(New York) The queen of pop Taylor Swift released a new album on Friday, the eleventh opus by the American country singer who became a global megastar, shattering records one after the other.
“Everything is fair in love and poetry… The new album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is available now,” she wrote on Instagram.
Two hours later, she posted: “This is a 2 a.m. surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret double album.
“I’ve been writing a lot of tortured poetry over the last couple of years and I wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second part of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 additional songs. And now the story is no longer mine… it’s all yours,” she told her fans, the “Swifties.”
The star announced her release in February during the Grammy Awards ceremony, the prestigious American music awards where she won the trophy for best album of the year for the fourth time.
The album features collaborations with British rock band Florence + The Machine and American rapper Post Malone, who accompanies her on the first track Fortnight (” Two weeks “).
“I am a very big admirer of Post because of his quality as an author, his musical experiments and these melodies that he composes and which stay in your head forever,” the singer wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
“I had the opportunity to see this magic come to life when we worked together on Fortnight “, she added, announcing the release of a music video late Friday.
At 34, Taylor Swift became the first artist to become a billionaire in early 2024 thanks to income from her music alone.
An ex, rap and rock
Among the theories circulating about this new album: The Tortured Poets Department would open up about the singer’s ex, the British actor Joe Alwyn. The name of the opus would be taken from a group discussion named The Tortured Man Club that the actor held with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, two other actors.
The list of tracks, 31 in total, gives some clues: So Long, London, I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) And The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, an Englishman actually seems involved in the affair.
Announcing the album’s release, Taylor Swift wrote: “An anthology of new works that reflect the events, opinions and feelings of a fleeting, fatalistic moment that was both sensational and sad in equal parts.” This period of the author’s life is now over.”
Coming back, without taking any gloves off, on her former companions has become a tradition for Taylor Swift.
His current companion is football star Travis Kelce, recent Super Bowl winner. And for him, the new album “is incredible”.
PHOTO PATRICK T. FALLON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
With her new Grammy victory in February, Taylor Swift did better than American legends like Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon or Stevie Wonder.
Nearly 20 years after she started, nothing seems to be able to stop her.
His world tour, Erasshould bring in a total of two billion dollars in revenue, after having already broken the symbolic ceiling of one billion last year, a historic first.
In China, fans were able to participate in offline listening sessions of the new album in more than 30 cities. On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of X, famous pop singer Jane Zhang shared a link to the album, commenting: “This album is my cup of tea.”
Three weeks after Beyoncé
The Pennsylvania native has been writing songs since she was a teenager, getting her start in the country capital of Nashville.
By gradually moving away from this very American style, she is climbing the rankings. In 2018, she left the Big Machine label and joined Universal, without the rights to her previous albums.
By re-recording her first records to regain control, she managed to convince her admirers and the music industry, another tour de force for this essential artist.
With 283 million subscribers on Instagram, she is so influential among American youth that the political world is beginning to imagine the impact she could have on the presidential election in November.
Her new album landed on platforms three weeks after that of another American icon: Beyoncé and her Cowboy Carter. This new opus with rich country influences could be a competitor for the next Grammy. With perhaps, also, the new album of another star: Billie Eilish is released Hit Me Hard and Soft on May 17.