(New York) The “Swifties” are counting down the hours: Taylor Swift’s new album comes out on Friday, the eleventh opus from an American country singer who has become a global pop megastar, shattering records one after the other.
The release of The Tortured Poets Department is eagerly awaited by its millions of fans since its announcement in February, during the Grammy ceremony, the prestigious American music awards where it won the award for best album of the year for the fourth time.
At the start of the year, the 34-year-old singer became the first artist to become a billionaire thanks to income from her music alone.
Nearly 20 years after getting started, nothing seems to be stopping her. His world tour, Eras Tourshould garner a total of two billion dollars in revenue after having already broken the symbolic ceiling of one billion last year, a first in the history of music.
His millions of fans have, since the announcement of a new album, tried to detect in each comma published by the star clues about what awaits them.
An ex, rap and rock
The dominant theory: The Tortured Poets Departmentor “The circle of tortured poets” in French, would speak about the singer’s ex, the British actor Joe Alwyn.
The name of the album would also be taken from a group discussion called The tortured man club (“The Tortured Man’s Club”, in French) that the actor held with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, two other actors.
The list of songs, 16 in total, already gives some clues: So Long, London (Goodbye London), I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) (I can change it, no really I can) and The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived (The shortest man who ever lived) – an English man does indeed seem to be involved in the affair.
Returning, without taking gloves, to her former companions has also become a tradition for Taylor Swift, song after song.
The current elected official is football star Travis Kelce, recent Super Bowl winner. And for him, the new album “is incredible”.
PHOTO PATRICK T. FALLON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
It contains collaborations with American rapper Post Malone and British rock band Florence + The Machine.
With her new Grammy victory in February, Taylor Swift did better than American music legends like Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon or Stevie Wonder.
Three weeks after Beyoncé
The Pennsylvania native began writing songs as a teenager and got her start in the country capital of Nashville. By gradually moving away from this very American style, she is climbing the rankings. In 2018, she left the Big Machine label and joined Universal, without the rights to her previous albums.
By re-recording her first records to regain control, she succeeded in convincing her fans and the music industry, another tour de force for this contemporary monument of American popular culture.
With 283 million subscribers on Instagram, she is so influential among American youth that the political world is beginning to imagine the impact she could have on the presidential election in November, even if she rarely takes the lead. word on this subject.
The new album released Friday lands on platforms three weeks after that of another American icon: Beyoncé and her Cowboy Carter.
The singer’s new opus, with rich country influences, could be a competitor for the next Grammy. With perhaps, also, the new album of another star: Billie Eilish is released Hit Me Hard and Soft on May 17.
But all these rich and influential artists insist at every opportunity: it’s the music that counts.
This latest album, Taylor Swift recently said, “reminded me that writing music is what keeps me going.”
reference: www.lapresse.ca