Taylor Swift got us good at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Here we were all thinking that she was about to announce Reputation (Taylor's Version), and really all along she was plotting…a brand new album!
While accepting the Grammy for best pop vocal album (her 13th Grammy win), Taylor told fans that she was finally ready to share a secret that she had been keeping for two years: a forthcoming album called The Tortured Poets Department. Immediately following her acceptance speech, Taylor then set social media on fire by posting the album cover for the new TTPD, which will drop on April 19.
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“All's fair in love and poetry,” Taylor captioned the sultry cover art, which sees the singer dressed simply in underwear strewn across white pillows on a bed. The photo, taken by Beth Garrabrant, is definitely the 34-year-old's sexiest album cover to date—and the lyrics she shared on the following slide hint at a moody love letter to ex lovers.
“And so I enter into evidence/ My tarnished coat of arms/ My muses acquired like bruises/ My talismans and charms…”
Swifties will recall that earlier today, the singer's website issued an “error” message as well as the phrase “hneriergrd," an anagram for “red herring.” So all those reputation-coded looks, including this evening's “Look What You Made Me Do”-esque black-and-white gown? They were all in fact red herrings and NOT Taylor's usual Easter eggs. She was throwing us off the scent, guys.
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Taylor has been not-so-subtly dropping hints about the re-release of her 2017 album, Reputation (Taylor's version), for months now, mostly in the form of sartorial nods to her style from the rep era.
Just this morning, she dropped her biggest Rep hint to date on Instagram, changing her avatar—a photo from her Grammy-nominated album Midnights—to a black-and-white version. Kind of like the Reputation album cover.
Then there were the thigh-high leather boots printed with snakes that she wore out for dinner with BFF Blake Lively, her glittery green Golden Globes gown, as well as some edgier street style looks, like the black leather miniskirt she wore for date night with Travis Kelce back in the autumn.
Speaking of Taylor's new boyfriend, fans suspected that even Travis was getting in on the Reputation (Taylor's Version) teasers when he arrived to the AFC Championship game on January 28 in a black double-breasted suit, matching black accessories, and a bold silver chain necklace. “Trav officially in his rep era," wrote one Swiftie on TikTok over a clip of the American Football player's all-black look.
But all of the above were ruses - or red herrings if you will – and not Easter eggs. However, we can forgive her for she is after all, giving us new music. Let's all just say thank you and settle down.
