Taylor Swift embraces a new era through “The Tortured Poets Department,” the album she announced at the Grammy Awards.
Recently, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has taken a break from her record-breaking The Eras Tour in Singapore and won’t be performing for two months. Rightfully so, as she just released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. A few weeks prior, Forbes included the superstar in their list of billionaires earlier this month.
Swift announced the album during her acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights. It was her 13th Grammy, a number that she always said is lucky to her.
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“The Tortured Poets Department” playlists
Swift launched five exclusive playlists in Apple Music that featured lyrics from her songs.
Her “You Don’t Get To Tell Me About Sad” playlist highlighted songs she wrote when she was feeling anger. “The healthiest way that it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it, and then oftentimes that helps me get past it,” Swift said in the playlist’s introduction.
The “Am I Allowed To Cry?” playlist contains songs that she wrote during “the bargaining stage.” She explained that she was trying to make things better and oftentimes felt really desperate. “Oftentimes, we have a sort of gut intuition that tells us things are not gonna go the way we hope, which makes us more desperate and bargain more,” she said in the playlist introduction.
“Old Habits Die Screaming” explores the feeling of depression in every song included in it. The singer said she wrote the songs because she felt lonely or hopeless, and writing a song felt like the only way to process the intense emotion.
“I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life” puts a spotlight on songs built on the concept of denial and “a little bit of delusion.” She said these are songs about getting caught up in moments which makes red flags seem nonexistent.
The “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” tackles the themes of acceptance and moving on.
The lead up towards “The Tortured Poets Department”
Spotify, another music streaming app, featured a countdown for Swift’s new album. Aside from this, Swift’s Instagram account also launched a countdown. When you scroll down on her main page, it will lead you to The Tortured Poets Department banner as seen below, and once you un-click, a countdown appears.
Today also said in a report that Swift began the final countdown to her album through Apple Music. The streaming app changed its bio to “A word ‘til the @taylorswift13 album drops.” Swift embedded puzzles in some songs, where a couple capitalized letters spelled a word. The first word was ‘Hereby’ found in “Glitch;” ‘Conduct’ found in “peace;” ‘this’ in “Better Than Revenge;” ‘post’ found in “Clean;” and ‘we’ found in “We Were Happy.” For the last word, it is ‘mortem’ from “Begin Again.” The words form a sentence ahead of The Tortured Poets Department’s release. It reads, “We hereby conduct this post mortem.”
Meanwhile, Swift and Spotify launched an album pop-up in Los Angeles. It showed snippets of lyrics, 72 card catalog boxes (six are open), typewriters, clocks timed at 2:00, and more.
The most pre-saved album
A bunch of QR codes worldwide also contributed to the many build ups existing for The Tortured Poets Department. The codes came from the following countries: Australia, Germany, Brazil, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and France. According to a thread from X, it spells “For A Fortnight.”
this was the final letter!! it spelled out FOR A FORTNIGHT 🤍 thank you to every swiftie worldwide for helping complete this puzzle!! @taylornation13 @taylornation13 we did it! #TSTTPD
— ariana ♫ 🤍 (@japrilss) April 18, 2024
Swift addressed her fans saying her song featuring Post Malone “Fortnight” is the first single on the album and is also the first song on it that will have a music video.
At this hearing, I stand before my fellow members of The Tortured Poets Department with a summary of my findings.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 19, 2024
Album tonight.
Fortnight music video tomorrow at 8pm et.https://t.co/BAtr2MpPIs pic.twitter.com/hWsrsXSQuW
The album also became Spotify’s Most Pre-Saved Album Countdown Page in the streaming giant’s history.
On April 18th, 2024, Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT became the most pre-saved album Countdown Page in Spotify history. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/gJbZgegdwV
— Spotify (@Spotify) April 18, 2024
Lyrical masterpieces
Swift made sure her latest album had a beautiful mix of bop-worthy tracks with heartbreaking, poetic lyrics; sad pop; and theatrical flourishes.
“I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” consists of tunes you can dance to. However, when you look into the lyrics, you’ll see the struggles of the storyteller to keep it together. “‘Cause I’m miserable, and nobody even knows,” sings Taylor.
“So Long, London” reflected on a relationship that’s already sunk before they had a chance to save it. Swift sang, “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof.”
The superstar included her collaboration with Florence + The Machine on the album through the song, “Florida.” It contained Swift’s masterful lyricism and the band’s signature eclectic rock.
“Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me” directly addresses those who continuously scrutinize her reputation. “I was tame, I was gentle till the circus life made me mean,” the song chronicled.
The regular album has 16 tracks and a total run time of one hour and five minutes.
The anthology
At 2:00 a.m. ET (2:00 p.m. Philippine time) Swift released another set of 15 new tracks, confirming speculations of a double album. The theories formed due to the pop star’s constant usage of twos in posts, speeches like when she did a peace sign at the Grammys, and two stars in the Tortured Poets timetable uploaded on April 18.
The double album came to reality when Swift introduced The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. It consisted of tracks like “How Did It End?,” “I Hate It Here,” “So High School,” “The Prophecy,” and “I Look In People’s Windows,” among others.
The Anthology‘s total run time is two hours and two minutes. “15 extra songs. The story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours,” Swift said.
“Chapter closed and boarded up”
Swift promptly released an Instagram post at 12:00 ET (12 noon in the Philippines) to introduce her new era.
She expressed that the album is an anthology of new works reflecting events, opinions, and sentiments from “a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time.” These moments brought her sensational and sorrowful memories “in equal measure.”
She added that this period in her life is over, the chapter closed and boarded up. “Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.”
Both versions of The Tortured Poets Department are now available in all music streaming platforms.
Banner photo via Instagram @taylorswift.
