Taylor Swift Announces New Album ‘Tortured Poets Department’ at Grammys

Taylor Swift has announced a new album, Tortured Poets Department, out April 19.

The megastar revealed the news at the 2024 Grammys when she took the stage to accept the award for Best Pop Vocal Album (Midnights). The fact that it marks her 13th Grammy win (her lucky number), caused fans to speculate that Swift would make an announcement, with many convinced it would be Reputation (Taylor’s Version).

@cbs In our #GRAMMYs ♬ Trendsetter - Connor Price & Haviah Mighty

Instead, she caught us all by surprise by revealing her 11th studio album, the follow-up to Midnights. “I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way,” she said. “But I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans. So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out on April 19. It’s called The Torture Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover. Right now, backstage. Thank you.”

Swift stayed true to her word, posting a black & white cover of her lying in bed. “And so I enter into evidence/My tarnished coat of arms/My muses, acquired like bruises/My talismans and charms/The tick, tick, tick of love bombs/My veins of pitch-black ink,” she wrote. “All’s fair in love and poetry/Sincerely, the Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”

On the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Grammys executive producer Raj Kapoor revealed that Swift would definitely not be performing at the ceremony because following the show, she has to hop on a plane to Japan to resume the Eras tour. From there, she’ll immediately head to Las Vegas to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11 — which prompted an uproar from the far right. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Killer Mike was detained at the 66th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon, shortly after winning three of the four rap categories in the pre-show telecast about two hours earlier.

An LAPD source tells Rolling Stone that Render was handcuffed and detained after an alleged “physical altercation” inside the arena involving a third party. “Somebody complains, obviously we have to do something about it,” the source said. Render was questioned and later booked for misdemeanor battery, according to the LAPD. He was released Sunday night on his own recognizance.

Video captured by The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner showed Render, being taken away in handcuffs. Gardner reported that an official said the arrest was related to an unspecified misdemeanor that didn’t have to do with any happenings during the Grammys on Sunday. (A rep and attorney for Render did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)

The detainment came shortly after the rapper had gone to the press area fielding questions about his win — elated to have been recognized after more than 20 years into his hip-hop career. “It feels absolutely grand,” Render said. “If it feels like some people are reaching the finish line first, don’t worry. Just keep running your race. The only thing stopping you is your imagination. It’s our responsibility to be grand in every action.”

Sunday’s award marked the first time Render had won a Grammy for his solo work. His first win came more than two decades ago for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group alongside Outkast for “The Whole World.” Before 2024, he was last nominated in 2018 for Best Rap Song for “Chase Me,” the Run the Jewels collaboration with Danger Mouse and Big Boi. Render did not address the incident on social media following the detainment, but proclaimed “Thank God” and “Dreams come true – It’s a sweep!”

Ironically, Mike’s father served as a policeman in Atlanta. In 2014, he told The Fader that his father wanted him and his siblings to be “good citizens,” but he didn’t want them to join the police force.

Mike also referenced his father in 2020, during an emotional press conference amid intense protests in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s police killings.

“I’m the son of an Atlanta City Police Officer. My cousin is an Atlanta City Police Officer…I got a lot of love and respect for police officers,” he said standing alongside then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and rapper T.I. Mike, along with T.I. also made polarizing pleas for Atlanta residents to stop looting and burning area establishments.

He noted, “I’m duty bound to be here to simply say that it is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. You must fortify your own house so that you may be a house of refuge in times of organization.”

Mike has frequently discussed the failings of the police system in his music, in interviews, and in a 2014 op-ed about the Ferguson uprising,” where he wrote “I will never take a day off policing the people we pay and keep a public trust with. I will use my camera, my pen, my pad, and my network to do my part, to make sure that Americans will no longer fear their government. or its employees. They work for us — not the other way around.

This is not the first time an artist has been arrested on the site of an awards show. In 2006, Yaasin Bey was arrested by the NYPD after a guerilla-style street performance. He traveled to Radio City Music Hall, where the MTV Video Music Awards were taking place, and performed “Katrina Clap,” a remix of UTP’s “Nolia Clap” that spoke on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Though Bey’s then-publicist claimed he had a permit to perform, he was still arrested after a crowd gathered around the flatbed truck he was performing on.

Many of the awards at the 2024 Grammy Awards went as expected. You had to know that Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country was going to win best country album. It had already won Album of the Year at both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. Joni Mitchell’s Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live] also seemed like a lock to win for best folk album. And Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito seemed sure to win best música urbana album. Sure enough, all three of those albums won in those categories.

Some singles or songs also seemed like locks to win, including Tyla’s “Water” as the inaugural winner for Best African Music Performance and Billie Eilish and Finneas’ “What Was I Made For?” for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Yep, they won too.

