Taylor Swiftbrought the surprises with her to the 2024Grammy Awardson Sunday.
The star took home the best pop vocal album for her albumMidnights,bestingKelly Clarkson’sChemistry,Miley Cyrus’Endless Summer Vacation,Olivia Rodrigo’sGuts,Ed Sheeran’s- (Subtract)and as she accepted the award, her 13th Grammy — her “lucky number” — she announced a brand new album,The Tortured Poets Department,coming out on April 19.
She added, “It’s calledThe Tortured Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you. I love you. Thank you.”
CBS
Released in October 2022,Midnightsmarked Swift’s tenth original studio album and spawned massive hits on theBillboardHot 100 with “Anti-Hero,” which hit No. 1, as well as “Lavender Haze” and “Karma,” which both reached No. 2 on the chart.
In a notepostedalongside the album’s announcement in August 2022, Swift explained the concept forMidnights. “We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. We stare at walls and drink until they speak b ack. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t — right this minute — about to make some fateful life-altering mistake,” she wrote at the time.
“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face,” added Swift. “For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve…we’ll meet ourselves.”
Even with the big announcement, there’s no doubt the other nominees deserved their day in the sun.
Kelly Clarkson.Mindy Small/WireImage
Mindy Small/WireImage
Released in June 2023,Chemistryfinds Clarkson musing on a past relationship that was once blissful but turned sour. She crafted the album following her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, which was finalized in 2022.
In a recent interview withPEOPLE, the “Miss Independent” singer said of the album, “I didn’t see it other than: This is my outlet. I’m a let-go person; I don’t hold grudges. So it was really delving into what happened in my life and why—and what am I going to do about it?”
Clarkson continued at the time, “I cannot express how appreciative I feel for having that kind of healthy outlet. Because the level of depression and things that come with divorce or grieving is extraordinarily hard. You feel alone, and it’s just a blessing to be able to have that outlet for those emotions that are overwhelming.”
Miley Cyrus.Arturo Holmes/Getty
Arturo Holmes/Getty
Released in March 2023,Endless Summer Vacationmarked Cyrus' eighth studio album and spawned a massive hit with “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on theBillboardHot 100.
In a Disney+ special about the album, described as her “love letter” to Los Angeles, Cyrus explained its songs are sequenced to represent two acts: A.M. and P.M. “The AM to me is representing the morning time, where there’s a buzz and energy and there’s a potential of new possibilities. It’s a new day,” she said.
“At nighttime, it feels like there’s a slinky, seediness and kind of a grime but a glamour at the same time. In the evening, it’s a great time for rest, it’s a time to recover. Or it’s a time to go out and experience the wild side. In LA, there’s a certain energy to the night and you can feel trouble boil up to the surface and it’s very inspiring to me,” she continued.
Olivia Rodrigo.Rebecca Sapp/Getty
Rebecca Sapp/Getty
Released in September 2023,Gutsmarked Rodrigo’s second album and spawned two top-10 hits on theBillboardHot 100: “Vampire,” which reached No. 1, and “Bad Idea Right?”
Rodrigo continued, “I had to switch my mindset into just trying to write songs that I would like to hear on the radio and not trying to beat anything or achieve any sort of commercial success. Then it became a lot more fun, and the music became a lot better.”
Ed Sheeran.Erika Goldring/Getty
Erika Goldring/Getty
Released in May 2023,- (Subtract)marked Sheeran’s sixth studio album and spawned a No. 1 hit on theBillboardHot 100 with its lead single “Eyes Closed.” In a press release issued two months ahead of the record, he explained it was born out of a difficult period that spurred him to musically reflect on his “deepest, darkest thoughts.”
“I had been working onSubtractfor a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art,” said Sheeran at the time.
He opened up about how his wife Cherry Seaborn’s experience with cancer, “best friend” Jamal’s sudden death and Sheeran’s own mental health struggles inspired the album. “It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” he said.
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See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 66th annualGrammy Awardsas they’re broadcasting live on CBS from theCrypto.comArena in Los Angeles.
source: people.com
