Taylor Swift‘s lead single from her much-anticipated new album The Tortured Poets Department is her first ever collaboration with Post Malone.
The 28-year-old rapper landed appearances on both Taylor’s new album and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter on the back of his fifth studio album, Austin, last year.
Fortnight kicks off the album as the first of two features with Florence + The Machine appearing on the eighth track, Florida!!!
Post, real name Austin Richard Post, has built an unlikely friendship with the Anti-Hero hitmaker on shared anxieties and mutual admiration.
Dive into their unconventional friendship below…
Taylor Swift ‘s lead single from her much-anticipated new album The Tortured Poets Department is a first ever collaboration with Post Malone on Fortnight
Fortnight kicks off the album as the first of two features with Florence + The Machine appearing on the eighth track, Florida !!!
Taylor and Post met in 2018 at the Billboard Music Awards, where both scooped prizes – the former for Top Female Artist and Top Selling Album and the latter for Top Rap Song (both pictured on the night)
The pair met backstage at the Billboard Music Awards in 2018, following Post’s breakthrough album Beerbongs & Bentleys.
Their admiration for one another was immediately apparent.
The Better Now singer recounted the moment in an October 2023 interview on The Howard Stern Show.
He said: ‘We were just passing by and she was like, “Oh my god! Nice to see you. Better Now is f***ing amazing.”
‘I was like, “What?’ That’s f***ing crazy, you’re a great f***ing songwriter! Thank you so very much.
‘There’s so many beautiful artists in the world and for another artist to acknowledge that is a really, really special thing.
‘That was a really cool moment and it was very inspiring.’
Their paths crossed again when both were up for Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards – which Taylor won on the back of her seventh studio album, Lover.
After Taylor announced the tracklist for the album, and with it the Post Malone feature, the rapper reposted the ‘manuscript’ (above) with heart emojis
Posty performed live at the Super Bowl (pictured) as Taylor saw boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs win the title. She was caught arm-in-arm with Blake Lively swaying to America The Beatiful during her friend’s performance
She was also honoured as Artist of the Decade, after which she made sure to grab a hug from Malone.
In the following years, Post’s creative path mirrored that trodden by Swift a few years earlier.
His 2022 album Twelve Carat Toothache tells the story of a superstar wishing to confront his fame.
He told Billboard: ‘I’ve made a lot of compromises, especially musically, but now I don’t feel like I want to anymore. I don’t need a No. 1; that doesn’t matter to me no more, and at a point, it did.’
This bears resemblance to Taylors 2017 LP, Reputation – coincidentally the title of the opening track on Twelve Carat Toothache, with the lyrics: ‘I got a reputation that I can’t deny / You’re the superstar, entertain us.’
The same year, rumours began to swirl about a potential collaboration between Taylor and Post, with the latter following the megastar on TikTok, making her one of just 31 accounts he followed at the time.
Shortly after Post’s next album – released July 2023 – the pair hung out with Taylor’s boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes.
He recalled the star-studded encounter telling Howard Stern they had a game of beer pong.
‘She is genuinely one of the most kind and considerate and a f***ing hell of a songwriter.’
In the new year, on February 4, as Taylor collected her 13th Grammy Award, she dropped the news that she was releasing a new album.
A day later, she released the 16-strong tracklist, revealing the Post Malone feature.
He reposted the ‘manuscript’ to Instagram and captioned the post with heart emojis.
Ahead of the Super Bowl a few days later, Posty interviewed with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and said that Taylor is ‘so sweet and so kind and talented’.
He added that his involvement in The Tortured Poets Department was a no-brainer.
‘She hit me up and said, “Let’s do it” and I’m like, “Hell yeah”,’ he explained.
On the day of the Chiefs’ win over the San Francisco 49ers, Posty performed on the pitch and Taylor was caught arm-in-arm with Blake Lively swaying to America The Beatiful, and they all reconvened at a Las Vegas after-party to celebrate.
Taylor revealed that her collab with the rapper would be the new album’s lead single on the eve of its release.
Breaking the news on social media she said: ‘I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation, and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever.
‘I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight.’
The single is set to extend Taylor’s record as the artist with more Billboard chart appearances than anyone else.
Dropping at 12am EST on April 19, The Tortured Poets Department is an ensemble of songs offering fans a glimpse into the demise of the songstress’ six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn, as well as touching on her fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
She appears to takes aim at both referencing the ‘life-ruining, worst men’.
Fans rushed to stream the 16-track album when it was released to platforms on Thursday night – or Friday morning – so they could finally learn the details of Swift’s latest failed romances.
But they were then sent into meltdown by a whole new countdown for two hours later, with fans concocting frenzied theories that another album was on the way.
And they were not far off, as at 2am EST the artist revealed that The Tortured Poets Department was actually a double album – ‘The Anthology’.
Taylor wrote: ‘I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.’
Amid the huge excitement, some fans were left enraged having spent hundreds of dollars on multiple albums of the regular edition.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: TRACK-BY-TRACK
Fortnight
A tuneful duet with Post Malone and a song seemingly about a two-week fling. The slow, electronic rhythms set the early tone.
The Tortured Poets Department
Another shimmering melody, and lyrics which suggest that Taylor, modestly, doesn’t see herself at the top table of tortured poets: ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, and I’m not Patti Smith.’
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Written solely by Swift, this song’s dense electronic hum adds forceful notes. ‘Once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me,’ she vows.
Down Bad
‘Everything comes out teenage petulance,’ sings Taylor as she bitterly surveys the fallout from an old relationship.
So Long, London
The first track to be written with The National’s Aaron Dessner brings a change of pace, with a lovely, choral intro. ‘So long, London, you’ll find someone,’ sings Taylor.
This is her first new album since the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and, while she doesn’t mention Alwyn by name, speculation will be rife that tracks such as So Long, London are about him. Pictured together in 2019
But Daddy I Love Him
‘I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want,’ sings Swift, showing wry humour as she admits to falling for the bad boys. Produced, with real brightness, by Dessner.
Fresh Out The Slammer
Finger-picked acoustic guitar adds folky notes reminiscent of lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore.
Florida!!!
An album highlight, this theatrical duet with London singer Florence Welch is an uplifting song of escape – from small-town life and a bad romance.
Guilty As Sin?
A tale of unrequited love, and a superb slice of 1980s-style soft rock. It even mentions The Downtown Lights, a 1989 single by Scottish band The Blue Nile.
Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
Big drums, a dramatic arrangement, and more dry humour in another song penned solely by Swift. ‘You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,’ she snarls.
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
A moody, stripped-down number worthy of Lana Del Rey, who has also worked extensively with the song’s producer, Jack Antonoff.
The Alchemy: Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. Pictured at Coachella this week
Loml
‘You said I’m the love of your life,’ sings Taylor on this warm, resonant piano ballad. In a smart twist, the ‘loml’ ultimately becomes ‘the loss of my life’.
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
More 1980s influences on an electronic pop track that sees Taylor vowing to remain a trouper, despite any romantic strife.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
‘You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man,’ sings a disdainful Swift on a melodramatic ballad.
The Alchemy
Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. ‘When I touch down, call the amateurs and cut them from the team,’ she sings.
Clara Bow
It’s tempting to think Taylor sees something of herself in a closing track inspired by an American actress of the 1920s who lived her life in the Hollywood goldfish bowl.
