The Albatross

Bonus Track | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY (2024)

“The Albatross” is track nineteen on THE ANTHOLOGY, the double album edition of Taylor’s eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). It was released on April 19, 2024, through Republic Records.
Table of Contents

Background

Taylor released her tenth studio album, Midnights, on October 21, 2022, to widespread commercial and critical success, becoming the biggest album of the year. Midnights was eventually nominated for six Grammy Awards at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024. The morning of the ceremony, Taylor teased the release of an album by changing her profile picture across all social media platforms to a black and white version of the already existing cover artwork of Midnights. This led to her fans speculating online that she was preparing to release reputation (Taylor’s Version), a forthcoming re-recording of her sixth studio album, reputation (2017). Taylor’s website also appeared to have crashed, replaced with the non-existent HTTP status code 321, as well as error code “hneriergrd”, which fans deciphered to be an anagram spelling “red herring”. They also analyzed the source code of her website and found hidden, foreign-language words, which they then translated into English. The words found would be revealed to be words in Taylor’s handwritten note for the album.

Taylor won the Grammy Awards for “Best Pop Vocal Album” and “Album of the Year” for Midnights a few hours later. In her acceptance speech for the former, she revealed a new studio album, titled THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, and announced its release date of April 19, 2024, which she had been keeping secret for nearly two years. Its cover artwork was subsequently posted on her social media accounts, along with a photograph of a handwritten note.

The album’s “Albatross” deluxe edition along with the song was announced during Taylor’s “The Eras Tour” show in Sydney, Australia, on February 23, 2024.

Live Performances

“The Albatross” received its first live performance on June 29, 2024, in Dublin, during one of Taylor’s shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). She performed it as an acoustic mashup with “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” (2017). The live audio was released on August 8, 2024. In Indianapolis on November 1, 2024, she paired it with “Holy Ground” (2012) on guitar.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Wise men once said
“Wild winds are death to the candle”
A rose by any other name is a scandal
Cautions issued, he stood
Shooting the messengers
They tried to warn him about her

[Chorus 1]
Cross your thoughtless heart
Only liquor anoints you
She’s the albatross
She is here to destroy you

[Verse 2]
Wise men once said
“One bad seed kills the garden”
“One less temptress.
One less dagger to sharpen”
Locked me up in towers
But I’d visit in your dreams
And they tried to warn you about me

[Chorus 2]
Cross your thoughtless heart
Only liquor anoints you
She’s the albatross
She is here to destroy you
Devils that you know
Raise worse hell than a stranger
She’s the death you chose
You’re in terrible danger

[Bridge]
And when that sky rains fire on you
And you’re persona non grata
I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too
And that none of it matters

[Verse 3]
Wise men once read fake news
And they believed it
Jackals raised their hackles
You couldn’t conceive it
You were sleeping soundly
When they dragged you from your bed
And I tried to warn you about them

[Final Chorus]
So I crossed my thoughtless heart
Spread my wings like a parachute
I’m the albatross
I swept in at the rescue
The devil that you know
Looks now more like an angel
I’m the life you chose
And all this terrible danger 

[Outro]
So cross your thoughtless heart
She’s the albatross
She is here to destroy you

General Information
ArtistTaylor Swift
AlbumTHE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
ReleasedApril 19, 2024
Recorded2023
StudioLong Pond (Hudson Valley)
GenreFolk
Length3:03
LabelRepublic Records
SongwritersTaylor Swift
Aaron Dessner
ProducersAaron Dessner
Taylor Swift
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT CHRONOLOGY

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The AlbatrossChloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
Song Artwork
Live Performance
Lyric Video
Official Audio
Official Live Audio