PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Besides music, one of Taylor Swift's favorite pastimes is keeping her fans guessing.
And despite Swifties constantly attempting to decode the star's hidden messages and Easter eggs, no one seemed to predict the artist announcing her 11th studio album—not counting re-recordings—at the Grammys on Feb. 5, right after she won her 13th Grammy for best pop vocal album with her 10th album, "Midnights."
"The Tortured Poets Department" will be released on April 19. Fans are expressing their excitement on social media the way they always do: with memes ranging from hilarious to insightful.
Some featured Swift's beloved band of cats—Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button—as the members of the mysterious "department."
The announcement itself didn't come as much of a shock to dedicated fans who know her scheming tells, but it seems that everyone was expecting Swift to drop her next re-recording—speculated to be "Reputation (Taylor's Version)"—not a completely fresh, yet-unheard-of album.
Fans were stunned by the announcement of a new album—which was likely Swift's plan, as she said in her Grammy acceptance speech that she had been keeping it a secret for two years.
Fans were so surprised at the fresh album partly because Swift has been extraordinarily busy the last two years she was supposedly working on the project. Between her global "Eras Tour" and re-recording "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" and "1989 (Taylor's Version)," people are wondering how in the world the star had time to write, record and produce "The Tortured Poets Department." X user m a r i seems to agree—in English, the caption of their post reads "Taylor Swift making albums."
Given the fact that "The Eras Tour" is still in full swing, fans are hopeful that Swift will incorporate some of her new songs into the setlist once the album is officially released.
Social media users also took plenty of time to poke fun at Swift's ex, Joe Alwyn. It's widely believed that "The Tortured Poets Department" will be filled with tell-all breakup ballads about the pop star's six-year romance with the "Conversations With Friends" actor.
Fans have also gleefully speculated that the album title itself is a jab at Alwyn, who revealed in an interview with Variety that he and his friends have a group chat called "The Tortured Man's Club."
One thing is for certain: Swifties worldwide are (literally) on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what their favorite tortured poet has in store for them in April.