It was a late night for the throng of “Swifties” (Taylor Swift fans) that stayed up well past midnight to get their first listen of the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist’s new double album “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Ever since she alluded to this project in February after winning her 13th Grammy Award for Album of The Year, fans have been over the moon in anticipation of its release. To add to the excitement of this album drop, Swift gave fans a bonus when they learned her new offering would be a double album. The first half of TTPD was released on streaming services technically at midnight (Eastern) on April 19, but us North Texans got it at 11 p.m. (CST). Two hours later, Swift released “The Tortured Poets Department Anthology,” which includes a bonus 15 more unreleased tracks. Together, with the original album release, that makes 31 new songs for “Swifties” to enjoy, study, and revere.
And so far, the revues have been positive. Who needs sleep when you have 31 new Taylor Swift songs, right? Some of us not in the know, might roll our eyes at this scenario, but for the community of “Swifties” that make up the DFW area, Christmas came early — like at 2 a.m. in the morning early.
One such super fan and co-host on the highly popular podcast “13: A Taylor Swift Fan Podcast,” was Lacey Gee. She says she was just getting ready to catch some shuteye mid-morning on April 19th, after staying up all night breaking down some of the new song lyrics and subject matter on Swift’s new offering.
“I've only heard it all the way through once,” Gee says with a raspy voice. “I'm in love with all of it. My favorite song so far I think is ‘Who's Afraid Of Little Me?’”
Gee says she was half expecting a second album to drop since there was a countdown on Swift’s Instagram page for 2 a.m.
“Two hours apparently is what it takes for postmortem, and that was her latest Apple Word of the Day, so lots of fan theories,” she says.
Stephen Montoya
And Gee’s prediction was spot on. An additional 15 songs dropped right on cue at 2 a.m. (EDT). Most fans would walk away from an album drop like this and feel very fulfilled, however there’s always more in the Swift-verse to unpack. Still on the horizon for “Swifties” is the discovery of four bonus tracks that will appear on four variations of TTPD only available on vinyl. And what do you know, Record Store Day is April 20, so yeah, that was perfectly timed.
As of press time, Fort Worth’s very own Doc’s Records had several copies of Swift’s new album, but a post on the store’s Instagram page verified that the four variations wouldn’t be in stock until later on in the afternoon. For those of you curious about these four variations, they will include a different bonus tracks,“The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatross” or “The Black Dog.”
“I reluctantly share the news that because of how rushed the variants were and how backed up the warehouses are from RSD, we will not be receiving the variants of TTPD until later today,” Doc’s Records posted. “[B]ut we will have them!!! As of now, we only have a few copies which are available but [there] will be no holds, first come first serve. But like I said! WE WILL HAVE MORE LATER TODAY!”
And the frenzy continues.
Besides this new album release being a global fan phenomenon for any and all “Swifties” there also a few celebrations taking place in honor of this new music offering in Cowtown. One such event will take place at Panther Island Brewing on April 19 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. This means the sleep depravity continues for a few loyal fans and event planners.
Johnnye Soles, an event planner who is working behind the scenes to set up the TTPD listening party at Panther Island Brewing, says she and her fellow “Swifties” began planning an event around this album release based on the hint Swift gave her fans during the Grammy’s.
“As soon as [the album] dropped, we decided that we had to do something,” she says. “We just wanted to do something a little different and get a bunch of ‘Swifties’ together. We’ve been at it like three months or so on the planning part.”
When asked if she knew the new album was going to have so many songs, Soles says she was pleasantly surprised.
“I will be honest, I am a ‘Swiftie,’ but I'm not a ‘conspiracy Swiftie. I'm surrounded by them. All of my friends are, so I let them inform me. I didn't know about the double drop until yesterday with all the twos and peace signs and the two tables. So, I was like, 'oh my gosh, that's so awesome.' I had no idea,” she says.
As for the new album’s indie sound and grittier subject matter, Soles says this is why she is so impressed with it.
“I feel like it's a little more mature,” she says. “I feel like I'm the same age as Taylor, and a lot of her lyrics with this album have definitely resonated with me.”
One such track on the first half of TTPD is the albums opener titled “Fortnight,” which features North Texas-native Post Malone and singer Jack Antonoff. This song tackles themes of alcoholism with a vivid take on relationships sung from a morbid point-of-view. There are even a couple F-bombs on this album, which for the uninitiated “Swiftie” may come as a surprise.
“I think songs like this really show her growth,” Soles says in refence to “Fortnight”. “I think she's a raw songwriter and when an idea comes to her, she doesn't hide it, and I respect it. I love it. I think cussing may not be mature, but it's real life, and I think she's staying true to herself, which I appreciate versus sticking with the Bubble gum. It's more ‘sad girl music.’”