But, as always, there were snubs and surprises. Trevor Noah, who hosted the show for the fourth year in a row, was nominated for best comedy album, but lost to Dave Chappelle’s What’s in a Name? That was a mild surprise, but Chappelle is such a giant in comedy – this was his fifth win in that category in the past seven years – that it doesn’t really qualify as a snub.

The 3-1/2-hour telecast, held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, had something for everybody. Performers ranged from 20-year-old pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo to music legend Joni Mitchell, who is still adding to her considerable legacy at 80.

Here are snubs and surprises from the 2024 Grammy Awards.

SZA’s SOS lost album of the year, just as Beyoncé’s Renaissance did last year. SOS was an even bigger hit, relative to the year’s other releases, than Renaissance was. It topped the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, longer than any of this year’s other Album of the Year nominees. SZA was vying to become the first Black woman to win album of the year as a lead artist since Lauryn Hill won 25 years ago with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. More than a few fans of R&B and hip-hop are saying tonight “What does it take?”

Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for a record-setting fourth time, but she also set a record in song of the year, losing for the seventh time. Swift has amassed more Song of the Year nominations than anyone else in Grammy history but has yet to win in that category. It’s a mystery, especially because most agree that songwriting, even more than singing or performing, is her chief talent.

Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive seemed to have a lock on best traditional pop vocal album. Since 2000, winners in this category have included such pop and rock stars as Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello & the Imposters and James Taylor. Springsteen seemed to fit comfortably on that list. But the award went to Laufey, a 24-year old singer from Iceland, for Bewitched. Springsteen, a 20-time Grammy winner, hasn’t added to his Grammy collection since 2010.

Jones’ “ICU” won best R&B performance, beating SZA’s “Kill Bill.” SZA was considered the front-runner because “Kill Bill” was nominated for record and song of the year. “ICU” wasn’t nominated in either of those categories.

Both artists went 0-6 on the night. That’s more nominations without a win than any other artist this year. Batiste won five Grammys two years ago, including Album of the Year for We Are. Rodrigo won three Grammys at that same ceremony, including Best New Artist. A comedown after a strong showing like that is almost inevitable and isn’t really a cause for alarm. Even a Grammy magnet like Billie Eilish went 0-7 in the year of her sophomore album Happier Than Ever. It happens.

Combs’ “Fast Car” was widely expected to receive a record of the year nod. It didn’t. It was expected to at least win best country solo performance. It didn’t do that either. The award went instead to Chris Stapleton for “White Horse.” Stapleton is a deeply respected singer. He has won four times in that category, twice as often as his closest rivals, Willie Nelson and Carrie Underwood. Still, the fact remains that after five years of stardom, Combs’ Grammy track record stands at 0-4.

The Oscar front-runners for Best Original Song (“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie) and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer) won Grammys in the equivalent categories here. Eilish also performed the song on the Grammy telecast five weeks before she will almost certainly be performing it again on the Oscar stage. The Grammys are probably feeling pretty good about beating the Oscars on both of their two music awards this year.

When the Grammy nominations were announced in November, Hazel Monét, 2, made news as the youngest Grammy nominee in history. It seemed likely that the “aww, how sweet” factor would propel her to a win for best traditional R&B performance for her featured role on her mom Victoria Monét’s “Hollywood.” The fact that the record also featured the mighty Earth, Wind & Fire was another good reason to think it would win. Instead, the award went to PJ Morton featuring Susan Carol for “Good Morning.”

Fred again.. won best dance/electronic music album, beating two artists who had won three times each in the category, Skrillex and The Chemical Brothers. Fred again.. won for Actual Life 3 (January 1-September 9, 2022). Skrillex was nominated for Quest for Fire; and The Chemical Brothers for For That Beautiful Feeling, respectively.

After a slew of film and television awards, the 66th annual Grammy Awards will take center stage tonight as the music industry's biggest and brightest stars are celebrated and awarded for their musical achievements. This evening's affairs, in particular, are sure to have viewers buzzing from the megawatt stardom that will set the carpet ablaze tonight as the list of Grammy nominees truly reads like your favorite playlist come to life.

SZA leads the pack with nine nominations with her R&B revenge banger "Kill Bill," including highly-coveted nominations for record of the year, song of the year, and best R&B performance. Singers Victoria Monét and Phoebe Bridgers are close behind with seven nominations each. Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Brandy Clark, and Jon Batiste round out the nomination board with six a piece. Swift will undoubtedly be on everyone's watchlist as the debate over her attendance, and Travis Kelce's, too, has generated plenty of chatter since her nominations were announced.

The Grammy's red carpet is always an exciting one because, unlike the old Hollywood glamour served up at the film and television award circuit, music awards tend to unleash the most daring and outlandish fashions. From flashy flounces to sultry silhouettes, celebs will be amping up the volume to full blast in the fashion department.

Ahead, see all the looks straight from the 2024 Grammys red carpet.

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