The Swifties are still reeling after Taylor Swift announced that she would be releasing a brand new album during her Grammys acceptance speech. And now — to the surprise of absolutely no one — there are already a whole heap of creative theories about The Tortured Poets Department and what this album might entail. Let’s have a look at some theories that I — a fairly discerning individual — think have legs.
Self-confessed Swiftie Abby Murphy took to TikTok to share her theory about what we can expect from the April release and she thinks that The Tortured Poets Department will be an album full of collaborations with a bunch of Taylor’s talented, famous pals.
Her first piece of evidence? Taylor Swift’s celebrity friends have all changed their Instagram display pictures to black and white images.
Back when this first happened in January, the consensus was that Taylor would be releasing Reputation (Taylor’s Version) — an album associated with the fallout between Taylor, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. But the Reputation era also saw Taylor supported by her tight-knit friend group, which is why fans suspected we might get a Reputation album 2.0.
However, since Taylor released the black-and-white album artwork for The Tortured Poet’s Department the theory has developed and the black-and-white display pictures were the tip of the iceberg.
According to Abby, the name of the album is significant.
“The title of TS11 [Taylor’s 11th album] struck me as strange because normally she just does a one-word title. We have Fearless, Red, 1989 — things that are very snappy so to me, this is very intentional,” she said.
It’s also worth noting that the album’s name has a direct connection to Taylor’s ex Joe Alwyn which many fans believe is a deliberate dig at the actor.
When the name was announced, fans drew a connection to an interview that Joe Alwyn did with Paul Mescal in which they revealed that they had a WhatsApp group called “The Tortured Man Club.”
For fans, this felt like confirmation that The Tortured Poet’s Society would be the breakup album they craved following her split with Joe.
Finally!!! More songs to scream-cry to in the car!!!
Dig aside, fans noted in Taylor’s album announcement on X — formerly known as Twitter — that she described herself as “The Chairman of the Tortured Poet’s Department.”
And because of all of this, Abby hypothesises that we’ll see Taylor do collaborations with all of the people who turned their profile pics black and white. Which, considering the list, is huge if true.
We’ve got her current BF Travis Kelce, Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, Gracie Abrams, Lily Aldridge, Jack Antonoff, Keleigh Teller, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Channing Tatum, Taylor Lautner and Kelsea Ballerini.
As Abby points out, although not everyone on the list is a musician, Taylor has worked with her talented famous friends before — including actor Zoë Kravitz who had two co-writing credits on Midnights.
Who knows, maybe Channing Tatum has a beautiful voice or a knack for poetry?
However, when I waged this theory to my Swifte best bud Brittany Smith, she said that she thinks it’s pretty unlikely.
“It feels a bit too messy for Taylor. She had a lot of collabs and co-writers in Red, which didn’t win Album Of The Year. After that experience, she decided that Red wasn’t ‘sonically cohesive’ and ever since has limited the people involved in her creative process,” she said.
“I would be surprised if she was risking the sonic cohesion because it seems like a big thing for her.”
Instead, Brittany thinks that the friends are poets in a less literal sense.
“I think it would make more sense for them to be cameos. Maybe Blake Lively is directing another video, or Taylor Lautner is co-starring in a video again.
“Otherwise, there are too many fingers in the music pie, but it makes sense for them to be changing their display pictures because they’re involved in the bigger picture.”
TikToker Alynzia Fenske has another very compelling hypothesis. She thinks that along with The Tortured Poets Society, we might be seeing another brand new Taylor Swift album release. Again, HUUUUGE if true.
She theories that the 11th album and all of the clock imagery used consistently over the last few albums — and even in Taylor’s Grammys outfit — signifies that everything is pointing to her 12th album, the last number on a clock. While many fans thought this was just to foreshadow Midnights, the fact that a clock is included in the new album artwork made Alynzia believe that there’s more to come from the “Cruel Summer” singer.
Man, I don’t know about you but I love playing Taylor Swift detective.
Plus, on Tuesday Taylor released the track names on her upcoming album. They include tracks featuring Post Malone and Florence And The Machine.
Whether these theories are true or not, it’s so exciting that we only have a few months to go until we can expect the new album. Say what you want about Taylor Swift, but god knows she works fkn hard.
