Taylor Swift unveiled two versions of her new album within hours of each other, much to the surprise and delight of her fans. At midnight ET on Friday, she released the standard edition of “The Tortured Poets Department,” featuring a 16-song tracklist that had been announced back in February. However, just two hours later, she dropped a deluxe edition titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” with a total of 31 songs.
Rumors of a double album release had been circulating earlier in the week as fans picked up on clues from Swift’s social media posts. A countdown on her website to 2 a.m. ET added to the speculation. This unexpected move by Swift caught many off guard but pleased many of her devoted fans online. The additional songs on the deluxe edition were all written by Swift herself and coproduced with either Jack Antonoff or Aaron Dessner, with the exception of “I Look in People’s Windows,” which was coproduced with Patrik Berger.
Swift has been flexing her economic power over the past 18 months as a newly minted billionaire. Her worldwide Eras Tour and concert movie have helped solidify her status as the first musician to achieve billionaire status solely through songs and performances. In a bold move to promote tourism, Singapore reportedly paid nearly $3 million per show for exclusivity to the Southeast Asian leg of her Eras Tour. Both versions of the album are now available for streaming on all major platforms for fans to enjoy.