“An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time.”
In her own words, Taylor Swift’s latest album The Tortured Poets Department is a product of her personal life – which is often played out in the most public way.
Fans have already spent hours poring over her raft of new lyrics in the 31 new songs.
Image: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn. Pic: Blitz Pictures/Shutterstock
Fans had been expecting a breakdown of the singer’s six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn – and they weren’t disappointed.
Even in the album title, there appears to be a reference – Alwyn and Normal People actor Paul Mescal revealed in 2022 they had a WhatsApp group chat with Fleabag actor Andrew Scott called The Tortured Man Club. Four months later news of Swift and Alwyn’s split emerged.
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The song appearing at number five in the new tracklist – often the slot reserved for the most meaningful song on each of her albums – is So Long, London, and is thought to offer new insights into her split with the British actor.
In the lyrics, Swift hints at wedding plans, singing: “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues, I died on the altar waiting for the proof”, as well as being upset at having to leave London which she said she “loved”.
She also makes a reference to “the house in the Heath” she left behind. The singer was often seen in Hampstead Heath with Alwyn when they dated, as he lived in north London.
“And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free,” she sings. “Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years – I’ll never get that time back.”
Swift was performing her Eras tour when it was reported that she and Alwyn had split – and the first show she played was in Florida, which is the title of one of her new songs, featuring Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine.
“The hurricane with my name when it came, I got drunk and I dare it to wash me away,” she sings.
In another song, Fresh Out The Slammer, Swift discusses feeling isolated in a relationship. “Another summer taking cover, rolling thunder, he don’t understand me.
“Splintered back in winter, silent dinners, bitter he was with her in dreams.”
Romance with Matty Healy
Image: Matt Healy. Pic: PA
Meanwhile, fans have interpreted the lyrics to the first song on the album titled Fortnight, featuring US star Post Malone, to be about British singer Matty Healy, whom she was rumoured to be dating briefly last year after her split from Alwyn.
Swift sings: “Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me, but you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave and I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen, everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be.”
But who are Lucy and Jack – the friends the lovers are confiding in?
Fans have suggested Lucy could be Lucy Dacus, a singer in the band Boygenius, who is friends with Healy.
Meanwhile, Swift’s close friend Jack Antonoff was a producer on the song.
While Swift doesn’t namecheck Healy, a number of other songs appear to reference him, including Guilty As Sin where she sings about having “fatal fantasies” for someone from her past while in a relationship.
Fans are also suggesting the song The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived appears to allude to Healy “ghosting” her.
“You tried to buy some pills, from a friend of mine, they just ghosted you, now you know what it feels like.”
New relationship with Travis Kelce
Image: Travis Kelce kisses Taylor Swift after the Super Bowl final. Pic: John Locher / AP
“I’m making a comeback to where I belong”, she sings in her 15th track, The Alchemy.
This song certainly seems to be a nod to her blossoming romance with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.
The song references American football terms including “touch down”, “the team”, “warm the benches” and “winning streak”.
Swift began dating the athlete last year and her attendance at the Super Bowl made headlines around the world, including that kiss with Kelce after the Chiefs’ victory. The couple recently attended the Coachella music festival together.
Image: Pic: Jennifer Johnson/Shutterstock for Neon Carnival
“Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads,” she sings.
“Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanted, cause they said there was no chance, trying to be the greatest in the league, where’s the trophy, he just comes running over to me.”
Kelce, who has recently landed a role as host of the game show Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?, said he listened to parts of the album and said it’s “unbelievable”.
Image: Kim Kardashian, with former husband Kanye West, in 2015. Pic: Rex/Startraks/Shutterstock
In one of the additional new songs, thanK you aIMee, fans have been decoding what they believe is a reference to Kim Kardashian. The letters capitalised in the title spell Kim.
Kardashian’s ex-husband Kanye Westinfamously stormed the stage at the 2009 VMAs as Swift accepted her award for best video by a female artist, a stunt he later claimed in a lyric “made that b**** famous“.
Amid the row, Kardashian posted a video online of what appeared to be West on the phone with the singer, where Swift appeared to consent to the vulgar lines.
Image: The MTV VMAs moment in 2009 when Kanye West sparked his feud with Swift. Pic. Reuters
“I wrote a thousand songs that you find uncool, I built a legacy which you can’t undo,” Swift sings.
“But when I count the scars, there’s a moment of truth, that there wouldn’t be this, if there hadn’t been you.
“And maybe you’ve reframed it and in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue.”
She then appears to reference West and Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter North West.
