Music
Taylor Swift Teases Tortured Poets Department With Her Lucky Number
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans.
Taylor Swift’s title as the queen of Easter eggs remains unchallenged. The singer will drop her much-anticipated 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19, and she’s been teasing the forthcoming release with her favorite number, 13.
The number 13 has been a big deal for Swift from an early age. As she previously explained, she was born on Dec. 13, 1989, she turned 13 on Friday the 13th, her debut album went gold in 13 weeks, and her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “Our Song,” has a 13-second intro.
Ahead of the new album, she returned to the number. On April 6, 13 days before its release, she shared a video of a typewriter typing “13 days until THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT.”
A day later, on April 7, SiriusXM launched a dedicated Swift radio channel, titled Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version). The channel will broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across North America, and play songs from Swift’s entire music catalog, including “From the Vault” tracks and live recordings.
“The 13th day of the channel, Friday, April 19, coincides with the release of Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department,” a SiriusXM press release read. “Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version) will be playing the full album beginning to end continuously throughout the weekend.”
This latest string of Easter eggs hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans. “Taylor will never let the number 13 go,” one Swiftie joked on X (formerly Twitter). “Taylor got her own Sirius station on April 7 and its number 13. We Won,” another wrote.
Swift first announced The Tortured Poets Department at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Feb. 4 after winning Best Pop Vocal Album.
Noting that she’d just won her 13th Grammy, Swift said in her acceptance speech, “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. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you! Thank you!”
