Topline
Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” is dropping Friday and—in true Swift fashion—the billionaire popstar has been leaving Easter eggs and clues for her fans since it was announced, and the hints have increased in recent days.
Taylor Swift's new 16-song record and a music video will be released Friday, though there are still ... [+]
Key Facts
Four Variations: The album has 16 songs and one bonus track, but there are four variations of the album available on vinyl and each will have a different bonus track, either: “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatross” or “The Black Dog.”
Guest Performers: The album has two featured performances, with Post Malone appearing on the first song, “Fortnight,” and Florence + The Machine appearing on the eighth track, “Florida!!!”
Writing Credits: Swift is listed as the sole writer on two songs, according to credits released by Apple Music on April 15, received writing help from her two featured collaborators (Post Malone and Florence Welch) on their songs, and shared writing credits with her longtime collaborator, producer Jack Antonoff, or more recent producer, Aaron Dessner, on the others.
Playlist Promotion: In early April, Swift released five Apple Music playlists to promote the new album, dividing some of her old songs into the five “stages of heartbreak”—each named after a tagline or song from “Tortured Poets.”
Coded Hints: On Saturday, Apple Music began capitalizing letters in one song daily—selected from the previously released playlists—that form a code word (so far they are: “we,” “hereby,” “conduct,” and “post”).
On Tuesday, Swift shared a video on Instagram, captioned “The TTPD Timetable,” announcing that a music video would be released on Friday at 8 p.m. EDT.
When Is ‘the Tortured Poets Department’ Available?
“The Tortured Poets Department” will be available on all major streaming platforms on Friday at 12 a.m. EDT.
What Is Taylor Swift’s Pop-Up Library In Los Angeles? And The Qr Codes?
On Monday, Swift’s team announced, in partnership with Spotify, a temporary library exhibit at The Grove in Los Angeles to promote the album’s release from Tuesday to Friday. Fans visiting the installation—some of whom lined up hours before it opened—are encouraged to interact with it and try to find clues about the upcoming album and its songs, CBS reported. In addition to the Los Angeles event, QR codes began popping up in cities including London, Melbourne, Nashville and Chicago this week. When scanned, the codes take people to various YouTube Shorts videos of a typewriter hitting one letter in a word or series of words that is believed to be 13 letters.
Will The Bonus Tracks Be Available On Streaming?
Twenty songs total will be released on Friday because of the four bonus tracks on the four different vinyls, but it’s not yet clear whether those songs will be exclusive to vinyl or available on streaming. In the past, Swift has kept songs exclusive for some time before releasing them to streaming. For example, a Target-exclusive version of her last new album, “Midnights,” had a track titled “Hits Different,” which wasn’t available on streaming for about seven months.
Is “the Tortured Poets Department” About Her Breakup With Joe Alywn?
While Swift hasn’t confirmed the album is a breakup album, most signs point to yes. With track names like “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “But Daddy I Love Him” and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” fans are all but certain the album will be about Swift’s breakup with her boyfriend of six years, actor Joe Alwyn. When announcing the various vinyl variations, Swift also included messages on the back of the album covers that point to a breakup album, including: “you don’t get to tell me about sad” and “I love you, it’s ruining my life.”
What Song Is The Music Video For?
Though Swift let fans know a music video would be dropping at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, she didn’t tell them the song. Some fans suspect it will be for “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” because of 14 written hash marks featured at the bottom of the announcement video (using the premise that a fortnight is 14 days), though some suspect the 14 hash marks mean it could be a video for “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”—the 14th track.
Big Number
Six. That’s how many albums Swift has released that have sold more than 1 million copies in just one week: “Speak Now” (2010), “Red” (2012), “1989” (2014), “reputation” (2017), “Midnights” (2022) and “1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023).”
Forbes Valuation
Forbes estimates Swift to be worth $1.1 billion as of Wednesday. Last October, Swift became a billionaire, in large part due to the success of her international Eras Tour, which she also turned into a film.
Key Background
Swift announced the new album at the Grammys after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights,” though many Swifties expected the popstar to announce the rerecord of her sixth album, “reputation.” Shortly after announcing the album, she began teasing its theme by posting in shades of black and white and revealing the album’s tagline: “All’s fair in love and poetry.”
Further Reading
