The first look at the album’s cover art

The chairman of the Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift, announced her brand new album at the 2024 Grammys in February. The name of the album is “The Tortured Poets Department” and it comes out tomorrow, on April 19. She was on stage accepting the award for “Best Album” when she brought out co-writer and album producer Jack Antonoff, co-singer Lana Del Rey, as well as other writers, producers, and friends. She gracefully accepted the award and then continued to announce the new album. The CDs and vinyl for the album were uploaded to her website just seconds later. There was a queue to purchase the media and they sold out in less than 24 hours.
The day after the announcement, the tracklist for the album was released. Post Malone is featured on the first track, “Fortnight.” This is a surprising collaboration between the two that leads people to wonder exactly what the album’s sound will be. The eighth track on the album is “Florida!!!” which features Florence + The Machine. Some tracks on the album had Swift fans speculating if they could be about her recent breakup with actor Joe Alwyn. Specifically the song title “So Long London” which they think is a reference to her song “London Boy.” “London Boy” is one of Swift’s love songs to Alwyn on her album “Lover.” Swift is known for having very emotional and heartbreaking fifth tracks on her past albums, and “So Long London” happens to be track five. The fans can only assume Swift will keep going with this trend. Sophomore Ursula Furnas said, “I’m really excited to hear ‘So, Long London.’ It’s a track 5 which are usually her most vulnerable and sad songs!”

Her announcement shocked many fans that night. They were under the impression that she would announce the long-awaited “Taylor’s Version” of her 2017 album “reputation.” This was because she turned her Instagram profile picture into a black-and-white photo of her. To Swift fans, black and white is associated with “reputation.” As it turns out, black-and-white are also the colors of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Periodically, Swift would announce different pressings of the album on vinyl and CD. Each pressing has a different bonus track. The first one released had “The Manuscript” then “The Bolter,” “The Albatross,” and lastly “The Black Dog.” Sophomore Kat Cruz said, “I think ‘The Manuscript’ will be my favorite because the title is very intriguing and I can picture it being a sad song that will get me in my feelings.”
Many fans have started to assume that the title of the album is a reference to Alwyn himself. It is rumored Alwyn had a group chat with fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called “The Tortured Man Club.” Fans believe the album title is a straight jab at Alwyn. In November of 2023, Swift released her single titled “You’re Losing Me” which explains the saddening story of Swift’s lover fading away from her. This is also rumored to be about Alwyn. Swift fans love this song deeply and with the similarities of their topics, it’s clear they are very excited about the new album.
April 19 is not just any date though. In 2023, Swift was seen going to dinner with friends Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on April 19. They were seen interchanging small talk over dinner. Just that night, Lively and Reynolds both unfollowed Alwyn on Instagram. This has fans to believe this date isn’t just a day to release an album but a day that means something to Swift personally. Just this week, Swift partnered up with Apple Music to start a scavenger hunt to promote the album. In lyrics to other songs of hers, random letters were capitalized. Once you find all the capitalized letters they spell out a word. All the words throughout the week will spell out a lyric from one of the new songs.
With lyrics like “Am I allowed to cry?” and “I love you, It’s ruining my life” this album is bound to be relatable for many people, and it’s very exciting to see this vulnerability from Swift. “The Tortured Poets Department” is out on April 19! Don’t forget to listen to the chairman’s 16 new songs!