Taylor Swift shocked fans Sunday night when she announced a new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” during an acceptance speech after winning best pop vocal album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
For months, Swifties everywhere had been anticipating Swift announcing the release of her re-recording of “reputation (Taylor’s Version),” thinking the Grammys might have been the night it happened.
All’s fair in love and poetry… New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19 https://t.co/WdrCmvLHyA
: Beth Garrabrant pic.twitter.com/CCPhmSZ2UD
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 5, 2024
The last time fans thought an announcement for the re-recording of her sixth studio album was near was in November for the final Eras tour performance of 2023 in Brazil.
While it also didn’t happen then, Swifties have been right about Swift dropping Easter eggs in the past for album announcements. On Aug. 9 (or 8/9 as in “1989”) Swift announced during her final show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles that “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” would be her next re-recording. And just a few months prior on May 5, she announced the re-recording of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).”
Leading up to Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony, eagle-eyed fans noticed Swift had changed her social media profile picture to have a black and white filter, a similar color scheme to the original cover art for “reputation.”
Fans also checked on Swift’s site and discovered it appeared to be down. Upon further inspection, many noticed that one of the phrases on the site could be descrambled to spell out “red herring.”
Swifties took to social media to share their excitement as “Rep TV” started trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, hours before the Grammys.
As Swift walked the red carpet, other phrases started to trend on social media about her outfit such as “She’s wearing white” and “Black and White.”
Swift was nominated for six Grammys; best pop vocal album, best pop solo performance, song of the year, record of the year, best pop duo/group performance and album of the year. If Swift wins album of the year for “Midnights,” she would become the first artist in Grammy history to win album of the year four times.
