There’s a book about Swift’s impact headed to bookshelves
Rolling Stone writer and music historian Rob Sheffield’s book “Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music” will debut Nov. 12.
He’s expected to dive further into Swift’s music and fan connection.
Swifties are celebrating with their own listening parties
Many Swifties are sharing their elaborate party setups online as they prepare to celebrate the album release at home.
Karen Rothdeutsch, 25, has decked out her bedroom in upstate New York with “The Tortured Poets Department”-themed decorations, complete with a platter of homemade cupcakes decorated to match Swift’s various vinyl variants.
“I just made my space a little more immersive for my first listen,” Rothdeutsch told NBC News. “I’ll be sitting in my bed with a box of tissues and a notebook, writing down my thoughts and probably checking into Twitter every so often to see what everybody’s thinking about it.”
She said she procured the decorations over the course of several weeks, but the whole setup cost her less than $100. While she decorates on a budget, she said she did splash out on the vinyl variants and collector’s edition CDs.
Swift’s new album is already breaking a Spotify record
Spotify said on X that the “The Tortured Poets Department” became the most pre-saved album countdown page in the streaming service’s history.
Since its launch on March 28, TTPD’s countdown page has ticked down to the album’s drop, now just hours away.
Was Swift’s Grammys dress a ‘Fortnight’ Easter egg?
The white gown Swift wore to the 2024 Grammys, where she announced “The Tortured Poets Department,” appears to have been an Easter egg.
Swift appears to be wearing a very similar dress in the teaser for the “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” music video, which will debut 8 p.m. ET tomorrow.
Swift was also pictured hugging Post Malone at the ceremony. Some fans online pointed out a similar shot of the two singers that appears in the teaser for the music video.
Swift drops ‘Fortnight’ music video teaser
Swift blessed fans with a teaser for “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone),” the album’s first single.
“At this hearing, I stand before my fellow members of The Tortured Poets Department with a summary of my findings. Album tonight. Fortnight music video tomorrow at 8pm et,” Swift wrote in a post on X, which was accompanied by a short video clip.
The black-and-white teaser gave a sneak peak of the visuals for the music video. It’s a combination of dramatic period gowns and a bleak medical setting in this supercut that is reminiscent of “Poor Things,” which Swift’s longtime friend Emma Stone recently won the best actress Oscar for.
Swift had announced she’d be dropping a music video at 8 p.m. ET tomorrow by sharing a “TTPD Timetable” on her Instagram page this week.
Merch is here — and already selling out
Hours before the album’s release, themed merchandise for “The Tortured Poets Department” is now available to order online.
The merch drop includes hoodies, crewnecks and gold jewelry branded with the album’s logo. A display case for the album vinyls seemingly sold out within minutes.
ICYMI: The Eras Tour concert film is on Disney+
In case you need something to do as you count down to the new album, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is on Disney+. Swift announced the film would be available for streaming in February.
The film features all songs from the three Los Angeles tour dates during which it was filmed at SoFi Stadium. They include “cardigan,” as well as four additional acoustic surprise songs from the tour: “I Can See You,” “Maroon,” “You Are in Love” and “Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
Swifties online are freaking out over purported ‘leaks’
The internet was at it again this week, with some online circulating what they said were leaks of Swift’s new album. It is unclear from where and when the apparent leaks originated, but one Reddit thread is already filled with commentary.
As early as Tuesday, “taylor swift leak” appeared to be blocked from searches on X. Instead, when a user tried to search the phrase, a blank page popped up with the message, “Something went wrong. Try reloading.”
The secret message has been decoded
The sixth and final word of the secret message, “mortem,” was revealed today, hidden in the lyrics of the song “Begin Again.”
The complete secret message is: “We hereby conduct this post mortem.”
In a collaboration with Apple Music, Swift sorted some of her existing songs into thematic playlists, along with audio messages from her.
