Superstar Taylor Swift announced her eleventh studio album “The Tortured Poets Department” at the 2023 Grammys.
This specific announcement filled Swifties with happiness because they were expecting an announcement for “reputation Taylor’s Version.” True to herself, Swift was the ultimate mastermind in orchestrating the announcement for the brand new album, with her outfit to the Grammys being on theme with the cover of the album.
Many events have happened since the Grammys, including the announcements for new songs on different versions of the album, new covers, and on the other side of the door, there are theories upon theories building up from fans.
“The Tortured Poets Department” has a base tracklist of 17 songs, including one bonus track, and there are two features: Post Malone and Florence & The Machine. There are track titles including “Florida!!!” and “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” which leads fans to believe this will be a fun, heartbreakingly perfect album.
Since the album’s announcement, there have been three extra bonus tracks announced which fans think will lead to the announcement of “reputation Taylor’s Version.” There are charts being made with “Midnights,” “The Tortured Poets Department,” and each bonus track version of the new album as the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The final stage that people believe is leading to “reputation Taylor’s Version” is revenge tacked on at the end.
Another theory is the use of the peace sign hand emoji and Swift holding up the number two during her shows. Swifties are starting to believe that this is pointing towards a double album release. The album “reputation” revolves around revenge and Swift taking back her name. As of now, Swift is in the trenches with haters, the media, and even some of her fans turning against her. This poses a perfect scene for Swift’s rerecord of the album.
Other interesting things relating to the lore of the album come from the name. In an interview, Swift’s most recent ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, mentioned how he is in a group chat named “The Tortured Man Club.” It is almost suspicious how similar the names of the groupchat and the album are considering that this is the expected breakup album about Alwyn.
Swift also revealed that many of the songs were written while she was performing the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour. Rumors started spreading that the two had broken up during early dates of the tour, so songs written in the midst of the breakup are expected to bring pain from the lyrics.
In contrast to the theme of what the album is expected to be, it is registered as synth-pop. People are most familiar with songs from the 80s and 90s that are synth-pop, so Swifties are excited but hesitant to hear the new album. This could, however, be wrong because Swift’s album “Midnights” was registered as pop-rock and it was not even close to fitting in that category.
Overall, fans could not be more excited to get another album from Swift. While many details are still concealed, enough information is revealed to keep people itching for the album to be out.