Taylor Swift has released another variant of ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘.
Taylor Nation (@TaylorNation13), an official account for Swift’s team, posted on Twitter/X that fans could now “hear the Chairman fit the puzzle pieces of one of our favorite tracks together on new #TSTTPD digital album + bonus track”.
On Saturday (August 3), it was announced that this iteration included a “First Draft Phone Memo” version of ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’, available for only 24 hours.
For some observers, it’s a fairly transparent move. After the album returned to Number One on the Billboard charts, it seems like the ‘Anti-Hero’ singer is shamelessly priming for a 14th week by strategically releasing another limited-time-only variation – of which nearly 40 have been released now.
Taylor Swift releases new digital version of ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’ featuring “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys (First Draft Phone Memo).” pic.twitter.com/4ETVnjC3de
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 3, 2024
Fans have speculated the release was timed in an effort to block both Charli XCX and Billie Eilish from charting with their recently released albums, ‘Brat‘ and ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft‘. When both artists teamed up on ‘Guess’, Swift promptly released another variant of the album, as her critics predicted she would.
Eilish and XCX’s song has earned the biggest debut for an all-female remix in global Spotify chart history – surpassing Swift and Ice Spice’s efforts on ‘Karma’.
While some fans of Swift jumped to her defence and insisted she was “allowed to be strategic,” others accused her of greed and sexism, with one writing: “She needs to see a psychiatrist ASAP to deal with her misogynistic obsession with billie and charli.” Another added: “She could sell a bag of air she breathed in and swifties would buy it”.
that lady and her 45 album variants blocked them both from number one albums, but them having more cultural impact and critical acclaim than her in the end is most pleasing to me pic.twitter.com/44VS9boXew
— jono 🦋 (@jonomxr) August 1, 2024
