Sienna Miller | News Editor
February 6, 2o24
Hate or love her, Taylor Swift is one of the biggest stars of our generation. She released 10 studio albums tracking back to 2006 and has sold 114 million copies. Last Sunday on February 4th, she broke the record for winning the most Album of the Year Grammy titles (a total of four times).
During her acceptance speech for her first Grammy award of the night, she shocks fans by announcing her new album, releasing April 19th, 2024. It is called “Tortured Poets Society,” and Swift has supposedly been crafting the album for two years now.
Swift’s current boyfriend and her entire close friend’s circle made their profile pictures on Instagram black and white near the time of the Grammys. Fans speculated that this action implied an announcement of the re-release of Reputation (Taylor Version)—an album that had been stolen from her by record executive Scooter Bran. Ever since Midnight’s release, fans predicted that this would be her album drop.
Despite anticipation from the Swifties (who are often correct in their predictions), Swift did something no one saw coming and announced an entirely new album with the same color scheme to trick fans. However, some are skeptical of this new album due to the long, dramatic title. Junior Cora Gehret noted that, “this album name doesn’t match her other albums. It just feels like a desperate reach that didn’t quite work. She could have named it something much better.”
Yet, some recognize that this album may be similar to fan-favorite Folklore due to its seemingly poetic nature. Additionally, fans are longing to hear about what happened with Joe Alwyn—her 6-year relationship that abruptly ended this past year.
Many suggest that he hated hiding behind her fame and the celebrity life in general. Song titles like “So Long London” and “My Boy Breaks His Favorite Toys” are speculated to be about Alwyn. Some songs could also potentially give us insight into Swift’s new relationship with Travis Kelce. While still in the honeymoon phase, it is theorized that tracks “Loml” and “Down Bad” are about her new, healthy relationship.
And although a majority of people believe Swift solely writes about love and her exes, many of these song titles infer differently. Songs like “Clara Bow” who was a 1920s It Girl are surmised to be about feminism in the celebrity industry. Clara was famous during the silent films, which may infer something about silencing women and treating them like a trophy and object that is won. Not to mention, both Swift and Bow are both successful, famous women in a “man’s world.”
The track list also has notable collaborations, including Post Malone- a very unexpected artist that is featured in the album. Fans of both Malone and Swift ponder how the two will combine their very different music styles. Another feature is Florence and the Machine whose styles correlate a little more to Swift’s with her elaborate lyrics and creative productions. Although, fans were very disappointed to learn that neither Gracie Abrams nor Sabrina Carpenter is on this new album.
“I’ve seen so many people reposting her new album on Instagram right after the Grammys,” said Junior Elora Aguliar. “It’s taking over my entire Instagram feed. That’s how powerful she is. And I’m glad she has released so much music in the last couple of years. It seems like she really enjoys writing.”
Taylor ended her Grammy speech for Album of the Year by saying, “I would love to tell you that this is the best moment of my life but I feel this happy when I finish a song or crack the code to a bridge that I love.” There are a lot of things people say about Swift, but no one can deny her passion for music. Many claim Swift’s music to be generic and shallow but fans believe that this album will change their view with her poetic, strategic language.
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