Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department Confession Proves She’s a True Mastermind

Checkmate. Taylor Swift couldn’t lose.

While on stage at her latest Eras Tour show in Tokyo, the “Karma” singer revealed the chain reaction of countermoves that went into her Tortured Poets Department announcement at the Feb. 4 Grammys ceremony. It turns out, only her close friends, including producer Jack Antonoff, were aware of the tricks up her sleeve.

“I thought, ‘If I’m lucky enough to get up there and win one thing tonight, I’m just gonna do it—I’m just gonna announce my new album, The Tortured Poets Department,’” she told the crowd Feb. 7. “Luckily enough that ended up happening. My backup plan was that I was going to 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 the stage at the Grammys.”

In the days following her wins, Taylor has given more insight into her upcoming album.

I’ve been working on Tortured Poets since right after I turned in Midnights,” she continued. “You turn in albums months in advance so you can make finals, which are the best, and so I started working on it immediately after that.”

On her social media, Taylor revealed The Tortured Poets Department will have 16 tracks, including “Florida!!!” featuring Florence + the Machine, and “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone. Some songs even seemingly hint at the Miss Americana star’s old London boy Joe Alwyn—such as its fifth track, “So Long, London.”

And Taylor’s strategy for this record rollout sets the scene for the tale. After winning the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, the 34-year-old dropped the news.

“This is my 13th Grammy, which is my lucky number, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that,” she said on Feb. 4 while accepting the award. “So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19.”

The “Bejeweled” singer went on to receive another historic win—her fourth Album of the Year title for Midnights—but she wasn’t the only one to walk away with some serious hardware. Read on to see all the 66th Grammy Award winners.

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