Taylor Swift delighted her fans Sunday night by announcing a new album during the Grammys. "The Tortured Poets Department" will drop April 19.
Swifties suspected earlier Sunday that she might announce news of "Reputation (Taylor's Version)" after she changed her profile picture to a black-and-white image across several of her social media profiles, including Instagram.
Instead, accepting the award for best pop vocal album for “Midnights,” Swift said an entirely new album is coming.
The “Reputation” album’s artwork is an image of Swift in black and white with her name written in newspaper type, a thematic reference to the way she was represented by the media and how she was pushing back.
By Sunday afternoon, Rep TV was trending on X.
After the announcement, "red herring" began to trend on X, with some fans theorizing that "Reputation (Taylor's Version)" Easter eggs were intended to distract from rumors about her 11th studio album.
While Swift's website was down in the lead-up to the ceremony, it displayed an error message and the word "hneriergrd." Unscrambled, those letters could spell "red herring."
The new album will consist of 16 songs and one bonus track, which is called "The Manuscript."
In her acceptance speech, Swift revealed that she had been keeping the album a secret for two years.
"I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I have been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19th," Swift said in her speech. "It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you!"
Swift's Instagram page was quickly updated after the announcement. Her profile picture was changed to a new black and white photo, and her bio now reads, "All’s fair in love and poetry..."
Many Swifties, who are known for their abilities to predict Swift's next move, expressed their shock on social media.
Other fans speculated that the new album may have an impact on the setlist for the Eras Tour, which resumes in Tokyo on Wednesday.
