Taylor Swift Shares Exciting The Tortured Poets Department Update

Taylor Swift gave fans the surprise of a lifetime on Feb. 4 when she announced the release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for 2022’s Midnights at the Grammy Awards.

Shortly after the announcement, Swift confirmed the album’s drop date, April 19, and its full 16-song tracklist. The Tortured Poets Department is available for pre-order on Swift’s website.

On Feb. 16, Swift gifted fans another update, announcing that an exclusive bonus track, “The Bolter,” will be featured on a special edition of the album for a limited time. Another bonus track, “The Manuscript,” is also featured on the forthcoming album, which will also be released on CD, cassette, and a two-disc vinyl.

The Surprise Announcement

Swift initially shared the news while on stage at the Grammys. She noted that she’d just won her 13th Grammy (as Swifties well know, 13 is the singer’s lucky number). Then, she indicated that she had a surprise up her sleeve.

“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I have been keeping from you for the last two years,” she said, “which is that my brand new album comes out April 19th. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you! Thank you!”

Swift fulfilled her promise, taking to social media right after she won to confirm the major announcement and unveil the album cover art, photographed by Beth Garrabrant. “All’s fair in love and poetry...” she captioned the post.

Alongside the cover, she shared a mysterious poem to tease the album. “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,” she wrote. She signed the note as “the chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”

This is not the first time that Swift has revealed an entirely new album at an award show. In August 2022, she announced the release of Midnights after winning Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards for her “All Too Well” short film.

Going into the Grammys, Swifties speculated that Swift was gearing up to announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version), her next expected re-recording. Before the show, she made her social media profile photos black-and-white, which fans took as a Reputation (TV) Easter egg, because the color black is widely associated with her Reputation era. But clearly, Swift had a much bigger plan.