Taylor Swift stated that she is "free" of heartbreak after recording her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department."
Taylor, 34, took to social media just after midnight on April 19, to explain the concept behind her latest album.
“The Tortured Poets Department. An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions, and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure. This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up,” she wrote alongside several black and white photos of herself. “There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted.”
“This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry,” she continued. The caption continued with Taylor announcing the album's formal release.
The caption is one of the few comments the "Cruel Summer" singer has made about the record. While Taylor seemingly let fans use their imagination to decide what each song is about, many took to social media to speculate that the songs detailed her brief fling with Matty Healy.
The couple dated from May to June 2023, having previously had an alleged fling in 2014, Life and Style reported. “It’s so good I want to forget it’s about Matty Healy so it’s not ruined,” one person wrote via X while discussing the album. Another added, “Omfg it’s about Matty.”
Many Swifties were expecting the album to describe the end of Taylor's romance with Joe Alwyn, so the alleged inspiration for several of the new songs will undoubtedly surprise them. After six years of dating, the couple ended their relationship in April of 2023.
While the "Enchanted" singer is unlikely to break her silence on who inspired each song, she did reveal the album's first single mere hours before its release.
“The first single from The Tortured Poets Department is … Fortnight featuring @postmalone,” she captioned a photo of herself with Post Malone via Instagram. “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. I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on ‘Fortnight.’”
She ended the remark by saying she "honestly can't wait for you guys to hear this song at Midnight," and that the music video would be released on April 19 at 8 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift's new album, "Tortured Poets Department," is finally here, and it's packed with sorrowful lyrics and easter eggs.
While most songs were expected to be about Swift's longtime lover and ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, it turns out that her brief romance with 1975's Matty Healy takes center stage in this new album.
The title track also references Swift's brief romance with the artist.
'Tortured Poets Department' Easter Eggs
1. Typewriter
Taylor begins the title tune, "The Tortured Poets Department," with the line, "you left your typewriter at my apartment," a dig to Healy, who previously stated in a GQ interview that he enjoys writing songs on typewriters.
She continues with the line, "I think some things I never say/'Like who uses typewriters anyway?'"
2. Self-Sabotage Mode
The 34-year-old musician also discusses the song's muse being in "self-sabotage mode," which could refer to the frontman's problematic actions during and after their relationship.
These warning flags include ridiculing Swift's best friend Ice Spice, performing the Nazi salute, kissing fans during shows, consuming raw flesh, and confessing to watching "brutalized" women in pornography.
3. Chelsea Hotel
In the chorus, the new billionaire sings: "I laughed in your face and said/ "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith/ This ain't the Chelsea Hotel/ We're modern idiots."
The sentence could be interpreted as self-deprecating, since the vocalist claims that the two artists are not on the same level as these literary titans, but rather "modern idiots." Thomas and Smith, both of whom lived in the Chelsea Hotel, are well-known poets.
4. Chocolate
In the second stanza, the "Eras Tour" hitmaker wrote the lyric, "You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate." Healy is a noted smoker, and his band's 2013 hit "Chocolate" is a major hit.
5. Tattooed Golden Retriever
Taylor also refers to her muse as a "tattooed golden retriever" in "TTPD," which appears to be a dig to the 35-year-old artist's numerous tattoos.
6. Boygenius
According to Parade, Healy is friends with boygenius, and the lines "Lucy" and "Jack" in the bridge of "The Tortured Poets Department" could refer to Lucy Dacus of boygenius and Jack Antonoff, Swift's longtime collaborator and producer. "But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave/ And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen."
