Taylor Swift Says Writing ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Was a ‘Lifeline,’ Announces Bonus Version

Taylor Swift performs at Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 16, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. Graham Denholm/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift “needed” to pour her thoughts and feelings into her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department.

“I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me,” Swift, 34, said during her Friday, February 16, concert in Melbourne, Australia, per social media footage. “It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”

The Tortured Poets Department, Swift’s 11th studio album, drops on April 19. During her Eras Tour concert on Friday, she revealed that there will be a special bonus version of the LP.

“I wanted to show you something tonight because we’ve got an alternate cover to The Tortured Poets Department that nobody has seen and there’s an exclusive song on this vinyl called ‘The Bolter,’” Swift said, leading up to her surprise song performance of “You’re Losing Me,” a vault track from 2022’s Midnights. “This is called ‘The Bolter Edition.’ Look at that cover, it’s so tortured [and] so poetic. I wanted to show that to you here in Melbourne because you’ve just been the best that you could possibly be.”

The “Bolter” version features a sepia-toned photo of Swift lying on a bed while looking off into the distance, once again taken by Beth Garrabrant. The new edition of The Tortured Poets Department is currently available for preorder on Swift’s website.

Taylor Swift performs at Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 16, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. Graham Denholm/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Swift announced TTPD at the 2024 Grammys earlier this month when she won Best Pop Vocal Album.

“[The way I can celebrate] is by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the past two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19th,” she said in her acceptance speech. “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department and I’m going to go post the cover right now backstage.”

Swift, who went on to win Album of the Year for the fourth time on February 4, hadn’t always planned to reveal TTPD at the Grammys.

“I had told my friends, I told Jack [Antonoff], but I hadn’t really told very many other people. I thought, ‘OK, if I’m lucky enough to win one thing tonight, I’m just gonna do it. I’m just gonna announce my album,’” she said during one of her Eras concerts in Japan days later. “And luckily enough, that ended up happening.”

Swift added: “My backup plan was I was gonna do it tonight in Tokyo. But thanks to you and your support, I was lucky enough to win a Grammy and tell you about it on stage at the Grammys. … We can debrief tonight and talk about it.”

Swift has since unveiled the tracklist for The Tortured Poets Department, with many fans speculating that it is a record inspired by a breakup. Song titles include “So Long, London,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” “I Can Fix Him (No, Really, I Can)” and “Down Bad.” An additional bonus track is called “The Manuscript.”

Swifties have theorized that TTPD breaks down Swift’s split from her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, which Us Weekly confirmed in April 2023. She later moved on with Travis Kelce, going public with their romance in September 2023.