What to Know About Taylor Swift's New Album 'The Tortured Poets Department'

Taylor Swift at the 2024 Grammys

A new Taylor Swift album, The Tortured Poets Department, is about to be unleashed.

Swift announced the project at the 2024 Grammys when she won her 13th award (she eventually landed her 14th with Album of the Year at the end of the night).

While Swifties expected her to announce Reputation (Taylor's Version), she instead revealed that she'd been secretly working on a brand new project, The Tortured Poets Department, for two years.

Find out everything to know about Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department, including possible song meanings and who it will be about.

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Who is Tortured Poets Department about?

The Tortured Poets Department is widely believed to be inspired largely by Swift's relationship and split from Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years, co-songwriter and muse for almost all of the love songs on her releases from Reputation to Midnights. This is further suspected because on the cover art of The Tortured Poets Department, text reads "I LOVE YOU, IT'S RUINING MY LIFE," which fans think may be a callback to "Cruel Summer" on the Alwyn-inspired Lover, in which she sings, "I love you / Ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"

"Tortured Poets" may also refer to the poets Swift previously referenced on folklore bonus track "The Lakes."

The album title is also believed to an exceedingly thinly-veiled reference to Alwyn: He previously revealed that he and actors Paul Mescal (himself an ex of Swift's pal Phoebe Bridgers) and Andrew Scott had a group chat called "The Tortured Men Club," referencing their characters onscreen. Considering Swift also shaded Alwyn in her TIME Person of the Year profile, it's safe to say he may want to go further into hiding this spring.

There may also be some tracks about Matty Healy. Swift briefly rebounded with The 1975 frontman after her split from Alwyn and seemed serious enough with him to mouth "I love you" onstage and introduce him to her father—but dropped him like a hot potato when comments he made about racist and misogynist pornography and rapper Ice Spice on a podcast resurfaced. Swift then famously put Ice Spice on a "Karma" remix and her association with Healy was quickly forgotten by many.

If there are happy songs, we can assume that Travis Kelce may be a muse as well.

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How many songs are on The Tortured Poets Department?

The Tortured Poets Department will have 16 songs. Physical releases will also include the bonus track "The Manuscript."

There's no word yet on if Swift will announce more editions in the future with even more songs like she did with Midnights.

Related: Taylor Swift Midnights Easter Eggs and Song Meanings

When is Taylor Swift's new album release date?

The Tortured Poets Department drops on April 19, 2024. Coincidentally, it's a year to the day that her breakup from Alwyn was reported publicly for the first time. Or maybe not coincidentally...

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When does The Tortured Poets Department come out?

The Tortured Poets Department releases on April 19, 2024.

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What is The Tortured Poets Department cover?

The front cover art for The Tortured Poets Department features a black and white photo of Swift wearing Elizabeth and James underwear and a tank top partly falling down her right shoulder. She lies down on a a light-colored bed or sofa. Only the lower half of her face is visible.

The back cover of The Tortured Poets Department features a photo of Swift's face in profile, once more in gray scale, along with the track list (see below) and text that reads, "I LOVE YOU, IT'S RUINING MY LIFE." Her head rests on her left hand.

As is her usual, Swift is releasing different versions of the album, each with different cover art and tracks.

One of these is

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What is The Tortured Poets Department tracklist?

Divided into four sides (for the vinyl release), The Tortured Poets Department track list has 16 songs total. Physical releases will also include a bonus track called "The Manuscript."

Side A
1. "Fortnight" (feat. Post Malone)
2. "The Tortured Poets Department"
3. "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"
4. "Down Bad"

Side B
5. "So Long, London"
6. "But Daddy I Love Him"
7. "Fresh Out the Slammer"
8. "Florida!!!" (feat. Florence and the Machine)

Side C
9. "Guilty as Sin?"
10. "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"
11. "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"
12. "loml"

Side D
13. "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart"
14. "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived"
15. "The Alchemy"
16. "Clara Bow"
Bonus Track (depending on version): "The Manuscript," "The Bolter" or "The Albatross"

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What type of album is Tortured Poets Department?

The Tortured Poets Department will be an original release, not a re-recording, and comes in four variations, detailed below.

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What are The Tortured Poets Department editions?

Like most other recent Swift releases, The Tortured Poets Department will have several different versions with slight variations to encourage Swifties to shell out more cash and buy multiple copies. Her mind! (She didn't become a billionaire by accident.)

Physical editions of The Tortured Poets Department (vinyl, CD and cassette) will all include the bonus track "The Manuscript."

Vinyl copies of The Tortured Poets Department will include a 24-page booklet, collectible album sleeves and two Ghosted vinyl discs for $34.99.

The Tortured Poets Department CD edition includes a 20-page booklet and a 10-inch double-sided poster for $12.99.

The Tortured Poets Department cassettes come with a sleeve that has some never-before-seen photos for $19.99.

The Tortured Poets Department digital standard edition is $11.99 and don't include any extras, but will do a little less damage to the planet (though her private jet certainly would do more anyway).

On Feb. 23, Swift announced that yet another version with the bonus track "The Albatross" (in place of "The Manuscript") would be available as a limited edition starting on Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. ET. The pre-order window ends after that weekend, similarly to "The Bolter" option.

The Tortured Poets Department with "The Albatross" is available on CD, cassette and vinyl, with Swift saying it's because she loves "options."

A week earlier, Swift announced a separate version with the bonus track "The Bolter," making it available on her website for a limited time for pre-order. It is no longer available, as will be the pattern for "The Albatross" and likely more versions in the lead-up to The Tortured Poets Department's release in April.

The singer's love of options seems to benefit her exclusively, as many Swifties have expressed disappointment over how many copies they'd need to buy of the same album to have a full breadth of the work. Swift's talents, beyond songwriting and musicianship, include creating a sense of scarcity for her die-hard Swifties to assuage with additional purchases, thereby bolstering her first-week sales numbers and records and keeping her safe in her billionaire, private jet bubble.

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