The secret meaning behind Taylor Swift’s new album name

Taylor announced her new album at last night’s Grammys on winning the coveted album of the year award (Picture: Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift had quite the evening at the 2024 Grammys last night when she casually broke a world record and announced a new album – which will be released on April 19 – all within a matter of minutes.

The 34-year-old megastar became the first ever artist in the history of the Grammys to scoop the best album award four times, beating Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra’s three-time record.

Taking to the microphone, Taylor thanked fans for their support by announcing a ‘secret’ she’s been keeping from them for two years – yes, two years – that she’s got a new album, The Tortured Poets Department.

Swifties were, naturally, beside themselves at this news, which comes after the mammoth success of her tenth studio album, Midnights, released in 2022.

The Cruel Summer hitmaker took to social media after the on-stage announcement, and wrote: ‘All’s fair in love and poetry… New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19.’

The star attached the album cover artwork, which shows her in black and white reclined on a bed, alongside a picture of what looks to be hand-written lyrics.

She has received the best album gong more times than any artist ever (Picture: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

‘And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / the tick, tick, tick of love bombs / my veins of pitch black ink,’ Taylor wrote.

‘All’s fair in love and poetry / sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.’

But what does the album title and the lyrics mean…?

The Tortured Poets Department album name meaning

Many will remember Robin Williams’ legendary performance in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, which Taylor’s album title definitely has a similar ring to.

It may not be a coincidence that Taylor was also born in 1989 – hence the title of her 2014 studio album.

But that’s not where fans think the Trouble hitmaker got the title inspiration from. Rather, Swifties suspect a much more personal deeper meaning to the name, involving her ex boyfriend Joe Alwyn.

In 2022, around the time Taylor would have started writing the album, it was revealed Joe, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott were all in a WhatsApp group chat together called The Tortured Man Club.

After their six-year relationship, it was reported in April last year Taylor and Conversations with Friends actor Joe, 32, had broken up.

Taylor and Joe were in a six-year relationship, which ended last year (Picture: Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)

With all three men having starred in adaptations of Sally Rooney novels – often playing ‘tortured’ male characters – the trio thought a group chat was in order.

So fans couldn’t help thinking Taylor’s new album name might be an intentional dig from the Getaway car hitmaker, as @heyykarenc took to X, formerly Twitter, and said: ‘Joe Alwyn & Paul Mescal having a group chat named “The Tortured Man Club” & blondie naming her new album The Tortured Poets Department. So silly.’

‘Joe Alwyn, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott waking up this morning to see the news that Taylor Swift has named an album after their group chat,’ joked @default_grey alongside an iconic picture of Miles from BBC show The Traitors looking shocked.

Meanwhile, Swifties were in full speculation swing about what we can expect from the upcoming album, as @himynameisvee said: ‘WHAT IF The Tortured Poets Department is a full collaboration album?! “my muses” and she’s the “chairman”, meaning there’s more than one person! plus two years to make… that’s a lot of time to collab with other busy artists.’

Others simply voiced their excitement using many capital letters, while some worried which songs would be left out of the Eras Tour setlist to accommodate the new tracks.

‘What is gonna be cut from the eras tour for a new era to join,’ asked @UNDONIGHTMARE sharing a panicked SpongeBob SquarePants meme.

How many albums does Taylor Swift have?

Taylor Swift has 10 studio albums, and The Tortured Poets Department will be her 11th.

The musician has won the best album Grammy for four albums so far: Midnights (2022), Fearless (2010), 1989 (2016) and Folklore (2021).

Does Taylor Swift write her own songs?

Taylor Swift’s success comes not just from her impeccable guitar-strumming and pitch perfect voice, but is mostly down to her catchy, relatable songwriting.

Swift was the first female musician to receive the NSAI’s Songwriter-Artist of the Decade award back in 2022, and during her acceptance speech she revealed her ‘dorky’ writing technique, in which she categorises her songs into three genres: Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics, and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics.

‘Twenty years ago I wrote my first song,’ she said, as per Hollywood Reporter.

One of Taylor Swift’s favourite part of being a musician is lyricism (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

‘I used to dream about one day getting to bounce around the different musical worlds of my various sonic influences, and change up the production of my albums. I hoped that one day, the blending of genres wouldn’t be such a big deal.

‘There’s so much discussion about genre and it always usually leads back to a conversation about melody and production. But that leaves out possibly my favorite part of songwriting: lyricism.

‘And I’ve never talked about this publicly before, because, well, it’s dorky. But I also have, in my mind, secretly, established genres categories for lyrics I write. Three of them, to be exact. They are affectionately titled Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics, and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics.

‘I know this sounds confusing but I’ll try to explain. I came up with these categories based on what writing tool I imagine having in my hand when I scribbled it down, figuratively. I don’t actually have a quill. Anymore. I broke it once when I was mad.’

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