Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' album sparks frenzy with online leak ahead of official release

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Fans are going crazy over Taylor Swift's new album, 'The Tortured Poets Department,' which seemed to have leaked online one day before it was released.

The 34-year-old singer's 11th album is scheduled to be officially released on Friday, April 19. However, teasers of the record were circulating on social media two days before its official release, per Daily Mail.

Taylor Swift's new album appears to have leaked online

Songs from Taylor Swift's new album 'The Tortured Poets Department' have been extensively circulated on social media, with some asserting that they acquired them from a Google Drive link containing the entire 17-song playlist.

While some Swifties have dived straight in, others have pledged that true fans will wait until Friday, April 19, when the album is officially released.

While numerous individuals have claimed that these teasers are fraudulent and generated by artificial intelligence (AI), others have begun to believe that the tracks offer an early preview of the complete album.

At the February Grammy Awards, the singer announced the upcoming release of her 11th studio album, marking her first collection of entirely original work since 'Midnights,' which debuted in October 2022.

The alleged leak of the singer's album sent shockwaves through her fan base. While some fans hurried to listen to the songs, others rallied to Taylor's defense, encouraging fellow fans to "report" any posts sharing the leaked clips.

While this leak hasn't been confirmed, it wouldn't mark the first instance of Swift having a song leaked online prior to its official release.

The singer's 'Reputation' album, slated for release on a Friday in 2017, was leaked online just one day prior to its official release.

Swift's fan base eagerly anticipates her new album's release as it promises more content for her highly popular 'Eras Tour,' set to take place in Europe this summer.

Hits like 'Bejeweled,' 'Karma,' and 'Anti-Hero' were among the tracks featured in 'Midnights,' which also experienced an online leak prior to its scheduled release date.

Despite the leak, Swift's commercial prospects remained unaffected, with the album selling 1.6 million copies in its first week of availability in the US, per BBC News.

Swifties react to 'Tortured Poets Department' being leaked online

Some fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to declare their decision not to listen to the song before its release date, while others flooded the platform with fake links in an attempt to "bury" the leak and prevent anyone from finding it.

One Swiftie wrote, "Raise your hand if you're an ACTUAL Taylor Swift fan and you’re too lazy to find the link anyway."

Another fan echoed a similar sentiment and said, "Tip : Turn Your Device’s Volume COMPLETELY OFF on Twitter for the NEXT 24 HRS and REPORT EVERY POST spamming about album leaks! We got this!"

"People need to understand that this isn’t just about being a fan. It’s about respecting others of their hard work! She and her team has planned and worked so meticulously for this album release, don’t disrespect and ruin it for others as well," explained a fan. [sic]

One fan also exclaimed, "It’s not a taylor swift album release if you don’t have fake a** 'swifties' spreading leaks because they can’t wait one day to listen to the project … pathetic." [sic]

One more fan said, "me idk how ppl listen to leaks. I wanna listen to the whole album completely and really get the first listen experience." [sic]

Some fans speculated that the tracks might be artificial intelligence (AI) fakes; however, it turned out that some of the leaked recordings labeled as "AI" were actually older, lesser-known Swift tunes.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.