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Here's why Swifties are furious after The Tortured Poets Department allegedly leaked
The new Taylor Swift album seemingly appeared online Wednesday.
With only hours to go before the official release of Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, an alleged leak that appeared online Wednesday has continued to stress Swifties out.
The Tortured Poets Departmenthas had a quiet lead-up to its release date in many ways. No singles have been released, Swift hasn't been doing press promoting it (which isn't unusual for her at this point in her career), and it's only been in the past week that things like a TTPD Spotify pop-up at The Grove and word searches in her lyrics on Apple Music have been getting fans riled up.
But Swift doesn't need to generate much hype for fans to be excited about a new album. Many have been following her career for so long. With such dedication, they have rituals or even release parties prepared for when the clock strikes midnight on the East Coast, and the music officially drops.
Social media, in particular, has given fans a way to connect and share reactions to new music in real time — a phenomenon that isn't limited to Swift. Still, there's no doubt that the conversation about TTPD will dominate almost every social media platform for hours following the release. And that's the way fans like it. Experiencing the music for the first time together, no matter where they are.
That plan was thrown into chaos when a Google Drive link appeared to contain all the tracks from the album, and one of the bonus songs began circulating on Wednesday. Immediately, many Swifties started pushing back against the alleged leak. Take-down requests were submitted en masse to platforms where links were posted, bold declarations claiming real Swifties don't listen to leaks were shared and reiterated, and many even pushed the theory that the tracks are A.I. and not Swift at all.
Whether the leak is legitimate or not (and Swift's silence on the matter is leading more people to believe it is), it doesn't seem poised to impact how well the album performs. According to Spotify, The Tortured Poets Department has already broken the platform's record for pre-saves.
And even Swifties, who may have been spoiled about the album, have something else to look forward to. Her first single from TTPD was just announced as "Fortnight," featuring Post Malone, with a music video to premiere at 8pm ET on Friday.
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Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
