Remember that epic Grammy win for Best Pop Vocal Album? Swift sent us into a frenzy as during her acceptance speech she dropped the major clues announcing her brand new studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department' - her 11th original album. The wait is over as the album is out now!
While Swifties around the world speculated the album screaming poetic references, heartbreak, and a journey of break up would be about Swift's six-year-long relationship with Joe Alwyn, she threw curveballs at us all as the main character of the album is not Alwyn but Matty Healy, Swift's brief rebound after Alwyn and a fling. However, the album has a fair share of songs for Alwyn too. While Swift's current boyfriend Travis Kelce got his fair share of Easter Rgg too. Here's everything we know so far about the album. What's most important is that Swift has once again delivered music that inspires us with her 'main character energy' and self-assurance despite challenges.
Everything We Know About 'The Tortured Poets Department'
About 'The Tortured Poets Department'
From All is Fair in Love and Poetry to I Love You, It's Ruining Me; the popstar in her signature 'Swift Fashion' has been dropping some Easter Eggs for her fans offering major cues since the time of her The Eras Tour Sydney and Singapore leg for her brand new project 'The Dead Poets Department' which released on April 19, 8 pm EDT.
The album has 16 songs and four different bonus tracks making it a 20-song studio album in four vinyls (variations) with Side A and Side B each, as stated by 'The Chairman Of The Tortured Poets Department' which fans guess is Swift's unique way to address herself.
Known for her star-studded collaborations, Swift after Lana Del Rey in 'Midnights' is now having two fresh and unexpected features with Post Malone and Florence+The Machine. While Malone would be appearing in the first track 'Fortnight', Florence would be appearing in the eighth track 'Florida!!!'
With the two unexpected features, the studio album will also have four bonus tracks 'The Manuscript', 'The Albatross', 'The Black Dog', and 'The Bolter.' Swift is also sharing her writing credits with her longtime collaborator and her 'cheerleader' and hype-man Jack Antonoff, her most recent producer and Aaron Dessner.
The album that screams of heartbreak has five playlists curated by the queen herself (Swift) titled after the now-iconic "denial," "anger," "bargaining," "depression," and "acceptance" stages of grief, each features a mix of Taylor's songs that perfectly encapsulate those specific moments after a breakup.
Themes 'The Tortured Poets Department' Navigate
As the album takes us through a journey of heartbreak and different phases of breakup it also talks about public scrutiny Swift struggled with in handling the fame and what comes with that fame as Swift faced many public and media remarks on her relationships. Releasing the album Swift also shared a note:
Swift refers to her album as "Anthology" which is about "sensational and sorrowful" which reflects "events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment" of that time which is now over. As Swift clarifies that chapter of her life is now "closed and boarded up" she says "There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed." She also acknowledges that many of these thoughts and opinions at the time could be self-victimising as she says "self-inflicted" but now the war is over as the "author" says "Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry."
Here's Everything We've Pieced Together So Far
A Breakup Ode?
The timing of the album release and the news of the Songwriter's (Swift) relationship as a sixth cousin with the renowned American poet Emily Dickinson may be a coincidence. But many speculated the album's announcement comes right after a year after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
The release date of the album was the same day when Swift had a "post-break-up" dinner with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively right after the great "Instagram unfollow" of 2023 when the Reynolds-Lively couple along with Swift mysteriously stopped following Joe Alwyn at the same time. While many others speculated the date could be from the time Alwyn and Swift started hanging out together in London (From London Boy to So Long, London).
The name of the album was suspected to have been picked up by the group chat name of Joe Alwyn and his friends Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as Mescal and Alwyn in a chatter interview with Variety once revealed the name of the WhatsApp group chat as "The Tortured Man Club".
Who Is The Main Character?
While every hint, every 'Easter Egg' had indicated the album to be dedicated to Joe Alwyn, Swift's ex-boyfriend she has earlier dedicated many songs from 'Lover' to 'All The Girs You Have Loved Before' to him. Alwyn has also helped Swift to write some of her popular songs in the past from 'Champagne Problems'' to 'Evermore' and more.
But to everyone's surprise, 'The Tortured Poets Department' is not dedicated to Alwyn but to a rebound after her brief fling with Matty Healey with whom Swift described her relationship as a "mutual manic phase" and "self-harm" and with a smirk the "poet" (Swift) says "it's the worst men that I write best." Notably, Healey's and Swift's relationship was publicly scrutinised by the media at the time.
While there are a few songs on Alwyn in the album such as 'So Long, London', and 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys'. There is also a song dedicated to Swift's infamous British boyfriend Harry Styles 'But Daddy, I Love Him'. Calling her past British boyfriends (Matty, Joe, Harry) "blokes" Swift's current boyfriend, Travis Kelce gets his fair share of a song dedicated to him called 'The Alchemy.
However, the album is not just about men but Swift's journey as well as many songs like 'Clara Bow' the IT girl reference of wiping tears with billion dollars bill, 'I Can Fix Him (Nor Really I Can)' being about learning the hard way we can't fix worse men and must listen to our friends, 'I Can Do It With A Broken Heart' about masking the happy face as a public figure, and 'the Bolter' and 'The Albatross' as theorised by Swifties who have already become lyric literary scholars after the release.
How Big Can 'The Tortured Poets Department' Be?
Swift has turned the year 2023 upside down, making it the year of 'The Eras Tour', storming many charts, and breaking many records. Now, Vegas Insider has constructed a report that states what records can 'The Dead Poets Department' break.
Swift's latest album's release may tie with 'the greatest rapper of all time' Jay-Z to be the solo artist with the most number of #1 albums, as Jay-Z currently holds the spot with 14 #1 albums. Swift is expected to also tie with the 'Queen of Pop'; 65-year-old Madonna to become the female artist with the most number of #1 albums in the UK, as Maddonna currently holds the spot with 12 #1 albums.
The album also has a fair chance of breaking Swift's own record of the most streamed album in a day, and most streamed album in a week on Spotify, especially after the huge success of 'The Eras Tour'.
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