Taylor Swift has dropped her Tortured Poets Department album and there's a massive twist

Taylor Swift performs in Seattle as part of her Eras tour
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Taylor Swift is the most talked-about woman in the world right now, dropping her highly-anticipated new studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, last night at midnight. 

The long-awaited album has been teased for months, with the 34-year-old even telling fans during the Melbourne leg of her Eras tour that of all the albums she has ever made, this is the one she most needed to do, calling it "a lifeline" for her.

Swifties have been counting down the days since and predicting the Easter eggs and high profile name references - and with the album dropping just hours ago, the wait is officially over.

"The Tortured Poets Department," Swift announced on social media. "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." 

Her message continued: "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."

Unsurprisingly, the album has already gone viral, with Swifties the world-over staying up for the live announcement. 

In classic Taylor Swift style however, there was a massive twist, with the singer releasing a further 15 songs two hours later, announcing that The Tortured Poets Society was a double album.

"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album," Swift announced in her second post.

"I'd written much tortured poetry in the past two years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second instalment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore... it's all yours."

The Tortured Poets Society double album is out now.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.