The Tortured Poets Department: Fans react to Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album release

If the works of literary phenomena Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe are still relevant to this day, Taylor Swift’s multiplying fanbase might ensure the same is said about her eleventh studio album if The Tortured Poets Department lives up to the hype.

No record in recent memory has been shrouded in as much speculation, fan theory, and conjecture as the transcendent artist’s Friday release, with a dubious album leak a day prior jumping the gun on what was supposed to be a collective unwrapping of Swift’s latest collection.

But in a world of AI, digital manipulation and fake news, the false start seemed to draw further speculation almost as quickly as the tracks were removed from user social accounts due to copyright violations.

While many artists might experience an impact on sales in such a case, the deafening silence that was a lack of response from Swift and her team only added fuel to the fire of conjecture.

What she did offer in advance was a teaser trailer to her single with Post Malone, titled Fortnight, with a fleeting clip on Instagram depicting a tormented Swift breaking free of the shackles holding her back.

“At this hearing, I stand before my fellow members of The Tortured Poets Department with a summary of my findings. Album tonight.Fortnight music video tomorrow at 8pm et,” she captioned the post.

Hellbent on remaining loyal to their queen, some Swifites condemned their counterparts for having listened to the controversial leaks, opting to set their clocks to the very moment her 16-track set list became officially available. And probably a few reminders minutes before.

“Proud member of the never listened to a leak department,” one X user posted.

Either way, it was a win-win for the 34-year-old sensation, whose ‘every woman’ persona resonates with people around the world who want to feel something, and blame someone for the way they’re feeling.

Cue Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend dartboard — a.k.a her extensive discography — which has always targeted former lovers and aired their inadequacies like dirty laundry.

Joe Jonas reportedly broke up with the star over a 27-second phone call, resulting in her penning tracks Forever & Always and Last Kiss about the band member.

Meeting on the set of Valentines Day, teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner made an impression in 2010 and inspired Back to December, which is actually thought to be an apology from Swift to her forlorn namesake.

Dear John — Jake Gyllenhaal — fuelled hit We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together — and 1989 album staple Style — referring to Harry Styles — are recognised by fans.

Then there was actor Joe Alwyn, whose six-year relationship with the singer came to an end in April 2023.

It’s well documented Swift has written songs about her English ex, though he actually collaborated with her under the pseudonym William Bowery before the couple’s working and intimate relationships were cut short.

An insight that appeared to foreshadow the album’s content was shared on X on February 5, the same day Swift announced her latest album at the Grammys in her acceptance speech, suggesting a personal group chat among friends of Alwyn was the inspiration behind it.

A photo shared to the platform wrote: “If you looked at Joe Alwyn’s Conversations With Friends, you’d see a group chat titled ‘The Tortured Man Club’. This is the name that Joe and Paul Mescal’s mutual friend chose for their Whatsapp group after Joe was cast in their upcoming Sally Rooney series.”

Aussie fan Daniel Johnson, who boasts a Taylor Swift vinyl collection of 13 records and counting, expected the release to be “more about Joe Alwyn as she’s had a lot of Easter eggs pointing to it being a breakup album”.

Ahead of the drop, the devout fan highlighted the smoke and mirrors approach Swift regularly employs to promote her works.

“There’s also a lot of 2 symbolism that has been spotted everywhere.

“When she announced the album at the Grammys she did a peace sign and she has been using the number and word 2 a lot in her promo, so everyone thinks it might be a double album drop or she’s releasing 2 albums at the same time.”

While fans largely expected Friday’s album release to be a hate letter to Alwyn following their ill-fated relationship, a theory emerged pointing the gun at another former paramour.

Matt Healy, the polarising frontman of British punk band The 1975, is believed to have dated Swift from May to June in 2023 in what was only ever a fling.

However, after listening to the leaks with a fine tooth comb, some Swifties concluded the listed track But Daddy I Love Him is a direct reference to Healy, with further mentions potentially averting the gaze away from Alwyn altogether.

Haters love to hate, but it’s apparent they love to hate Healy a lot more than Alwyn.

Yet it seemed they themselves were eager to purge Alwyn altogether in solidarity with their saint.

While millions of fans around the world are now listening, opinions have flooded in as the “real” tracks emerged.

One fan said on X: “I’ve had an awful day today but I wanted to stay up to listen to this new taylor swift album and I’m already super impressed with it sonically. I know she has her fair share of haters but I’ll never be one, she always delivers.”

Dissecting the lyrics, fans began picking apart what it all meant — and how it could be applied to them.

Another X user said: “AT DINNER YOU TAKE MY RING OFF MY MIDDLE FINGER AND PUT IT ON THE RIGHT ONE, PEOPLE PUT WEDDING RINGS ON AND THATS THE CLOSEST IVE COME”

“I AM SPIRALLING TAYLOR YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME ???!!”

Swift herself posted to the platform immediately after the release, defining the album name and its meaning to her. And she did it in third person, the perspective a poet or afflicted writer might take to project personal trauma.

The post read: “The Tortured Poets Department. An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time - one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.

“This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed.

“And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.

“And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.“

Fan responses to the post reiterated the unconditional love afforded to the “tortured” artist.

“Nothing gives me more chills than reading your wounds have healed, we love you so much Taylor,” one person wrote.

Another said: “We love you SO much. thank you for this beautiful body of work.”