The latest album from Taylor Swift, "The Tortured Poets Department," has been in the works for two years, says the artist. Available on Friday, the album will be the 11th of her career and contains 17 new songs with which the singer hopes to surprise her loyal legion of fans while they wait for her to resume The Eras Tour, which will hit Europe in a matter of weeks.
Taylor Swift announced the project after receiving her 13th Grammy on Feb. 4. She says it is very special for her, though very little else has been made public, as the artist preferred to maintain maximal anticipation.
After breaking the news, the singer revealed the cover of this version of album, titled "The Manuscript." The album will also have three additional versions: "The Bolter," "The Albatross" and "The Black Dog." All of them sold out in the pre-sale.
All’s fair in love and poetry... New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19 🤍https://t.co/WdrCmvLHyA
📷: Beth Garrabrant pic.twitter.com/CCPhmSZ2UD
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 5, 2024
A 'needed' album for Taylor Swift
For a couple of weeks, Swift decided not to give any more information about "The Tortured Poets Department," until she arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on her tour and decided to talk a little more about her 11th studio album, which she described, in statements reported by The Wrap, not only as "needed," but also said it served as a "lifeline" for her:
‘The Tortured Poets’ is an album — I think more than any of my albums that I’ve ever made — I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through and 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 never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on ‘Tortured Poets.’
Fans continued to speculate about the details of the album until March 18. That day, Apple Music allowed "Swifties" to set an alarm that would notify them when the album was available.
The platform also revealed that seven of the songs on the album had explicit language. However, the most important detail known so far is the artists who will feature on "The Tortured Poets Department": Post Malone and Florence + the Machine, who will collaborate on "Fortnight" and "Florida!!!" respectively.
Promoting 'The Tortured Poets Department'
Apple Music also teamed up with Swift to launch five playlists promoting her new album that were based on the different phases of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. Each of these playlists contained a total of 10 songs from her previous albums that, according to her, represent these phases.
After this, Taylor Swift's in-person promotion began. QR codes began to appear in different cities that led to a video with a letter that, together, formed a phrase. Spotify allied itself with the artist and placed a structure in the form of a bookstore in Los Angeles.
This is what the Spotify #TTPD event library looks like.
💿| Así se ve la biblioteca del evento de Spotify #TTPD pic.twitter.com/OG21SuceXh
— Taylor Swift Argentina (@TayUpdatesARG) April 16, 2024
Now, the promotion ends with the launch of the album, which is now available in stores and will be followed by the launch of the first music video of "The Tortured Poets Department," based on the single "Fortnight," which is scheduled for Friday, April 19, at 8 p.m. (ET), as announced by the artist on Instagram:
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Importance of the number 2
The number 2 has been relevant since the beginning of the promotion of 'The Tortured Poets Department.' Taylor Swift announced the album during the Grammys by raising two fingers on her hand and, since then, the number has been present in each and every one of her appearances.
This detail did not go unnoticed by fans and, therefore, everyone was attentive at 2 a.m. on the day of the album's release. The artist did not disappoint.
At that time, Swift announced a surprise: 'The Tortured Poets Department' is not only one album, but two. The first part was already released two hours earlier, and the second, subtitled "The Anthology," appeared on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and other music streaming platforms with 15 new tracks that completed this B-side of Taylor Swift's new album. Something similar had happened previously during the release of "Midnights" where the artist surprised fans with seven new tracks, a strategy she has brought back now with this new album:
It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️ I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine… pic.twitter.com/y8pyDK8VTd
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 19, 2024
