Taylor Swift may need to calm down her fans following news of an alleged leak of The Tortured Poets Department.
The 34-year-old American pop star’s highly anticipated 11th studio album is slated to be released on April 19, but Swifties are claiming that 17 songs are already being circulated online. They include the 16 standard tracks and The Black Dog bonus track from the variant edition of the same name.
According to The Daily Mail, snippets of the songs credited to the album were being posted on social media on April 17 – reportedly taken from a Google Drive link containing the entire record.
The British newspaper reported it had seen a screenshot from a Swifties group chat in which a file containing the allegedly leaked album had been shared.
Some fans of the Grammy-winning artiste were divided over whether the songs were authentic or created using artificial intelligence.
Many defended Swift by creating fake online links for The Tortured Poets Department and shaming anyone actively seeking out the leaked songs.
American entertainment portal Us Weekly also reported that X barred users from searching “Taylor Swift leak” on its social media platform.
While it has not been confirmed if the files are legitimate, this would not be the first time a new Swift album has found its way online prior to the official debut.
Ahead of her third album Speak Now (2010), lead single Mine was leaked online. Her fifth album 1989 (2014) was shared on the internet four days ahead of its release, and Reputation (2017) and Lover (2019) were made public 12 hours ahead of their launch dates.