“And one day, your kid comes home singing a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”
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After the album was released, Swift wrote on social media: “An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.
“This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed.
“And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.
“And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.”
Swift will bring her Eras tour to the UK from 7 June, which she will start with three shows in Edinburgh.
Donald Trump has ambushed South Africa’s president during a White House meeting by playing a video purportedly showing evidence of a “genocide” of white people in the African country.
The US president, who was hosting leader Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, said the footage showed the graves of thousands of white farmers.
Mr Ramaphosa sat quietly and mostly expressionless while a montage of videos was played, and he later said: “I’d like to know where that is because this [the videos] I’ve never seen”.
The lights had been dimmed in the room as videos were shown, including of South African officials allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
South Africa has rejected the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime.
The videos include one of a communist politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer.
Mr Trump accused South Africa of failing to address the killing of white farmers. “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” the US president said. “Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
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Alluding to people in the videos, Mr Trump said: “These are people that are officials and they’re saying… kill the white farmer and take their land.”
Image: Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump in the Oval Office today
The US president then displayed printed copies of articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying “death, death” as he flipped through them.
He added of one article: “Here’s burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried.”
South African leader rejects allegations
Mr Ramaphosa pushed back against Mr Trump’s accusations, by responding: “What you saw, the speeches that were being made, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies.
“And in many cases or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he [a person in the video montage] was saying. Even in the parliament. And they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.”
Mr Ramaphosa also said of the behaviour alleged by Mr Trump: “We are completely opposed to that.”
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Mr Ramaphosa said there was crime in South Africa, and the majority of victims were black. Mr Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black.” The South African president responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Mr Trump has cancelled aid, expelled South Africa’s ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are unfounded.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
Universal has opened a new theme park to rival Disney World in Florida.
NBCUniversal owner Comcast, which also owns Sky News, is rewriting the Orlando travel itinerary with its $7bn Epic Universe.
The 750-acre park features five worlds themed around movie and game franchises NBCUniversal owns or licenses.
These include Super Nintendo World, complete with a Mario Kart ride, and the immersive Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Image: Fans pose for pictures in Super Nintendo World. Pic: Reuters
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Celestial Park and Dark Universe complete the park.
The project is the first major theme park to open in the US in more than 20 years and marks Comcast’s largest investment in Universal attractions since it gained control of the business in 2011.
Image: People riding the Dragon’s Racers Rally rollercoaster. Pic: Reuters
Comcast president Mike Cavanaugh said: “This is the one part of the media ecosystem that is not vulnerable to screen-shifting. It’s still beloved as a thing to do with friends and family.
“It would be silly not to be stepping on the gas.”
Image: The sprawling park covers 750 acres. Pic: Reuters
Epic Universe could attract 9.5 million visitors and bring in more than $1.3bn in revenue in 2026, analyst Craig Moffett has predicted.
Another new Universal theme park is also in the pipeline, with the company set to open its first European resort in 2031.
Actor George Wendt, who played Norm Peterson in the iconic sitcom Cheers, has died at the age of 76.
His family said he died early on Tuesday morning, peacefully in his sleep, according to publicity firm The Agency Group.
“George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever,” the family said in a statement.
His character as an affable, beer-loving barfly in Cheers was watched by millions in the 1980s – earning him six consecutive Emmy nominations for best supporting actor.
The sitcom was based in a Boston bar “where everybody knows your name” – proved true given everyone would shout “Norm!” when he walked in.
Wendt appeared in all 273 episodes of Cheers – with his regular first line of “afternoon everybody” a firm fan favourite.
He was also a prominent presence on Broadway – appearing on stage in Art, Hairspray and Elf. Before rising to fame, he spent six years in Chicago’s renowned Second City improvisation troupe.
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In an interview with GQ magazine, he revealed he didn’t have high hopes when he auditioned for the role that would catapult him to fame.
“My agent said: ‘It’s a small role, honey. It’s one line. Actually, it’s one word.’ The word was ‘beer.’
“I was having a hard time believing I was right for the role of ‘the guy who looked like he wanted a beer.’
“So I went in, and they said, ‘It’s too small a role. Why don’t you read this other one?’ And it was a guy who never left the bar.”
One of nine children, Wendt was born in Chicago and graduated with a degree in economics.
He married actress Bernadette Birkett in 1978, who voiced the character of Norm’s wife in Cheers but never appeared on screen. They have three children.
Wendt’s nephew is Jason Sudeikis, who played the lead role in Ted Lasso.