Months of fan theories built up excitement for 12 a.m. EST, Friday, April 19th (9 p.m. PT, April 18th) when Taylor Swift’s newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” or, “TTPD,” was dropping. Though there was so much speculation around what her next move would be, few people predicted the reality of her plan. Not including re-records, Swift’s new release was album 11 in her portfolio, consisting of 16 songs, though it’s extended edition was equivalent to a release of two albums. At 2 a.m. EST, Swift announced in an Instagram post that she was adding 15 more songs to the album, as well as extending the title to, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”

Between the drop of a new album its self and the addition of a second, fans had a lot to be process through these songs. “I was expecting more anger going into a lot f the songs, and I definitely was not expecting for ‘I can do it with a broken heart’ to be so peppy and depressing. I had really high hopes for ‘I can fix him (no really I can)’ and I thought it would be a bit more angry. I really love the album, I think it’s my favorite one of hers honestly; ‘Folklore’ is amazing and this album was really similar. The best song I would say is ‘Who’s afraid of little old me?’ because I really like the layering and it just hits. [It’s] definitely one of her best yet a lot of people think that she’s peaked and is going downhill and while I can see their point of view because she used a lot of the exact same melodies from other songs in this album, I think that she’s never really been known for her melodies and more so her writing skills. [When I learned of the double album] I freaked out so hard. I was also really shocked because I figured we would get a few more songs but not 15, but it makes sense because an anthology is a collection of 31 poems. I hate Matty Healy so finding out that a lot of the songs were about him kind of killed the vibes for me, but then I listened to ‘The smallest man who ever lived’ and was like ‘Oh thank God so she’s over him,'” Harper Coughran said.

As everyone does, celebrity or not, having a complicated life is destined. Swift, being no exception to this, has had ups and downs that could all be inspiration for the album, leading fans to wonder which one it will be about. “I was expecting the album to be sad and a lot more about Joe [Alywn] than it ended up being. Based off titles, I thought it was going to be like ‘So Long, London.’ While it wasn’t my favorite album from her, I still enjoyed it and ‘But Daddy I love him’ ended up being my favorite track. I loved the song because it felt really relatable talking about loving someone despite what other people think. To be honest, I was kind of theorizing a few extra tracks but a full other album was a big surprise and I thought it was really fun,” Ellie Lao said.

Opinions vary from person to person and while many people love this new album, others believe she’s been stronger before. This can be the case for any album of any artist, as well as feeling a mix of both loving parts and not the rest. “I didn’t really have a ton of expectations but I expected it to be great ’cause it’s Taylor Swift, [and] I was really curious about ‘So long, London.’ I think as a whole the album is good but not as good as a lot of her previous albums. I also haven’t listened to it a ton so this is just my initial reaction. [The] best song is ‘Who’s afraid of little old me?’. I was excited about the double album but kind of overwhelmed, like give me time to process the first one” Will Lemcio said.