Taylor Swift dropped her highly anticipated album “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday — the 11th studio album from the star who is already having a blockbuster year.
“New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out now,” she wrote on her Instagram account, ending the announcement with a heart emoji.
Couple of hours later she posted: “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 had announced the album’s release at the Grammys in February, a night that noticed the 34-year-old billionaire win a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year prize.
With the release of “Tortured Poets” in the United States at midnight Eastern time (0400 GMT Friday), the artist could be on track for a fifth.
Since her announcement, Swift’s dedicated company of Swifties had been working around the clock shelling out fan predictions.
The working theory has been that the album centers on her ex, Joe Alwyn, who Swift dated beginning in 2016 until they broke up about a year ago.
Alwyn (“The Favourite”) and fellow actor Paul Mescal (“Normal People”) disclosed in 2022 that they had a group chat entitled “The Tortured Man Club,” which also contained Andrew Scott (“Fleabag,” “Ripley”).
The Swifties believe their star’s album title is a possible reference to that chat circle.
Before their breakup, Alwyn had numerous songwriting credits on her albums under a pen name, William Bowery.
Swift had already announced the tracklist, with titles including “So Long, London,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
Florence + The Machine is among those ready to create cameos on the album, as is Post Malone, who Swift said Thursday will feature on her first single “Fortnight.”
“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 wrote on Instagram.
Swift said a video companion for the track will come out late Friday after the album released.
Swift has frequently eviscerated her ex in song, including dropping lyrical takedowns of John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Her recent boyfriend, Super Bowl-winning NFL player Travis Kelce, has already honored her new work.
