While the 2024 Grammys stage was a perfect location to announce her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift had a backup plan for the announcement if she didn’t win any of the event’s awards.
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Us Weekly reports that while on stage, Swift shared details about her “Plan B” if things didn’t work out at the Grammys. “Going to the Grammys, going in, I had this plan,” she said during a break in the Evermore era set. “I had told my friends, I told Jack [Antonoff], but I hadn’t really told very many other people. I thought, ‘OK, if I’m lucky enough to win one thing tonight, I’m just gonna do it. I’m just gonna announce my album.’ And luckily enough, that ended up happening.”
Taylor Swift then reported the name of her new record before continuing on. “My backup plan was I was gonna do it tonight in Tokyo,” she declared. “But thanks to you and your support, I was lucky enough to win a Grammy and tell you about it on stage at the Grammys… We can debrief tonight and talk about it.”
During her acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys, Swift couldn’t help but praise her fans while also sharing her secret. “[The way I can celebrate] is by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the past two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19,” she said. “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department, and I’m going to go post the cover right now backstage.”
Along with sharing the album’s artwork, she also posted a photo featuring a handwritten poem. “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 view of pitch-black ink. All’s fair in love and poetry … Sincerely, The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”
Taylor Swift Says She’s Been Working on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Since Turning In ‘Midnights’
While continuing to open up about The Tortured Poets Department at her first Tokoyo show, Taylor Swift shared when she started working on the new album.
“I’ve been working on Torture Poets since right after I turned in Midnights,” she explained. “You turn in an album months in advance … so I started working on it immediately after that and I’ve been working on it for about two years. I kept working on it throughout the U.S. tour and when it was perfect, in my opinion, when it was good enough for you, I finished it.”
Taylor Swift then told the crowd she is so, so excited for them to hear her new music. “Soon we’ll get to experience that together,” she noted. “I’m over the moon about the fact that you guys care about my music, it still blows my mind. I love doing this.”