Taylor Swift announces new album ‘Tortured Poets Department’ at Grammys
The superstar won her 13th Grammy — Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Midnights' — and delivered a bit of news.
Taylor Swift has announced a new album, Tortured Poets Department, out April 19.
The megastar revealed the news at the 2024 Grammys when she took the stage to accept the award for Best Pop Vocal Album (Midnights). The fact that it marks her 13th Grammy win (her lucky number), caused fans to speculate that Swift would make an announcement, with many convinced it would be Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
Instead, she caught us all by surprise by revealing her 11th studio album, the follow-up to Midnights. “I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way,” she said. “But I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans. So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out on April 19. It’s called The Torture Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover. Right now, backstage. Thank you.”
Swift stayed true to her word, posting a black & white cover of her lying in bed. “And so I enter into evidence/My tarnished coat of arms/My muses, acquired like bruises/My talismans and charms/The tick, tick, tick of love bombs/My veins of pitch black ink,” she wrote. “All’s fair in love and poetry/Sincerely, the Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”
On the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Grammys executive producer Raj Kapoor revealed that Swift would definitely not be performing at the ceremony because following the show, she has to hop on a plane to Japan to resume the Eras tour. From there, she’ll immediately head to Las Vegas to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, February 11 — which prompted an uproar from the far right. This is why we can’t have nice things.