Taylor Swift announces surprise new album The Tortured Poets Department will be out 19 April
Taylor Swift has used her acceptance speech at the Grammys to make a surprise announcement: her next album, The Tortured Poets Department, will be released on 19 April.
The 34-year-old singer revealed the existence of her new album while accepting her 13th Grammy for best pop vocal album for her previous album, Midnights.
“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,” the singer said, before announcing The Tortured Poets Department.
Swift uploaded the cover to X after leaving the stage, with a photo of lyrics that read: “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.” The image was signed by “The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department”.
The announcement for The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, mirrors that of Midnights, which Swift revealed while receiving the top honour at the 2022 MTV Video Music awards.
Before the ceremony, there had been speculation that Swift would use an acceptance speech to announce a rerecording of Reputation, continuing her project of re-releasing her past albums in order to regain control of the masters. But as Deadline observed, her announcement of a new album follows her pattern of releasing a new album, then two re-records, followed by new music.
Swift, who has been nominated for 52 Grammys over her career, won two this year, including her fourth album of the year win. She is the first artist to win album of the year four times, surpassing the three wins achieved by Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.
She also holds the record for the most-nominated artist to never win song of the year, having landed her seventh nomination in the category for track Anti-Hero this year. She lost in the category to Billie Eilish, who won with What Was I Made For?
Swift’s astronomical success has seen her dominate music charts and topple longstanding records. In October 2022, she became the first artist ever to land all top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. She has won the most American Music awards in history – 40 awards, followed by Michael Jackson with 26; and holds the record for the most-streamed album in a single day in Spotify history, for Midnights.
She is also the highest-earning female musician of the past decade. Her global Eras tour is likely to cross the $2bn revenue mark this year – which is more than twice as much as the previous highest-grossing tour, by Elton John.