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Taylor Swift had a surprise for you. Sure, you already knew her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was dropping on Friday, April 19, at midnight. What she didn’t tell you in the run-up to the release is that it’s actually a double album.
Two hours after releasing the first 16 tracks of the new studio LP, Swift added 15 more songs to the collection.
“It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album,” she wrote on Instagram and her other social platforms. “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 installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.”
Here’s the track list for the second half of the collection:
“The Black Dog”
“imgonnagetyouback”
“The Albatross”
“Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus”
“How Did It End?”
“So High School”
“I Hate It Here”
“thanK you aIMee”
“I Look in People’s Windows”
“The Prophecy”
“Cassandra”
“Peter”
“The Bolter”
“Robin”
“The Manuscript”
Swift first announced the release date of “The Tortured Poets Department” at the Grammy Awards in February, where she won album of the year for “Midnights.”
While she was accepting the award, she said, “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last TWO years.” When she said the word two, she put up two fingers. In retrospect, it seems likely she was teasing that the collection was actually a double album.
The prolific pop star has released an astounding nine albums in the last five years, including four re-recordings of previous music (her Taylor’s Version albums) and five studio albums. A music video for this new album’s first single, “Fortnight,” will be available on Friday at 8 p.m.
“The Tortured Poets Department” delivers lots of songs with Swift’s signature theme of strength in the midst of heartbreak (including some tattling on former boyfriends). “I love you/It’s ruining my life,” she sings on “Fortnight.”
The fifth track, “So Long, London” is a classic Swift break-up tune. Fans are speculating that it’s about her former boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn. Since the fifth track on her 2019 album, “Lover” (called “London Boy”) might have been about Alwyn, it would make sense that “So Long, London” would be about the end of that relationship.
Here are some of the lyrics:
“I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out
I founded the club she’s heard great things about
I left all I knew you left me at the house by the Heath
I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use
The spirit was gone, we would never come to
And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free”
Of course, fans can speculate all they want. As usual, Swift will no doubt remain coy about who the song’s about!
