Taylor Swift, the now thirteen-time Grammy Award winner and pop sensation, took her fans by surprise by announcing her eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” while accepting her thirteenth Grammy Award on the night of Feb. 4. The album is set to be released on April 19. For weeks leading up to this event, she had hinted to her fans that something major might be announced. Most fans were expecting the announcement for “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” as many have speculated that will be her next rereleased album on her path to reclaiming her work.  

Swift is known for surprise releases, announcements, easter eggs, and the occasional red herring. Because of this, her fans are always prepared and on top of trying to discover when her next big announcement will be. However, this announcement really threw off a lot of Swifties. Over the past few years, Swift has been reclaiming her work by rereleasing her first six studio albums and currently only has two left. These would be “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” and “Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).” So, fans were very prepared for one of these to be announced. However, Swift had other plans. 

She released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021. Shortly after those releases, she surprised fans by announcing her album “Midnights” at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2022. Over the past year, she began her worldwide tour “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” to promote her new music she had yet to tour and her versions of her iconic albums. It was on this tour that she announced the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” Knowing all of this, it is not shocking that she would release a new album before the last two rerecorded versions of her albums to keep things interesting and engaging for her fanbase and it seems so obvious now.  

The release of “The Tortured Poets Department” has brought up a lot of questions for the Swifties. Is this a collaborative project? Who will be featured on the album? Will there be other extended versions of this album announced later? And perhaps the biggest question, how will this affect the beloved Eras Tour? 

The album is set to come out in April, when the Eras Tour will still be in full swing touring international locations. She will probably want to integrate this new album into the show to promote it, but that would mean altering the show that so many fans have been looking forward to experiencing. There is no doubt that some fans will be sad to not experience the original version of the show, but they also have a unique opportunity to experience a new and exciting version.  

At the time of writing this, it was also just announced that “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” will be released on March 15 for streaming on Disney+. This means that the original version of the Eras Tour will be available for Swifties to stream. So, if the show does change, there will always be a copy of the original version, which is great news for those who did not get to see the show live or for people who want to relive that night. 

Despite expecting a completely different announcement, Swifties are more than grateful to have a new album to expect from their favorite artist and seem to be excited about entering this new unexpected era however it might look. 

Nora Lee is a Dakota Student General Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].