Taylor Swift delighted her fans by announcing a new album at the Grammys on Sunday night. “Department of Tortured Poets” drops on April 19.
Earlier on Sunday, Swifties suspected she might announce the news about “Reputation (Taylor's Version)” after changing her profile picture to black-and-white on several of her social media profiles, including Instagram.
Instead, Swift, who accepted the award for best pop vocal album for “Midnights,” said an entirely new album was on the way.
The “Reputation” album artwork is a black-and-white image of Swift with her name written in newspaper type, a thematic reference to the way she's been represented by the media and how she's held back.
On Sunday afternoon, Rev. D.V Trending in X.
After the announcement, “Red Herring” began to gain popularity on X, with some fans theorizing that the “Fame (Taylor's Version)” easter eggs were intended to distract from rumors about her 11th studio album.
Swift's website went down before the ceremony, showing an error message and the word “hneriergrd”. Without scrambling, those letters can be spelled “red herring.”
The new album will consist of 16 songs and a bonus track, called “The Manuscript”.
In her acceptance speech, Swift revealed that she had kept the album a secret for two years.
“I want to thank the fans by telling you a secret I've been keeping from you for the last two years, and that is my brand new album coming out on April 19th,” Swift said in her speech. Called “The Department of Tortured Poets”. I'm going to release the backstage cover now. Thank you, I love you!”
Swift's Instagram page was quickly updated after the announcement. Her profile picture was changed to a new black and white photo, and her bio now reads, “All's fair in love and poetry…”
Many Swifties took to social media to express their shock at being able to predict Swift's next move.
Other fans Inferred The new album is likely to influence the set list for the Eras tour, which resumes in Tokyo on Wednesday.
