Swifties were watching intently all over the world on February 4th when world-class singer-songwriter Taylor Swift walked up the stage at the Grammys to receive the award for best pop vocal album.
They hung on every word as Swift thanked the Recording Academy for her thirteenth Grammy award, before announcing the release date of her 11th studio album.
“Okay, this is my thirteenth Grammy, which is my lucky number…I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way,” said the pop superstar. “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret I’ve been keeping for the past two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19th.”
The album is called The Tortured Poets Society, and it has a 16 song tracklist, with a bonus song called “The Manuscript.”
Right after the speech, Swift went backstage to make a post on Instagram with cover art for the album, with a picture of a handwritten poem (or lyrics, say some fans), which she signed off with “Sincerely, the Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”
“I think it’s definitely a new perspective, since it’s more about poetry,” said Abril Rico, a Swifty junior at Glades. “I’m really excited for [the album] to come out.”
Fans had actually been anticipating an announcement for a re-recording of her 2017 album Reputation, whose ownership she lost thanks to her 2019 feud with former manager Scooter Braun in which she lost legal rights over six of her albums.
Moksha Patel, freshman at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High and another self-proclaimed Swiftie, confessed that she was definitely caught by surprise. “I think all of us were expecting Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” she said. “But when she said ‘brand new album’ I was shocked. Like, the really happy type of shocked.”’
A day after the initial announcement, Swift dropped the official tracklist for the album, with titles such as “So Long, London” and “Fortnight.” There is even a track called “Florida!!!” which features Florence + The Machine.
Eagle-eyed fans also pointed out similarities in the song titles to make the prediction that the album surrounds Swift’s former relationship with actor Joe Alwyn, with whom she broke up around April 2023.
It’s too soon to tell exactly what we’ll be getting, but for now, fans will be keeping their eyes peeled for future Easter eggs and red herrings that could reveal more about this mystery album.
