Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," isn't out until Friday, but it's supposedly leaked on social media ahead of its release.
Several accounts online, including X, formerly Twitter, shared a Google Drive link to the alleged leaked album. It features 17 distinct songs, which is the same number of tracks Swift has confirmed for her upcoming album.
Some Swifties claimed that the purportedly leaked tracks were AI-created, while others felt they were real, resulting in 174,000 illegal downloads, according to Taylor Swift Charts.
"Guys, the leaks are AI because this is all for the 'Reputation' (TV) rollout... It's fake guys. It's all part of the plan," one netizen stated.
"The 'Tortured Poets Department' album did NOT leak. Someone made a compilation of AI-generated Taylor Swift-like songs," another netizen shared.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the "1989" artist's followers are pushing others to report the purported leaks rather than engaging with the accounts that distribute them.
"If you happen to come across 'TTPD' leaks, please just block and report the account that's responsible for sharing them. If we were able to wait over two months for this album, we might as well just wait one more day," one Swiftie penned on Twitter.
"If you are listening to 'The Tortured Poets Department' before it officially drops, you are not a real fan. A real fan respects Taylor's work, and this is massively disrespectful," another one opined.
There were also Swifties who utilized their inventiveness to deter individuals who were hunting for the alleged leaked record.
"Stop spreading leaks around. If you see a leak, don't interact with it and just REPORT it. If you interact with them, they get a boost from the [algorithm] and more people will get to see it," one fan posted, disguising the message as "new TTPD lyrics."
The alleged leak came to light after Taylor posted "The TTPD Timetable" on her Instagram feed as a reel.
In the clip, she said that the music video for her album will be published on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
Although Business Times was unable to verify the purported leak, this is not the first time the multi-Grammy-winning singer's album has been leaked online before its official release.
In 2017, her sixth album, "Reputation," was allegedly leaked online around 12 hours before its official release in the United States.
