If you thought Taylor Swift might be taking a break any time soon, think again: while accepting her 13th Grammy Award – for 2023’s Midnights – the singer confirmed that its follow-up is right around the corner and set to drop later this year.
Here’s everything we know about her new album.
When is The Tortured Poets Department’s release date?
Swift has confirmed that her 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department will be released on April 19. The question is, does the date have any additional significance?
The pop star is well-known for her love of an easter egg or hidden clue, and this seems to be no different. Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that there could well be a connection to Swift’s ex Joe Alwyn; April 19 2023 is the date that several of her famous mates – including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds – unfollowed the actor immediately after going to dinner with Swift. Is it a reach? Perhaps.
In typical Swift fashion, the manner in which she announced the album’s release also has numerology significance: she shared the news while accepting her 13th Grammy Award (her latest album Midnights won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album).
As any self-respecting Swifty will know, 13 is the singer's lucky number, and reoccurs throughout her career.
Do we have a tracklist?
We do indeed. Swift has also shared the full tracklist for The Tortured Poets Department, which is made up of sixteen songs.
Her original tracklist also revealed an additional bonus track called The Manuscript.
But it turns out there are actually three different deluxe editions of the album; the version featuring The Manuscript as a bonus track is just one of them. She’s since announced two more deluxe editions featuring different additional tracks: The Bolter or The Albatross.
Check out the full tracklisting for the standard LP, along with all bonus tracks and where to find their respective “collectors deluxe editions”, below.
The Tortured Poets Department
Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)
The Tortured Poets Department
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Down Bad
So Long, London
But Daddy I Love Him
Fresh Out the Slammer
Florida!!! (Florence + the Machine)
Guilty as Sin?
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
loml
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
The Alchemy
Clara Bow
Additional Bonus tracks
The Manuscript (collectors edition here)
The Bolter (currently sold out)
The Albatross (collectors edition here)
How about the album artwork?
Swift has also shared the album’s black and white sleeve. The deluxe editions also come with alternative covers.
What else do we know?
During The Eras Tour’s Tokyo stop on February 7, Swift told the audience that she had begun working on a new album, right after finishing up 2023’s Midnights. "So I started working on it immediately after that, and I’ve been working on it for about two years," she said. "I kept working on it throughout the U.S. tour, and when it was perfect in my opinion — when it was good enough for you — I finished it."
On a subsequent date in Melbourne, she added that the process of making The Tortured Poets Club was “really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through, the things I was writing about, it kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life, and I've never had an album where I needed songwriting more."
It’s not clear yet who will be producing it, but we do know that Florence and The Machine and Post Malone will both appear as guests.
