About

The Tortured Poets Department, and its deluxe version titled The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, is the name of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's 11th studio album released in April 2024. She announced it during her 2024 Grammys acceptance speech and the album's name was quickly used in memes and viral tweets in February 2024, as many found the name over-dramatic and cringe, evident in memes that portrayed ironic depictions of "tortured poets." The album was leaked days before its official release on April 19th, 2024.

History

Announcement

On February 4th, 2024, Taylor Swift won "Album of the Year" at the 2024 Grammy Awards.^[1] During her acceptance speech, she stated that her new album was set to release on April 18th, 2024, and it was called The Tortured Poets Department. The clip of her speech was tweeted by the X^[2] account of @Variety on February 4th, gaining over 1.7 million views and 30,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Taylor Swift announces her new album 'The Tortured Poets Department' at the #Grammys. pic.twitter.com/uKCXm5RQbj

— Variety (@Variety) February 5, 2024

Online Reaction

Soon after her speech aired on television, internet users started to caption images with "The Tortured Poets Department" that offered comedic portrayals of "tortured poets." The first known viral post in the trend was a tweet shared by X^[3] user @crueiestsummer who captioned the "Tumblr kids standing in front of a wall" image with the album name, gaining over 70,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Within the hour of Taylor Swift's speech, multiple internet users posted similar memes and tweets. For instance, on February 4th, 2024, X^[4] user @imbeingcliche captioned the Sitting Wolf meme with the album name, gaining over 23,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left).

Also on February 4th, X^[5] user @ericdharvey quoted an old tweet from NFL player Travis Kelce (who is Swift's boyfriend) with the album name, gaining over 37,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Memes also spread on other social media sites. For instance, on February 5th, 2024, Instagram^[6] user @joan.of.arca replaced the title of Rupi Kaur's poetry book Milk and Honey with "The Tortured Poets Department," gaining over 14,100 likes in less than a day (shown below, left).

Also, users started to replace Taylor Swift on the album cover of The Tortured Poets Department, such as Instagram^[7] user @prizepicks on February 4th, who added Travis Kelce, gaining over 3,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Leaks

On April 17th, 2024, news about Taylor Swift's album The Tortured Poets Department being leaked online days ahead of its scheduled April 19th release began making the rounds online, primarily hosted on Google Drive and shared via Reddit, Telegram and Twitter / X.

Also on April 17th, 2024, X^[7] user @RENAISSANCEIZZZ posted screenshots showing people sharing leaked tracks from TTPD on Telegram, gathering over 1,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Release

On April 19th, 2024, The Tortured Poets Department was released on all major streaming platforms. A few hours later, Swift released a longer anthology of the album too called The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. ^[8]

Reception

After the leaks and the album's official release, posts about the lyrics from the album were criticized by fans and internet users, such as X^[9] user @G0DNEYS on April 17th, 2024, who highlighted lyrics about Charlie Puth, gaining over 12,000 likes in two days (shown below, left).

On April 19th, 2024, X^[10] user @ghostijn tweeted lyrics from the song "I Hate It Here" in which Swift said, "I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists." The X user wrote, "y’all..😭 there are so many wrong things about this," gaining over 33,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Also on April 19th, 2024, X^[11] user @fiImaker tweeted a video labeled "worst beat of all time" to make fun of Jack Antonoff's contribution, receiving over 8,900 likes in two hours (shown below).

Taylor Swift: I’m going to off myself and I’m an alcoholicJack Antonoff: pic.twitter.com/wnhHEQ3Vu0

— catalina (@fiImaker) April 19, 2024

Others made jokes about a lyric that referenced Grand Theft Auto, like X^[12] user @airbagged on April 19th, 2024, who tweeted the Jimmy Flipping Off Tracy meme, captioned, "when she tries to touch me while the bros play grand theft auto," receiving over 18,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Related Memes

We Declared X Should Be A Bigger Artist

We Declared X Should Be A Bigger Artist is a phrasal template and exploitable image macro meme using Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" song lyric in which she says, "We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist." The recaption meme format went viral in April 2024, especially on Twitter / X, as users started to replace Puth's name in the song with artists they think deserve to be more famous.

Touch Me While Your Bros Play Grand Theft Auto

Touch Me While Your Bros Play Grand Theft Auto refers to a lyric from singer Taylor Swift's song "So High School" from her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department which references Grand Theft Auto video game series. Following the release of the album in April 2024, the lyric went viral on social media, inspiring jokes and memes.

You Wouldn't Last an Hour in The Asylum Where They Raised Me

You Wouldn't Last An Hour In The Asylum Where They Raised Me is a catchphrase based on lyrics from Taylor Swift's song "Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me" from her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department. In April 2024, the lyric came to be used as a caption in numerous memes for people to share their digital and real-life haunts growing up.

I'd Say the 1830s But Without All the Racists

I'd Say the 1830s But Without All the Racists refers to a lyric from singer Taylor Swift's song "I Hate It Here" from her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department. Taken out of context, the lyrics went viral on social media as users posted memes about Taylor Swift being secretly racist and picking a bizarre decade.

Search Interest

External References