Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, may contain references to Matty Healy and Harry Styles – here’s what Swifties think are clues revealed by the pop star

Apr 18, 2024

What are the fan theories surrounding Taylor Swift’s upcoming studio album, The Tortured Poets Department? Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram

Taylor Swift’s 11th album, which will feature Post Malone and Florence + the Machine, will be released on April 19 – and as usual she appears to have left a trail of clues for fans to decipher

Fans noted that the release date is the same day last year that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds unfollowed her ex Joe Alwyn on social media after dining with Swift

Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album is on the horizon.

While onstage at the 2024 Grammy Awards to accept the award for best pop vocal album, which she won for her 2022 release Midnights, Swift announced that a brand new album titled The Tortured Poets Department will arrive on April 19.

Soon after leaving the stage, Swift shared the album cover on social media.

“All’s fair in love and poetry …” Taylor Swift wrote on Instagram. Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram

She also shared a prologue, which seems to be comprised of unreleased lyrics: “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.”

“All’s fair in love and poetry,” she concluded. “Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”

The album cover of The Tortured Poets Department, shared by Taylor Swift. Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram

The album will have 16 songs, four bonus tracks, and two features: Post Malone is featured on track one, “Fortnight”, while Florence + the Machine is featured on track eight, “Florida!!!”

Fans are already dissecting the album announcement and the track list for Easter eggs. Indeed, several song titles indicate The Tortured Poets Department will be a true break-up album, with callbacks to old love songs in Swift’s catalogue.

Here are some of the many fan theories about Swift’s new album.