Taylor Swift surprises fans with ‘secret’ double album The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated record The Tortured Poets Department on Friday — the 11th studio album from the megastar who is already having a blockbuster year.

“New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out now,” she wrote on her Instagram account, ending the announcement with a heart emoji.

Two hours later she posted: “It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album.

“I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second instalment of TTPD: The Anthology.

15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.“ Swift had revealed the album’s release at the Grammys in February, a night that saw the 34-year-old billionaire win a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year prize.

With the drop of Tortured Poets, the artist could be on track for a fifth.

Since her bombshell announcement, her loyal legion of Swifties has been working around the clock shelling out fan predictions.

The working theory is that the album centres on her ex, British actor Joe Alwyn, who Swift dated starting in 2016 until they broke up about a year ago.

Alwyn and fellow actor Paul Mescal (who starred in Normal People) revealed in 2022 that they had a group chat entitled The Tortured Man Club, which also included Andrew Scott (from Fleabag and Ripley).

The Swifties think their queen’s album title is a likely reference to that text circle.

Before their breakup, Alwyn had multiple songwriting credits on her albums under a pen name, William Bowery.

Swift had already revealed the tracklist, with titles including ‘So Long, London’, ‘I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)’ and ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’.

Florence + The Machine is among those set to make cameos on the album, as is Post Malone, who Swift said will feature on her first single ‘Fortnight’. “I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever,” she wrote on Instagram.

Swift said a video companion for the track will come out late Friday after the album drops.

Shake up the world

Swift has repeatedly eviscerated her former lovers in song, including dropping lyrical takedowns of John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Her current beau, Super Bowl-winning NFL player Travis Kelce, has already praised her new work.

“I have heard some of it, yes, and it’s unbelievable,” he told reporters in February.

“I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops.” Swift has already had an earth-shattering past year or so, staging the first billion-dollar tour with her ongoing series of Eras concerts, breaking myriad chart records and making Grammy history.