The 'Shake It Off' hitmaker explains why she really feels the need to release 'The Tortured Poets Department' 'more than' any of the albums she's ever made.
- February 19, 2024
AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift has explained her upcoming album, "The Tortured Poets Department", was "really a lifeline for me." The 34-year-old pop megastar - who separated from her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn, 32, last year and has re-recorded her early albums after a dispute over her not owning the rights to her masters - was reminded how much writing lyrics gets her "through" the ups and downs of life whilst making the follow-up to 2022's "Midnights" and confessed she was going through a lot.
" 'Tortured Poets' is an album - I think more than any of my albums that I've ever made - I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me," she said in a clip shared to X/Twitter when speaking to fans at her Melbourne Cricket Ground concert on Friday, February 16.
She continued, "Just the things I was going through and the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life, and I never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on 'Tortured Poets.' "
Displaying a different album cover on the screen behind her, she explained, "I wanted to show you something tonight because we've got an alternate cover to 'The Tortured Poets Department' that nobody has seen and there's an exclusive song on this vinyl called 'The Bolter.' "
Taylor - who is now dating 34-year-old NFL superstar Travis Kelce - added, "This is called 'The Bolter Edition.' Look at that cover, it's so tortured [and] so poetic. I wanted to show that to you here in Melbourne because you've just been the best that you could possibly be."
The "Cruel Summer" singer announced her 11th studio album whilst accepting the Album of the Year prize for "Midnights" at the Grammy Awards earlier this month. The "Anti-Hero" hitmaker later shared the 17-song tracklist for the upcoming collection with an image of herself alongside writing that said, "I love you, it's ruining my life. From the desk of Taylor Swift."
The record features two collaborations, with Post Malone and Florence and the Machine, "Fortnight" and "Florida!!!", respectively.
