Taylor Swift has shared a ‘From The Desk Of’ letter which has been given away as part of Record Store Day 2024.
READ MORE: Taylor Swift – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ review: a rare misstep
The pop star created the note as a special gift for this year’s Record Store Day (RSD), being made available alongside the purchase of her 11th studio album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.
“Happy Record Store Day! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for welcoming ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ into your vinyl collection and your life,” began the note. “It’s my goal to create a memento you’ll want to keep forever, and I hope you’ll feel that with every turn of the page of the lyric book, every secret thought poured into this work. It’s an honour to be able to trust you with my feelings. Love, Taylor,” read the letter.
While the album itself was not an official Record Store Day release, the note celebrated the event, which promotes independent retailers.
Happy Record Store Day from @taylorswift13! Get a special note from the desk of Taylor Swift with purchase of “The Tortured Poets Department” at any Amoeba store (while supplies last).#TheTorturedPoetsDepartment is available now on CD and in 4 color vinyl variants. pic.twitter.com/oVs9rYBAXE
— Amoeba Music (@amoebamusic) April 20, 2024
“It’s my goal to create a moment you’ll want to keep forever… it’s an honor to be able to trust you with my feelings.” – Taylor Swift’s note to fans for Record Story Day #tsTTPD pic.twitter.com/0cSnUgLwbJ
— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftNYC) April 19, 2024
Record Store Day 2022 saw Swift be announced as the first-ever global ambassador of Record Store Day, and saw her release ‘folklore: the long pond studio sessions’ on vinyl for the first time.
‘The Tortured Poets Department‘ has broken a new record for the most-streamed album in a day, with the LP being streamed more than 300million times in one day on Spotify. Previously, the record was held by her re-recorded version of ‘1989’.
In a three-star review of Taylor Swift’s new album, NME said: “Swift seems to be in tireless pursuit for superstardom, yet the negative public opinion it can come with irks her, and it’s a tired theme now plaguing her discography and leaving little room for the poignant lyrical observations she excels at. It’s why the pitfalls that mire her 11th studio album are all the more disappointing — she’s proven time and time again she can do better.
“To a Melbourne audience of her Eras Tour, Swift said that ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ came from a “need” to write. It’s just that maybe we didn’t need to hear it.”
The Anthology version of the album was announced by Taylor Swift on social media, who noted that ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is a “secret DOUBLE album. I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.”
Artists including Charlie Puth, The Blue Nile, Lucy Dacus, Patti Smith, Dylan Thomas and possibly Kim Kardashian all received shout-outs on the album, with fans speculating that many of the songs address her brief romantic relationship with The 1975’s Matty Healy.
In other news, Swift has recently shared the meanings of her lyrics from ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘ in a new track-by-track Amazon commentary.
Elsewhere, Patti Smith responded to Swift’s name-check on the album. In a social media post featuring a photo of her reading Thomas, she wrote: “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Thank you Taylor.”
Swift also mentioned the cult Scottish indie band The Blue Nile on ‘Guilty As Sin?’, which appears to be another nod to Healy. American 00’s pop-punk band The Starting Line also responded to Swift after she referenced them on ‘The Black Dog’.
Following the LP’s release, Swift will resume her career-spanning ‘Eras Tour’ in Europe next month before heading to the UK and Ireland in June. Swift is due to play eight shows at Wembley Stadium in London this summer as part of the run, with support coming from Paramore.
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