Fans anticipate Taylor Swift's new album as rumors of online leaks persist
The countdown is almost over — there’s mere hours until the release of Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” But Swifites are in an uproar, as there’s been an alleged online album leak.
Songs and lyrics that social media users are claiming are from the new album have been shared online. Some people have claimed they came from a Google Drive link containing the entire album, BBC News reported. Swift has yet to release a statement.
Others have speculated that the leaked tracks are fake and have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to BBC News. Some of the AI tracks shared online turned out to be older, lesser known Swift songs.
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The album drops at midnight.
Swift is no stranger to AI-generated content. Deepfakes, or fake sexually explicit images, of her were created and shared widely online at the end of January.
Fans have taken to the social media platform X to defend Swift’s artistry, saying they refuse to listen to any of the alleged leaked tracks.
Raise your hand if ur an ACTUAL Taylor Swift fan and aren't listening to leaks
— mai (the alchemy ) (@maireputation) April 17, 2024
dude i did not realize that people who leak music are just random dudes who work in warehouses where the cds are stored??? this whole time i thought these people were like criminal masterminds LMFAOO
— brae (@torturedbrae) April 17, 2024
My heart breaks for Taylor, I’m so sorry baby we tried so hard.
— ashley ???? (@the13manuscript) April 18, 2024
Swifties have been decoding clues released ahead of the album. Swift is known for her Easter eggs laced throughout album promos in the past.
swifties are insane bc wdym you guys found out the sequence of her letters through the ticking sounds. And that you only found those letters by casually doing a WORLDWIDE QR CODE SCAVENGER HUNT ?????
— ????aura⸆⸉ (@rightwylmm) April 17, 2024
this is actually insane. first small record store in Mexico, now a random montmarte restaurant. like these are not huge billboards, but small posters, which are very hard to locate. swifties are literally everywhere https://t.co/JWfdpYymK9
— aisha⸆⸉????✒️???? (@everaishamore) April 17, 2024
No! YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! I can’t do anything today because Taylor Swift released QR codes all over the world and they spell out something!!!! pic.twitter.com/36nZLcuDU6
— Danielle✨ (@folksyswift) April 17, 2024
it means fortnight.
i’ve been saying this for 2 months now, but taylor’s easter eggs are a lot more obvious & straightforward than we cause ourselves to believe. now that we know that fortnight is the lead single, & she made a worldwide QR code hunt that resulted in the phrase… https://t.co/DVrogAtnMZ
— k???? (@kiralovestaylor) April 17, 2024
I THINK I FIGURED IT ALL OUT????
We hereby conduct this postdoctoral research…
TTPD is the argument of her thesis and research ending with the presentation of the manuscript.
She’s defending what she learned. Precisely what love isn’t after being delusional about it
after… pic.twitter.com/stYz1Hu2JX
— Bejewelry (@BejewelryB) April 17, 2024
fellow full-time working swifties, here’s a summary of everything that’s happened so far!! ☺️ pic.twitter.com/uCQBEzeSNi
— r a e l y n ⸆⸉ (@swiftfairy_13) April 17, 2024
why is this taylor library thing at the grove giving adult scholastics book fair for frenzied swifties with open schedules
— kimani???? (@onthattightrope) April 16, 2024
The album has been lauded by fans, as it will hopefully be a glimpse into the details of Swift’s relationship and subsequent breakup with Joe Alwyn.
I love this because whatever we hear tomorrow night we have to remember that writing it allowed her to get to this place. And we literally don’t have to avenge her because she is living her best life. https://t.co/3tE0H7hD8x
— tata is a tortured poet ???????? (@ogswiftie18) April 17, 2024
help, who made this ???? pic.twitter.com/KOfXPsvzvp
— veronica⸆⸉ (@thisisvertrying) April 17, 2024
if the post-mortem theory is true, than it all makes sense: we have a murder case. the victim is the relationship. the album is the autopsy which should reveal the evidence of how it died. and taylor, as the chairman of the tortured poets department, is presenting it in court
— aisha⸆⸉????✒️???? (@everaishamore) April 16, 2024
framing ur breakup album as a public autopsy bc ur one of the most famous figures in culture and everyone’s morbidly obsessed with dissecting every single detail of your personal life anyway…. taygenius
— dom ???? (@likedomin0s) April 16, 2024
Other Swifties have been tweeting about their overall excitement and awe surrounding “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Call me corny if you like, but I just LOVE that in just over 24 hours I will be emotionally united with MILLIONS of strangers around the world as we all breathlessly await the first notes of an album that will become a euphoric, cathartic soundtrack to the rest of our lives
— My Tweets Ricochet (@tweetsricochet) April 17, 2024
I got an email that mentioned Taylor Swift’s new album release and Outlook tried to add Tortured Poet’s Department Meeting to my calendar as a faculty meeting.
— ???????? Dean Bakopoulos ???????? (@DeanBakopoulos) April 17, 2024
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT TONIGHT THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT TONIGHT THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT TONIGHT THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT TONIGHT THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT TONIGHT THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT COMES OUT
— Steven Sullivan (@Stevensully99) April 18, 2024
jack antonoff and aaron dresser working on ttpd w taylor #TSTTPD pic.twitter.com/42kGypgTkL
— ???? drue ???? (@cutedorkharryyy) April 17, 2024
Do you mean to tell me that Taylor Swift was simultaneously on a world tour, in a new relationship, at every Chiefs game, re-recorded Reputation AND found time to write an entirely new album meanwhile I can’t even unload the dishwasher & start the laundry all in the same day?
— Tori Fletcher (@hellotorifletch) April 17, 2024
Will Spotify crash at midnight due to so many people trying to listen at once? Swifties think so. No matter what happens, though, fans are sure the album will be momentous.
the only proper way to listen to a new taylor swift album is to refresh spotify right at midnight and then wait 20 minutes while the app crashes before you can even press play
— isabella ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪ (@clarityindeath) April 18, 2024
every single day i thank god she was born in pennsylvania and not gotham because this is the riddler https://t.co/S2Vea6ehHV
— ♱ (@horrorlor) April 16, 2024
the funniest thing about new taylor swift albums is how I never actively learn the new lyrics they all just sort of absorb into my brain and 2 days later I can recite them a capella without even thinking
— ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) April 18, 2024
Taylor during Swifties during #TSTTPD #TSTTPD
release week release week pic.twitter.com/EKqz47QU3B— ????????????????????⸆⸉ (@rep_swiftie96) April 16, 2024
The Tortured Poets Department really feels like it’s going to be Taylor Swift’s magnum opus and I know I say that about every one of her albums before they come out, but I mean it even more now.
— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) April 16, 2024
— paula???? (@pauladxlgado) April 16, 2024
The new album will include the following 17 tracks:
1. “Fortnight”
2. “The Tortured Poets Department”
3. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”
4. “Down Bad”
5. “So Long, London”
6. “But Daddy, I Love Him”
7. “Fresh Out the Slammer”
8. “Florida!!!!”
9. “Guilty as Sin?”
10. “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”
11. “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”
12. “loml”
13. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”
14. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”
15. “The Alchemy”
16. “Clara Bow”
Bonus Track: “The Manuscript”
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
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