The messages seemed to confirm some fans’ theories that the playlists mirrored the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — indicating that the new album may grapple with grief or loss. Swift later used a song from each playlist to reveal a hidden word on Apple Music every day leading up to the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Swift sets fans loose on an international puzzle
Swifties had a big day yesterday after murals with QR codes were unveiled in cities around the world, including Mexico City, Paris and Chicago.
Fans stumbled upon the murals, which Swift had not announced, and scanned them to find a link to a YouTube Shorts video. Every mural had a unique code that led to a different video, each revealing a new letter as part of a word puzzle.
Fans came together online to help decode the puzzle, which seemed to hint at the new album’s first track, because it spelled out “for a fortnight.”
Swifties in Los Angeles flock to Spotify pop-up library
Many Los Angeles Swifties celebrated the new album with a pop-up library installation in partnership with Spotify.
The three-day event, which runs through today at The Grove, featured a sneak peek at some of the album’s lyrics.
Fans posted videos of themselves lined up for hours to get a glimpse at the installation.
A manuscript was front and center at the installation, revealing new lyrics periodically as the pages were turned over the course of three days.
Many fans online tried to identify other potential Easter eggs in the pop-up library, such as a bust of a peace sign, quill and fountain pens and a globe that appeared to be pointing to Florida, the name of a track on the album.
Why is the album called ‘The Tortured Poets Department’?
Fans were quick to note that “The Tortured Poets Department” is the longest title for a Taylor Swift album by a large margin, a distinction previously held by her third album, “Speak Now.” Before “TTPD,” “Speak Now” was her only album title consisting of more than one word.
Speculation surrounding the new album and its uncharacteristic title has primarily revolved around Swift’s 2023 breakup with British actor Joe Alwyn after their six-year relationship.
After the album announcement, a 2022 Variety interview between Alwyn and Paul Mescal resurfaced on X. The pair revealed in the interview that they were both members of a WhatsApp group chat titled the Tortured Man Club, prompting some fans to draw parallels between Alwyn and Swift’s upcoming album.
The true meaning of “The Tortured Poets Department” remains to be seen, but the album’s rollout has featured references to famous poems like Charles Baudelaire’s “The Albatross,” among other literary references.
Clues keep coming
Speculation continues to grow over clues for lyrics, song titles and the album’s first music video.
Not much from Miss Swift so far
It’s been a notably quiet rollout for “The Tortured Poets Department.”
No themed Instagram grid overhaul, no lead singles, not even a cryptic calendar leading Swifties on wild goose chases for potential Easter eggs.
A week before the release, Taylor Swift was rocking out at Coachella instead of feeding her fans who are desperate for a hint of what’s to come.
Aside from a hand-painted QR code on the side of a building in Chicago, a planned exhibit at The Grove in Los Angeles in partnership with Spotify and a quick video released Tuesday that appears to leave the “Midnights” era in the dust as viewers tour The Tortured Poets Department, Swift has been silent on what we can expect.
In the video, posted to her Instagram account, we did get a glimpse of a schedule that only showed release day, and on it, the promise of a music video on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Fourteen tick marks beneath led some to think the music video could be for the 14th track on the album, or for the leading song, “Fortnight,” since a fortnight is 14 days.
Swifties believing in the latter theory proved to be correct. Swift announced that the music video would be for “Fortnight” in a Thursday afternoon social media post.
Swifties online continue to grasp for any details to try to figure out what this mastermind might have in store for her beloved fan base.
What songs are on the new album?
Here’s what songs are on the track list.
- “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”
Swift has also announced four bonus tracks: “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatross” and “The Black Dog.” Each bonus track will be available on a separate vinyl variant and won’t be on the streaming version of the album.
When does ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ drop?
Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” will be released Friday at 12 a.m. ET, or 9 p.m. PT.
It will be available for purchase on vinyl, on cassette, as a digital album and in CD form. It will also be on several streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music.
But if you plan to stream “The Tortured Poets Department” right after its release, be prepared for potential delays. When Swift’s most recent brand-new album, “Midnights,” was released, Spotify briefly crashed because of intense demand.
