Taylor Swift unveiled her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, revealing it is actually a "double album" that included more than a dozen extra songs just hours after the first installment was released. Swift announced the news in a 2 a.m. ET social media post.
"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album," she posted on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. "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." With the additional tracks from the "secret double album," there are now 31 tracks on Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. Among the new tracks on the secret album are "The Black Dog," "Cassandra," "Peter," "The Albatross," and "I Look In People's Windows."
Swift has hinted at the announcement since she unveiled the album at the Grammys. The clues just were not obvious to fans and media. While accepting the Best Pop Vocal Album award at the podium, she flashed a "V for victory" hand sign in front of everyone, a gesture that was given without much notice.
The two fingers appeared repeatedly throughout Swift's social media marketing for the album—the reason why is now clear. Next up on Swift's schedule is the music video for the lead single from the album "Fortnight," which features Post Malone and will premiere on Friday night. "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," Swift said on social media.
According to the singer, she "can't wait" for people to hear the song, released at midnight on Friday, and watch the video on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The album has been widely predicted to be the biggest seller of 2024, smashing first-week sales records and propelling Swift's fame to new heights. Yet if it does break those records, she will simply be topping her own achievement.
The current record was set by Taylor Swift in October of last year when she released 1989 (Taylor's Version). Billboard's charts showed that the album sold 1.653 million units in its first week, indicating both album sales and streaming.
In addition, it is estimated that Swift is worth $1.1 billion. Thanks to the earnings from her Eras tour as well as the value of her music catalog, Swift became a billionaire in October 2023. The singer has been rerecording old albums to reclaim control over the music she has created after most of her work was sold without her consent.
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