Taylor Swift recently released a new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” at midnight ET on Friday. To the delight of her fans, she followed up with a deluxe edition just two hours later that included 15 additional songs. Four of these extra tracks were previously teased as vinyl exclusives, while the rest were kept hidden until the release.
In a surprising move, Taylor Swift released two versions of her new album within hours of each other. At midnight ET, she unveiled the standard edition which featured a 16-song tracklist 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. Some of these extra tracks had been hinted at before, while others were a complete surprise to fans.
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 surprise move by Swift shocked 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.
As a newly minted billionaire, Swift has been flexing her economic power over the past 18 months. 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 an even bolder 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.