The 66th Grammy Awards Ceremony was on February 4, 2024, and it was certainly one to remember. For singer Taylor Swift, this night was particularly special. At this evening celebrating the music industry, Swift became a 14-time Grammy winner with her record-breaking 10th studio album Midnights.
For this album, Swift won in the categories of Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year. During her speech for Best Pop Vocal Album, the acclaimed songwriter announced a new secret project she had been “keeping” from fans for about two years. She then exclaimed that her 11th studio album titled The Tortured Poets Department would be released on all streaming platforms on April 19, 2024.
From an audience perspective, the general public could take Swift’s acceptance speech for her 13 Grammy as inconsiderate of other musicians at this event. To those watching the event from home, this appeared to be very uncomfortable for the artists in attendance, as many criticisms have been made about artists as the cameras panned to such as Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo, and Lana Del Rey.
It can also be said that Swift’s speech is more of an inside secret to her fans, affectionately known as “Swifties” as she mentioned that this award was especially important to her because it was her 13th Grammy award, with 13 being Swift’s lucky number. Those not a fan of Swift’s music may not understand the relevance of what she was talking about.
In the days leading up to the music industry’s big night, Swifties and general fans of the artist theorized that she would announce her next rerecording for her chart-topping album reputation. On Instagram, many people saw that Swift and her friends changed their profile pictures (Travis Kelce, Gracie Abrams, and Gigi Hadid) to have a black and white filter over them. This color scheme heavily mirrors the dark newspaper aesthetic of Swift’s sixth album. Releasing reputation would have marked the fifth “(Taylor’s Version)” album that would have been released within the artist’s musical catalog.
The backstory behind the Taylor’s Version releases from Swift’s original discography came about during the midst of the “Lover Era” which followed the release of Swift’s seventh album Lover back in 2019. It was during this time that the singer and her team discovered that her masters, or the rights of ownership for her first six albums had been sold without her consent or knowledge. Soon after this controversy was revealed to the public, Swift announced that she planned to rerecord her original albums in the way that she wanted. Thus creating more popularity for herself within her original fanbase and for her younger audience.
Everyone watching the Grammys was taken by surprise when Swift announced an entirely new album of music. The appearance of The Tortured Poets Department appears to be heavily embodying the color white. This is a common tactic of Swift as she’s previously used a color as a marker for entering and exiting a new era of music. Her debut album, Taylor Swift is a light green, Fearless and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) are yellow, Speak Now and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) are a dark deep purple, Red and Red (Taylor’s Version) are clearly red, 1989 and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) are a light sky blue, reputation is black, Lover is pink, Folklore is gray, Evermore is a tannish brown, and Midnights is a deep blue or navy.
With her albums being linked to a particular color scheme, Swift has also incorporated this into her release of different vinyl and CD color variants. For her 11th album, Swift has already announced three variants of the album that each come with a different bonus track. The first is on white vinyl with bonus track “The Manuscript,” the second on beige vinyl with bonus track “The Bolter,” and the latest edition is on smoke gray vinyl with bonus track “The Albatross.”
On the first night of the Japan shows for her Eras Tour, Swift revealed that if she hadn’t won any Grammys, she would have announced her 11th album at the first night of 2024 shows. This would have followed her previous announcements of re-recording including Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) which were announced and officially released during the acoustic set of The Eras Tour performance.
From what has been released so far about this new album, it seems to align with the aftermath of the breakup between Swift and former longtime boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn. Many people have speculated this because the song names on the track list appear to be very somber and heart wrenching.
These titles include “So Long, London,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” With titles like these, many fans have alluded this album to sound similar to Folklore, Evermore, or even Red (Taylor’s Version), as those albums have had some of Swift’s most devastating songs and most powerful lyricism.
History was also made at the Grammys with Swift receiving the award for Album of the Year with Midnights, as this made her the only person to have won this award four times in their career. After winning this award she has surpassed musical legends including Frank Sinatra, Stevie Nicks, and Paul Simon. This award further established the iconic nickname of Swift literally being “The Music Industry,” as it put her in a league of her own with how much success she has earned over the last few years.
With April quickly approaching, anticipation grows as we wait to hear the latest ballads and feelings of such an influential artist. Listening to this new album will surely bring all of us to tears as Swift tells us the latest side to her story.