Everything To Know About Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’

Excitement is peaking for Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department. With a release date of April 19, the album is poised to make history for the Grammy darling, who’s coming off a hugely successful world tour and, of course, her hugely successful NFL season (her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, may have been the one on the field, but she certainly made just as many headlines). Swift is famous for dropping hints and Easter eggs for her fans, who are eagerly interpreting everything she’s done in the weeks leading up to the album’s release. She has been busy dropping lyrics and curating playlists that give clues to the upcoming release’s themes. Here’s everything that’s known so far about the album and its release strategy.

1. The Tortured Poets Department Is Taylor Swift’s 15 Album

Swift has released 14 albums to date (including 10 studio albums), with The Tortured Poets Department slated to be No. 15. Four of the releases are rerecordings of previous albums, which are subtitled Taylor’s Version. The rereleases came after Scooter Braun acquired the rights to some of Swfit’s music in 2019.

2. Swift Announced The Album At The Grammys

She did it to coincide with winning her 13^th Grammy award (as fans know, 13 is her lucky number) earlier this year. As she accepted the honor, given for best pop vocal album for Midnights, she teased details of the album, and the name went up on her social media accounts.

3. The New Album Has 16 Songs

The Tortured Poets Department track list Swift posted on social media includes 16 songs, including one also titled “The Tortured Poets Department” and another with the very excellent title “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can).”

4. Swift Has Lots Of Collaborators

Among those confirmed to perform on The Tortured Poets Department are Florence + the Machine and Post Malone.

5. Travis Kelce Has Listened To Parts Of The Album

During the leadup to the Super Bowl in February, Swift’s boyfriend was asked about the new album, and he said he had heard parts of it, calling her music “unbelievable.”

6. Swift Released Playlists Based On Five Stages Of Heartbreak

As Swift’s fans know, many of her songs deal with love and heartbreak. Two weeks before the album’s release, the singer sparked a frenzy when she released five playlists on Apple AAPL Music that she curated from her catalog that matched up with the five stages of heartbreak (including anger and depression). She included a statement about each phase, prompting speculation over how the stages will be addressed in the new album.

7. Three Lyrics From An Unnamed Song Have Already Been Released

Swift caused another frenzy when she dropped three lyrics from an unnamed song: “Crowd goes wild at her fingertips//Half moonshine,//Full eclipse.” Appropriately enough, she did this as the world was preparing for the full eclipse and those two words were already dominating internet searches. She is nothing if not media savvy.

8. The Album’s Release Date May Mean Something

Swift famously sends messages with all her decisions. Fans have speculated that this album will address her 2023 breakup with Joe Allwyn, whom she dated for six years. The pair split in April of last year, so the album is coming out right around that anniversary.

9. Target TGT Has An Exclusive Version Of The Album

The retailer will sell a Phantom Clear vinyl exclusive that also comes with a book-bound jacket that includes reproductions of handwritten lyrics from the album.

10. This Could Be Her 14^th Album To Sell More Than 1 Million

Each of her previous albums have sold at least 1 million copies, including her most recent release, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which came out in October 2023 and sold more than 2 million copies. Nine of her albums have sold more than 2 million copies.