If there is a group of people who are going to have a nice weekend, it is Taylor Swift fans, or so-called “Swifties”.
The megastar released her highly anticipated album at midnight on Friday The Tortured Poets Department sent out into the world and set the internet abuzz.
The album’s name is speculated to refer to Swift’s ex-boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn. Alwyn and his co-actor Paul Mescal revealed in 2022 that they have a chat group called “The Tortured Man Club”.
Fans can look forward to collaborations with artists such as Florence + The Machine as well as Post Malone, who can also be heard on the album’s first single, “Fortnight”.
The Grammy-awarded musician also provided a double surprise two hours after the launch with news that this album consists of two parts with an additional 15 songs.
“I’ve written so much tortured poetry over the past two years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology with 15 extra songs. And now the story is no longer mine… it’s all yours,” the 34-year-old wrote in an Instagram post in the early hours of the morning.
On Thursday, streaming service Spotify announced that Swift’s 11th album had broken its record for the most pre-saved album by Thursday, April 18.
After that The Tortured Poets Department allegedly leaked online early.
The BBC reported that a suspicious Google Drive link, which contained the first 17 songs from the album, was doing the rounds on social media.
On X, formerly Twitter, some fans said they would like to keep their curiosity at bay until the album’s official launch, while others flooded the social media platform with fake links to “bury” the apparent leak.
The same happened with tracks on Swift’s previous hit album, Midnightshappens without impeding streams or online sales of them.
Praise for the album’s poignant lyrics and production art from Swift’s musical collaborator Jack Antonoff came from publications such as Variety, Rolling Stone Magazine and The Gaurdian poured in.
This follows after the singer has already had a spectacular year of success behind her.
RNews recently reported that Swift by Forbes-magazine as one of the world’s richest people and that she also made history as the first musician to reach this milestone solely on the basis of her music, rather than advertising agreements.
This is the first time that the 34-year-old singer enters this list, with a fortune of $1.1 billion (more than R20 billion).
In addition to making her tunes roll in the dollars, the megastar made history at the Grammy Awards last year when she became the first artist ever to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year four times.
She is in December 2023 also as the American magazine Time named person of the year.
The so-called “Swift effect” has even spilled over into sports. Her blossoming romance with Kansas City Chiefs football star Travis Kelce boosted the National Football League’s (NFL) TV viewership, especially among young women.
The BBC reports that the brand value of the NFL and the Chiefs has increased by $331 million (nearly R6 billion) since September last year. Sales of Kelce’s red Chiefs football jersey have also increased by 400% since Swift first showed up at an NFL game in a red custom version.
Sources: AFP, BBC, Variety, The Guardian.
