The countdown to Taylor Swift’s new album is on: Here’s everything to know about The Tortured Poets Department

Is Taylor Swift’s new record this year’s ultimate soundtrack to your next break-up? Here is the list of songs coming and what we can expect.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

4 min read

April 13, 2024 - 1:00PM

News Corp Australia Network

Music

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Taylor Swift stole the Grammys spotlight back in February when she turned her 13th award acceptance speech into an advertorial announcement of a “surprise” new studio record.

This is what we know so far about The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), released this Friday.

ALBUM TITLE

Is Taylor Swift shouting at us?

Nothing is accidental in Swift’s creative fantasy world. So what does it mean that the title of the pop star’s 11 studio album The Tortured Poets Department is stylised in all caps on its cover? It’s the first of her records since Red to sport caps.

Ms Swift has your attention with her shouty title. Picture: Supplied

And let’s not poke the grammar police by wondering out loud whether Swift intended the title to reference all of the poets or forgot an apostrophe.

Swift sleuths quickly spotted a similarity between the album title and the WhatsApp group which included her former boyfriend Joe Alwyn and his Irish actor mates Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.

The title of their group chat, as revealed in a December 2022 interview between Alwyn and mescal for Variety magazine, was Tortured Man Club. Ouch.

Swift acknowledged the title is a bit of a mouthful following on from the one-word titles of her albums from 2012’s Red and 2022’s Midnights.

“You could just nickname it Tortured Poets if you hate long album titles … but I love the title,” she told fans at her opening Sydney concert in February.

The Albatross variant was revealed during her first Sydney show.

ALBUM VARIANTS

Swift has revealed four vinyl “variants” of TTPD, each titled for its bonus track, with the first edition called The Manuscript, and each with a different cover shot of Swift.

She announced the second version called The Bolter during her opening Eras Tour concert at the MCG on February 16.

“It was really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through, the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life. And I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more,” she told her adoring Melbourne audience.

A week later, Swift unveiled the cover for The Albatross version at her first Sydney show on February 23 before she launched into her acoustic set.

“I’m really, really proud of this record. It’s good to have options — everyone likes options,” she told the screaming fans before directing their attention to her giant video screens which projected the new cover photo.

Swift spruiked three new vinyl versions of the record during her Eras Tour shows in Australia and Singapore. Picture: Ashok Kumar/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

The Albatross version’s back cover reads “Am I allowed to cry?”

She revealed the fourth and final variant and its bonus track The Black Dog at her March 3 concert in Singapore.

Many frustrated Swifties protested against the variant strategy and accused their pop idol of a cash grab in a cost-of-living crisis, demanding she release all four bonus tracks on one vinyl version.

The initial track listing revealed Post Malone guests on opening track Fortnight while Florence and the Machine are featured on the song Florida!!!

FAN THEORIES

RIP Joe Alwyn’s notifications. Swift was deep in the honeymoon phase of her newly-minted relationship with NFL champion Travis Kelce when she dropped the TTPD news at the Grammys.

When she unveiled the song titles, there was zero doubt this is a break-up album. One can imagine the Conversations With Friends actor wincing as his eyes scanned the track listing and clocked on the gut punches of My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys or So Long, London or But Daddy I Love Him or I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can).

Swift and new beau Travis Kelce were in a love buzz when the pop star revealed her new “heartbreak” record. Picture: Getty.

The handwritten note she posted on her socials with the album artwork also fired a shot across Alwyn’s bow, hinting that TTPD would exorcise the heartbreak demons unleashed by the British actor she dated for five years and split with at least a year ago.

The note also suggested the songwriter regards him – and previous exes – as collateral damage when it comes to using them as hit-making muses.

“And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / The tick, tick, tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All’s fair in love and poetry … Sincerely, The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department,” she wrote.

The note may also be lyrics from the record’s title track.

Swifties have suggested the release date of April 19 is also significant to the break-up. They believe it is connected to when she dined with mates Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on that day last year and they proceeded to unfollow him on social media. Swift’s brother Austin also unfollowed Alwyn that same day.

So Long, London; the Swifties are pretty sure their idol’s new record is all about British actor Joe Alwyn. Picture: Robert Kamau/GC Images.

More Easter eggs linked to Alywn include the bonus track titles with fans referencing a dictionary meaning of Albatross — as “something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety” and “something that greatly hinders accomplishment” — to underscore TTPD is all about him.

The album Easter egg hunt continued last week when Swift curated five playlists of songs for Apple Music from her previous 10 studio records and modelled on the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

“This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion,” she said in a statement. “Results may vary.”

After her Grammys advertorial and Eras Tour variant drops, Swift has been a little quiet about her new record. Could it be the Beyonce Effect? Picture: Valerie Macon / AFP.

RADIO SILENCE

Swift again decided not to release a single ahead of TTPD’s release on April 19. This is mostly to game the pop charts and overrun the top 40 with all 17 songs on the record.

The master social media communicator has also been uncharacteristically quiet ahead of the album drop besides posting pre-order links.

Perhaps she was being respectful of Beyonce and her pop culture takeover with the Cowboy Carter album.