Ever since the release of her 10th album “Midnights,” Taylor Swift had been hinting a new album, which she finally announced as “The Tortured Poets Department” on Feb. 4, 2024, the night of the 66th Grammy Awards. “The Tortured Poets Department,” often dubbed TTPD, started breaking records when it was released on April 19, and it hasn’t stopped. TTPD became the most streamed album in Spotify history in less than one week and “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” has become the most streamed album on Apple Music. With 700 thousand vinyl copies in the first week of its release, TTPD’s sales surpassed Swift’s own record for the largest sales week for an album on vinyl in the modern era, which she held for “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Swifties, Taylor Swift fans, everywhere had been hyping up the release of TTPD, and they stayed up all night on Apr. 19 to hear the album right on its debut. Many even held listening parties with their friends, so they could all experience a new album with fellow Swifties.
“A group of my friends were together,” FHS math teacher Miceala Kaye said. “At 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time, [we pressed] play. [The album] took us a while to listen. It actually took us two hours to listen through it, because we would listen and then we pause and we discuss and then we listen.”
In preparation for the release, Swift released four bonus tracks, each track having its own vinyl variant. She later released these bonus tracks as a part of The Anthology.
Swift had been hinting at something happening at 2 a.m. on her Instagram account, and on April 18, a mysterious countdown appeared on her Instagram, which appeared to be ending at 2 a.m. ET. “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” was released at 2 a.m. ET on April 19, 2024. “I was very surprised because 15 songs is already a long album,” Kaye said. “I was like ‘Oh great! We got basically four more songs.’ When I saw that it was 16 I felt like my jaw was on the floor. I was like ‘That’s nuts. 31 songs, and she’s been touring and re-recording. That’s crazy,’ Kaye said.
As Swift has grown, so has her music style; she started off as a peppy country singer, and since then, her music has grown to a serious but fun mix of genres like synth-pop, folk music and rock music, with a touch of her country roots.
“I kind of feel like it’s taking a lot of inspiration from some other styles from other albums,” FHS freshman Zoe Grant said. “I like that a lot. I feel like there’s a good balance of stuff we heard on Midnights, stuff from Folklore and Evermore and then there’s some stuff from Reputation that feels similar.”
Swift’s most popular song from TTPD is “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone, a popular rapper and singer. This is the first song on her album—currently, the album’s only single. Swift revealed at the Grammys that she had been working on this album for the previous two years, and the number of songs that came out of those two years of poetry was 31 songs. Though 31 seems like a random number, Swifties were very excited about this because 31 is 13 backwards; Swift’s favorite number is 13. Swift has left many more easter eggs in her Instagram posts and in her new music video since, which many of her fans enjoy hunting.
“A lot of stuff that I saw was easter eggs from the Fortnight music video,” Grant said. “So there’s a couple of callbacks to things from other albums, like the “Style” face or like the Grammy dress so I like that stuff.”
Even after the two albums were released weeks ago, the singer continues to break records and release easter eggs, which are clues leading to what she does next with her music. But for now, she has her new albums and new music for everyone to enjoy.
