The Tortured Poets Department

The Tortured Poets Department
The Tortured Poets Department
	Standard cover
Studio album by Taylor Swift
Released	April 19, 2024
Recorded	2022–2023
Genre	Synth-pop; folk-pop;
Length	65:08
Label	Republic
Producer	Taylor Swift; Jack Antonoff; Aaron Dessner; Patrik Berger;
Taylor Swift chronology
Alternative cover
	The Anthology double album cover
Singles from The Tortured Poets Department
	"Fortnight"; Released: April 19, 2024;

The Tortured Poets Department^[a] is the eleventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was written and produced by Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner, and released on April 19, 2024, via Republic Records. Swift announced it at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for her tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). It is a double album, with a surprise-released second volume of songs, subtitled The Anthology.

Swift conceived The Tortured Poets Department shortly after finishing work on Midnights and continued developing the former during the Eras Tour (2023–2024), her ongoing sixth concert tour. She described it as her "lifeline" album, conceived as a culmination of her imperative songwriting. It contains 31 songs across its two volumes, with the American rapper Post Malone featuring on the opening track and lead single, "Fortnight", and the English indie rock band Florence and the Machine on the track "Florida!!!".

Musically, The Tortured Poets Department is a minimal, synth-pop and folk-pop effort with rock and country stylings. It consists of largely midtempo songs driven by synthesizers and drum machines alongside organic instruments such as piano and guitar. The album's subject matter focuses on Swift's psyche, exploring her outlook on her public and private lives using introspective storytelling. The lyrical content is characterized by themes of sorrow, self-awareness, melodrama, and humor.

Publications reported that The Tortured Poets Department polarized critics; the majority of reviews were positive and praised Swift's cathartic songwriting for its emotional resonance and wit, while the rest suggested that the album lacked the concision and profundity of her past works. The album's sonic direction was divisive, with some critics finding it ambitious and tastefully produced, while others dubbed it uninventive and monotonous. Commercially, the album broke a string of records globally and topped the official charts in 13 countries. It gained the the highest single-day streams for an album on the streaming platform Spotify. In the United States, it marked a record seventh album by Swift to open with over a million units, moving 2.6 million units in its first week. It also became the fastest-selling album of the 2020s decade in the United Kingdom, and the first album to monopolize the top 10 positions of Australia's ARIA Singles Chart.
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[a]