Taylor Swift Says 'The Tortured Poets Department' Is the End of Her “Fleeting and Fatalistic” Era
"This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up," she says.
![Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Allianz Parque on November 24, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QgGarqv8PkomiRstVHH4kG-415-80.jpg)
Taylor Swift has officially entered a new era, with the release of her surprise double album, The Tortured Poets Department. In the early hours of April 19, 2024, Swift commemorated the record's release with a lengthy Instagram post, where she looked toward the future while closing the door on her time as a tortured poet.
"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," she wrote in the caption, along with dreamy black-and-white portraits matching the mood of the album.
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the Eras Tour, on February 23, 2024 in Sydney, Australia.
"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," she added, in a nod to ongoing speculation that the album takes major inspiration from her former relationships with actor Joe Alwyn and The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
"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," she concluded.
A photo posted by taylorswift on
Swift has teased her eleventh studio album's melancholy, lyrical themes throughout the past two months since she announced The Tortured Poets Department during her acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys. Her mood board for the record appears to have been filled with black-and-white film photography, type-written pages, and nods to famous poets throughout history.
The singer also shared a second sentimental message along with her Instagram post revealing her surprise anthology album.
"I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs," her post continued. "And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours."
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A photo posted by taylorswift on
Quinci is a Contributing Culture Editor who writes pieces and helps to strategize editorial content across TV, movies, music, theater, and pop culture. She contributes interviews with talent, as well as SEO content, features, and trend stories. She fell in love with storytelling at a young age, and eventually discovered her love for cultural criticism and amplifying awareness for underrepresented storytellers across the arts. She previously served as a weekend editor for Harper’s Bazaar, where she covered breaking news and live events for the brand’s website, and helped run the brand’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Her freelance writing has also appeared in outlets including HuffPost, The A.V. Club, Elle, Vulture, Salon, Teen Vogue, and others. Quinci earned her degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. She was a 2021 Eugene O’Neill Critics Institute fellow, and she is a member of the Television Critics Association. She is currently based in her hometown of Los Angeles. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her studying Korean while watching the latest K-drama, recommending her favorite shows and films to family and friends, or giving a concert performance while sitting in L.A. traffic.
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