album will feature a bonus track also titled “The Bolter.”
It Was Therapeutic to Write
While discussing the album during her Feb. 16, 2024, show in Melbourne — the same one she announced “The Bolter” special edition — Swift revealed that Tortured Poets is her most cathartic project yet.
“It kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life,” she shared, sitting at her floral-painted surprise song piano. “I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”
‘The Albatross’ Edition
About a week after announcing the “Bolter” edition of Tortured Poets, Swift unveiled another Tortured Poets installment called “The Albatross” during her Feb. 23, 2024, show in Sydney, Australia. Again, the third version of the album features its own cover and limited bonus track.
Merriam-Webster defines the term “albatross” as “large web-footed seabirds that have long slender wings, are excellent gliders, and include the largest seabirds” as well as “something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety.”
“Am I allowed to cry?” reads the back cover.