Taylor Swift accepts the Best Pop Vocal Album award for “Midnights” onstage during the 66th Grammy Awards. Photo / Getty Images
Taylor Swift accepts the Best Pop Vocal Album award for “Midnights” onstage during the 66th Grammy Awards. Photo / Getty Images
Fans thought she was going to announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) but Taylor Swift had something better in mind - a brand-new album.
While accepting her 13th Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights, the 34-year-old popstar revealed she is releasing her new album The Tortured Poets Department on April 19.
After beating Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, and Olivia Rodrigo in the category, Swift grinned as she gave her acceptance speech saying: “Okay, this is my 13th grammy. Which is my lucky number. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that.
“I want to say thank you to the members of the recording academy for voting this way, but I know that the way that the recording academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans.”
Revealing she has been secretly working on her 11th studio album, she said: “So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I have been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19th it’s called The Tortured Poets Department.
“I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you! Thank you!”
Moments later the cover art was posted to her Instagram account showing a black-and-white image of her reclining across pillows. The top half of her face and lower half of her legs are cut off in the low-contrast image.
She captioned the post: “All’s fair in love and poetry.”
After winning Best Pop Vocal Album for ‘Midnights’ Taylor Swift revealed she is releasing her new album The Tortured Poets Department on April 19. Photo / AP
It comes after Swift provoked mass speculation by her fans earlier in the night with multiple “Easter eggs”.
As well as her website seemingly going down during the day with fans theorising she would either announce or release Reputation (Taylor’s Version), another Easter egg came when she walked the Grammys red carpet with many noticing her choker - that was made to look like a watch was set to midnight.
A video posted to E! New’s Instagram account showed the moment the star asked her publicist, Tree Paine, to set the clock to midnight before she walked the carpet.
It comes weeks before the pop star is due to perform to hundreds of thousands of Kiwis and Australians during the Australian leg of her Eras Tour.
Follow the Herald’s live coverage of the 2024 Grammy Awards here.
