The 66th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 4, was a televised triumph for Taylor Swift and her fans. By the end of the night, Swift strutted out of the Crypto.com Arena with two Grammys in hand. One of those awards was for Album of the Year, which brought Swift from three to four of the same award, breaking the record for the number of wins.

   Exclaiming that she was “mindblown” by the victory, Swift expressed that the joy she felt accepting the award was akin to the satisfaction of completing a song she was writing. To Swift, the work she does musically is what brings her true fulfillment: “All I want to do is keep doing this. So, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much.” The true gem of the night occurred before she accepted this award and sent her fans—more commonly known as Swifties—into full-on panic mode. 

   The tension was palpable in the arena and the homes of viewers as the nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album were announced. Swifties across the world held their breaths – if Swift took this category, it would mark her 13th Grammy. Thirteen is very publicly Swift’s lucky number, which she incorporates frequently in music videos and album release dates, so many speculated that this win would surely lead to her announcing something big. Many fans theorized that the release date of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” would be announced since Thursday, Feb. 1, a mere three days before the Grammys, was National Serpent Day, and snakes were a significant symbol of the album.

   Lo and behold, Swift’s name was announced as the award recipient; however, when she walked onstage to receive the Grammy and address the crowd, she did something unexpected.  

The announcement of her eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” left Swifties all across the world in disbelief.

   “When I found out ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ was coming out, I was so excited!” said freshman and Swift-fanatic Natalia Stornello. “I thought Taylor was going to announce ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version),’ so this album was a huge shock.” 

   Soon after her announcement, her post of the album cover on Instagram sparked even more publicity for the awaited album set to be released on April 19 this year. “All’s fair in love and poetry,” she writes, so why not strike while the iron is hot and release a “secret” that was two years in the making? As the “chairman” of said poets department, Swift is effectively making clear the autonomy in her decision-making when it comes to her music, her songwriting and her career; a trilogy of ownership that is both admirable and empowering in the industry.

   These new campaigning efforts didn’t stop at the Grammys. After Swift’s four-day excursion playing in Tokyo, Japan, she embarked to her biggest stage yet: Melbourne, Australia. Three sold-out shows, over 98 thousand fans per night and the release of a new edition of “The Tortured Poets Department” with a bonus track called “The Bolter” solidified her pitch for the album. With all these promotions, Swifties are frantically trying to decode what this album could be about. 

   “I think we’re going to get a lot of breakup songs and get more insight into the breakdown of her relationship with [her ex-boyfriend] Joe Alwyn,” Stornello said.

   It’s only a matter of time before Swifties gain access to the classified files of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF USA TODAY