Taylor Swift has sent fans into meltdown by dropping 15 new surprise songs just two hours after the release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department.
The singer announced on Instagram that her latest record was actually a surprise ‘double album,’ after sparking a flurry of speculation by posting a countdown clock on social media.
Captioning the post, Taylor told her followers that she’d written ‘so much tortured poetry in the past two years’ that she wanted to share it with her fans.
Sharing the double album was called The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, she wrote: ‘It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️
‘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.
Taylor Swift has sent fans into meltdown by dropping 15 new surprise songs just two hours after the release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department
Fans were already fraught with excitement when Taylor hinted another announcement was looming, just two hours after the release of her latest album.
After the 34-year-old superstar’s 16-track project dropped at midnight, Swift’s fans noticed that a two-hour countdown went live on her Instagram page.
It seemingly suggests a potential new announcement or a surprise coming at 2:00. a.m. ET.
The singer has dropped numerous hints in the past days that the 2:00 a.m. hour has a special meaning.
Many fans also speculated that the star might be planning to release her version of her 2017 album Reputation, in the same way she’s been re-recording her former records amid a battle for ownership of her work.
Fans were already fraught with excitement when Taylor hinted another announcement was looming, just two hours after the release of her latest album
After her 16-track project dropped at midnight, Swift’s fans noticed that a two-hour countdown went live on her Instagram page
Swift has teased the 2:00 o’clock on numerous occasions in the past weeks.
In a teaser video for the release of the album she had a clock on the wall which was stuck at the 2:00 o’clock hour. Fans pointed out that in that same clip she also had two stars around the name of the album.
The clocks at the library pop-up and in her mysterious Fortnight music video announcement from earlier this week have all been set to 2 o’clock as well.
At her Tortured Poets Spotify library installation in Los Angeles there was a peace-sign statuette as well as another clock set to 2 o’clock.
Swift also made a two sign during her Grammys acceptance speech, the same night she announced the album for the first time.
Other fans pointed out that the Tortured Poets Department logo itself looks like a Roman numeral two.
A visual showing the album name also popped up on her account on Thursday.
Swifties have been speculating since October about when the singer will announce and release her fifth ‘Taylor’s Version’ album. She released her fourth re-recorded album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) last October.
The star initially announced that she would re-record earlier versions of her albums in 2019, after Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records and her catalog of master recordings.
Swift re-recorded four of her albums – Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989 – and renamed them by adding ‘Taylor’s Version’ at the end of the album name.
It seemingly suggests a potential new announcement or a surprise coming at 2:00. a.m. ET. The singer has dropped numerous hints in the past days that the 2:00 a.m. hour has a special meaning
Swift has teased the 2:00 o’clock on numerous occasions. In a teaser video for the release of the album she had a clock on the wall which was stuck at the 2:00 hour
Fans pointed out that in that same clip she also had two stars around the name of the album
At her Tortured Poets Spotify library installation in Los Angeles there was a peace-sign statuette as well as another clock set to 2 o’clock
Other fans pointed out that the Tortured Poets Department logo itself looks like a Roman numeral two
A visual showing the album name also popped up on her account
Reputation is her sixth studio album, released on November 10, 2017. It was her last album under Big Machine Records.
She now only has two previous albums left to re-release: her self-titled debut album Taylor Swift from 2006, and Reputation.
As her new album hit streaming platforms Thursday night, Swift published a lengthy statement on Instagram where she described it as ‘an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.’
She continued: ‘This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted.
‘This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.
‘And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry,’ concluded Swift, as she announced: ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is out now.’
Along with her thought provoking words, the lyricist shared a slideshow of gorgeous black-and-white portraits as part of the album’s artwork.
The Bad Blood songstress – who recently teased a ‘timetable’ to her fans ahead of the LP’s release – initially announced the album while attending the 2024 Grammys earlier this year in February.
The title of her latest work had caused fans to speculate that the name was aimed at her ex, Joe Alwyn. And earlier this week, Swift appeared to reference the actor as she shared lyrics from the album on X.
Fans took online trying to figure out the meaning of the countdown
The Tortured Poets Department has a total of four versions, as well as a 16 songs and a bonus track titled The Manuscript.
Hours before the album dropped, Swift revealed that the album’s lead single would be Fortnight featuring rapper/singer Post Malone.
She also released a moody teaser for the song’s music video, which will be released Friday at 8pm EST.
While taking to the Grammys stage two months earlier, Swift sent Swifties into a frenzy as she revealed that a new album was on the way.
She did so while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. ‘I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I have been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19th,’ she told the audience.
‘It’s called The Tortured Poet’s Department. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage,’ she excitedly concluded.
At the time, she shared a black and white album cover photo – which showed Taylor laying in a bed while sporting a black shirt and shorts. A stream of light could also be seen shining down on her.
In the captioned, she had penned, ‘All’s fair in love and poetry… New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19,’ followed by a white heart emoji.
Since then, she has announced three additional versions of The Tortured Poets Department: The Bolter, The Albatross and The Black Dog. Each version – which could be pre-ordered by listeners – also contain an exclusive track.
One day after her album announcement, Swift dropped the official track list to the LP. She also has collaborations with other artists such as Post Malone on Fortnight and Florence & The Machine on the song called Florida!!!
As the album hit streaming platforms Thursday night, Swift published a lengthy statement on Instagram where she described it as ‘an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time’
The Tortured Poets Department has a total of four versions, as well as a 16 songs and a bonus track titled The Manuscript
As if 16 songs weren’t enough, fans learned Thursday that Swift included a ‘summary poem’ with the album, where she appears to allude to the end of her and Alwyn’s relationship as well as the fling with rocker Matty Healy that kicked off soon after.
Swift did not confirm that ‘Fortnight’ would be the album’s lead single until Thursday as she unveiled the cover artwork on social media.
‘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,’ she raved.
‘I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on ‘Fortnight’,’ added Swift.
Soon after, the Pennsylvania-born beauty teased the single’s black-and-white music video that stars both Swift and collaborator Post Malone.
