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So far, 2024 has been an exciting year for music in the realm of artists announcing the releases of new projects. Ariana Grande’s new album, Eternal Sunshine, just released on March 8th. In addition to the lineup for this spring, the band Wallows is set to release their third album on May 24, titled MODEL.
The mastermind of surprise, Taylor Swift announced her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on the night of the Grammys back in February. While on-stage receiving an award for Best Pop Vocal Album, Taylor was proud to introduce a new album set to release next month on April 19. This news came as a huge shock to fans who were highly expecting Taylor to announce the re-recording of one of her older albums, Reputation. Regardless, all the fans are delighted, anticipating what could become a new “era” of music coming from Taylor Swift.
As a fellow fan, the first aspect that struck out to me was obviously the title! The Tortured Poets Department is a strong and dramatic title coming from Taylor who usually opts for minimalistic and one-word titles such as Red, Lover, or Midnights. Even the word “Poets” in the name implies what the album will consist of. Fans speculate that the new songs will heavily focus on lyricism and metaphorical songwriting to indulge in a heavily emotional and vulnerable record.
In addition to the cover and album title on stage, a written letter was also posted on Taylor Swift’s instagram page serving as a teaser for the new project. Tayor begins her poem by stating, “And so I enter into evidence, my tarnished coat of arms,” which sets a very melancholy tone and alludes to something being damaged, potentially referencing her recent breakup out of a serious 6 year relationship with actor, Joe Alwyn. The phrase “All’s fair in love and poetry…” is added before Taylor signs off her letter which references a famous tagline that goes, “All’s fair in love and war.” Essentially, this quote is used to describe a situation in which people don’t follow the rules or commit something seemingly unfair in order to get ahead of a hard situation. To me, the teaser is giving breakup album vibes all over and I am very intrigued about Taylor’s perspective on the topic. It seems like she’s the person in this situation who had to risk walking out of a relationship in order to move forward in her career or seek happiness and it’s interesting to see how she’ll place that theme into lyrics and songs.