Taylor Swift’s album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ drops Friday — everything you need to know
Are you ready for it?
Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” is about to turn us all into wannabe bards when it is dropped from the pop heavens.
The LP got the grandest of announcements on the Grammy stage in February — after Swift won Best Pop Vocal Album for 2022’s “Midnights.”
“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19,” Swift, 34, said while cradling her lucky 13th gramophone. “It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ I’m gonna go post the cover backstage.”
Of course, Swift would go on to win a record fourth Album of the Year Grammy — her 14th gramophone overall — for “Midnights.” But ever the marketing boss that she is, she went right into launching her next era — and Swifties all over are here for it.
While no singles or videos have been released from “The Tortured Poets Department,” here’s everything you need to know before the latest Taylor takeover.
What time will the album drop?
“The Tortured Poets Department” will be released Friday at 12:01 a.m.
When did she announce the album?
Swift announced the new album while accepting her 13th Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for ‘Midnights’ in February.
What is the track list?
Beginning with “Fortnight” and ending with “Clara Bow,” the 16 tracks on “The Tortured Poets Department” represent a special number for Swift: That’s the age Baby Tay was when she released her first single, “Tim McGraw,” and her self-titled debut album in 2006. But there’s also a bonus track, “The Manuscript,” on the standard edition of the LP.
Here’s the full track list.
“Fortnight”
“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!!!”
“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”
“The Manuscript” (bonus track)
Will there be explicit songs?
There were no explicit tracks on any Swift album until her eighth studio LP, 2020’s “Folklore,” when she was 30. But there are a saucy seven on “The Tortured Poets Department,” including the title tune.
Who are the collaborators?
Only T-Swizzle could unite hip-hop folkie Post Malone and alt-rock goddess Florence Welch on one album, which is exactly what she does when the “Rockstar” singer and Florence + the Machine crash the party on “Fortnight” and “Florida!!!” respectively.
How many editions will be available?
In addition to the standard version, there are three alternate editions with different album covers and bonus tracks: “The Bolter Edition,” “The Albatross Edition” and “The Black Dog Edition.”
Which musicians already have song credits?
The songwriting credits for the album reveal that Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff and the National lead singer Aaron Dessner are once again in Swift’s songwriting squad. Antonoff, who has been collaborating with the superstar since 2014’s “1989,” is listed as a co-writer on eight of the 16 standard tunes, while Dessner — who hopped aboard the Taylor train for 2020’s “Folklore” — lent his indie bona fides to five songs.
Will songs be about ex Joe Alwyn?
Of course, Swift has a long history of writing about her exes on her albums — or so we think — from John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal to Joe Jonas and Harry Styles. But it’s Joe Alwyn, the British actor who the singer dated from 2016 to 2023, who is rumored to be the target of her pen on “The Tortured Poets Department.”
There’s even one song called “So Long, London” — a goodbye to the city where they once lived together. And just to show you how deep those Swift Easter eggs can be hidden, that track is 9 minutes and 28 seconds — which happens to line up with when the exes are rumored to have started dating on Sept. 28, 2016.
Alwyn is also rumored to figure in the album title, which seemingly puts a snarky spin on the name of a group chat, “The Tortured Man Club,” that he had with his fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.
Who is Clara Bow?
The album’s final track is named after the silent film star Clara Bow, who took the Hollywood Golden Age by storm in the 1920s and was known as the It girl. The O.G. flapper rocking bright red lips — something Swift has famously favored — she is considered an early pioneer of sexual freedom for women.
