Swifties were spiraling the morning before the 66th Grammy Awards when Taylor Swift changed her Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, profile pictures from color to black and white. Many fans anticipated the release of the re-recording of “reputation,” but some cracked the code and correctly predicted Swift’s announcement of her 11th studio album.
Swift broke the news during her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album for her 10th studio album, “Midnights.” “Midnights” also took home the award for Album of the Year, making Swift the only artist to have won this award four times.
“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years,” Swift said in her speech. “Which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19. It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’”
Swifties were overjoyed — everyone else, it appeared not as much. As Swift gave her speech, the camera panned to the audience, filled with other artists looking unenthusiastic, sporting half-smiles and slow claps. Viewers assumed that they had grown tired of Swift’s reign in the music industry, or, perhaps, they were exhibiting concern about the success of their projects that might have to compete with “The Tortured Poets Department.”
This is not the first time Swift has announced an album during an acceptance speech — she announced the release of “Midnights” at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. Both times, Swift received criticism that she was diverting attention from other winning artists — there’s not much other artists can do to gain attention when Swift just announced something. So, during the Grammys, the night transitioned from the Grammys to the night Swift announced “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour resumed Feb. 7 in Tokyo, and the singer shared that, had she not won at the Grammys, she would’ve announced the album at the concert, similar to how she broke the news about the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
“I had this plan in my head and I told my friends — I told Jack [Antonoff] — but I hadn’t really told many other people,” Swift said, at the show in Tokyo. “I thought, ‘Okay, so if I’m lucky enough to win one thing tonight, I’m just going to do it. I’m just going to announce my new album.’”
Should Swift have opted to release the news at her concert in the first place? The problem in answering that question is that she’s Swift, and some people will disagree with anything she does. If any other artist had made a similar announcement when accepting an award, it’s safe to say that regardless of whether they were met with praise or criticism, the reaction would have been incomparable to what hit the media the night of Feb. 4.
Take Lady Gaga, who announced her “Born This Way” album at the 2010 VMAs and was met with enthusiastic applause. Gaga had just won the award for Video of the Year, and in her acceptance speech, she announced the album and even sang a chorus from a then-unreleased song.
“I promised if I won this tonight I’d announce the name of my new record,” Gaga said. “It’s called ‘Born This Way.’”
Gaga’s words were similar to those of Swift’s, and while the press around Gaga’s announcement was mild, the media dragged Swift. Gaga receives hate in her own right, just not for the announcement of her album.
Perhaps it’s the fact that the VMAs are perceived to be a more casual award show than the Grammys. The Grammys are about celebrating the musical community, and many felt what Swift did took away from that and drew attention to herself.
Deserved or not, the reaction is par for the course in the era of Swift. It’s the price to pay as the most famous pop star in the world. Often the trade-off for fame and adoration is some amount of hate.
