Footage From Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Rehearsals Hint She’s Adding ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Songs
Taylor Swift might be gearing up to hold a Tortured Poets Department board meeting in the middle of her European Eras Tour concerts.
Swift, 34, uploaded a video of her tour prep to YouTube Shorts on Thursday, April 25, with the caption, “A fortnight till Paris.” In the clip, Swift practiced her setlist alongside her backup dancers.
While eagle-eyed fans noticed that Swift had run through performances of the likes of “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” and “Karma,” they also noticed snippets from a few numbers that had seemingly never been seen on stage.
In one instance, Swift played a white guitar and fans clocked that ivory hue matches the iconography of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. There also appears to be a desk positioned on stage at one point in the video that could be another reference to the department. In another clip, Swift — wearing her now-viral PopFlex Active skort — leaned against a railing with white letters in the center. Fans have speculated the letters spell out “TTPD.”
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“That’s the TTPD logo on the railing,” one user pointed out via X. “Omg TTPD is getting her own set at The Eras Tour!”
Swift also wore black lace-up heels as she posed on the railing, which other social media users compared to the similar Victorian-inspired pumps she sported in her "Fortnight” music video with Post Malone. (“Fortnight” is also the lead single off of TTPD.)
Another moment in the YouTube clip shows Swift surrounded by her backup dancers, the latter of whom are wearing circus-inspired top hats. Fans believe it is teeing up a TTPD performance of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” because of the big top lyrical reference, “I was tame, I was gentle 'til the circus life made me mean / 'Don't you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth.”
Another social media fan speculated: “Why do I feel like these are definitely rehearsal pics for TTPD songs ‘cause when have we ever had the dancers with hats and sticks.”
A selection of Swifties even think that they figured out the entire TTPD set that will be added based on an Instagram post by Pandora. The streaming station posted a “What song are you listening to next from The Tortured Poets Department?” graphic, specifically naming “Fortnight,” “The Alchemy,” “But Daddy I Love Him” “Down Bad” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” Swift’s official fan account, Taylor Nation, reshared the upload onto its Instagram Story page on Thursday.
One of Apple Music’s Swift-themed playlists, aptly titled “Taylor Swift Essentials,” has since been updated to include “Fortnight” and “Down Bad,” which other fans think further tease setlist plans. Apple’s official Eras “Setlist” playlist, however, has not been updated to include any TTPD hits.
Swift kicked off her Eras Tour in March 2023, traversing the United States and Central America to perform her sold-out show before beginning the international leg. Following overseas shows in Japan, Australia and Singapore earlier this year, Swift has currently been on a month long hiatus.
The Grammy winner’s next show is in Paris on Thursday, May 9, but she has not publicly revealed if or how the set list is changing to accommodate TTPD. It is also possible that the newly released tracks could pop up during her acoustic “surprise song” section.
