Taylor Swift’s took home the best pop vocal album at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Sunday for her album Midnights. The “Anti-Hero” artist won over Kelly Clarkson’s Chemistry, Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract).
Swift announced it was her “13th Grammy” award — her “lucky number,” and followed up with an announcement for her brand new album “The Tortured Poet’s Department” comes out on April 19.
“I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way. But I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans,” Swift said. “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.”
She added, “It’s called the Tortured Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you. I love you. Thank you.”
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Released in October 2022, Midnights marked Swift’s tenth original studio album and spawned massive hits on the Billboard Hot 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 note posted alongside the album’s announcement in August 2022, Swift explained the concept for Midnights. “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.”
Released in June 2023, Chemistry finds 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 with PEOPLE, 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.”
Released in March 2023, Endless Summer Vacation marked Cyrus’ eighth studio album and spawned a massive hit with “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 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.
Released in September 2023, Guts marked Rodrigo’s second album and spawned two top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Vampire,” which reached No. 1, and “Bad Idea Right?”
Following up her blockbuster debut Sour wasn’t an easy feat, Rodrigo told PEOPLE last year: “For the first few months of writing Guts I was dealing with a lot of noise in my head about whether it was going to be good enough or whether I could ever top what I did on Sour.”
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.”
Released in May 2023, – (Subtract) marked Sheeran’s sixth studio album and spawned a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 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 on Subtract for 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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