🪶 May: You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from The Tortured Poets Department
Dear Reader,
“And that's the closest I've come to my heart exploding”
I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling from the 2am surprise drop of The Tortured Poets Department’s Double Album that we got on April 19th. 31 new songs!! I’m absolutely loving the album and immersing myself in this new era. How’s your TTPD listening going?
It’s hard to believe it’s already May. But April showers bring May flowers - as the saying goes - and May is bringing all kinds of flowers for us! There’s rumors of something happening on May 3rd, we might see Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in FLORIDA!!!, and of course, the Eras Tour is picking back up with a show in Paris that is sure to be remembered. I hope this newsletter can help prep you for the month ahead. It’s got all the usuals - my Swiftie calendar, May playlist, mashups and a themed recipe. But I also threw in a couple of extra items for discussion: speculating about what could happen on the 3rd and some thoughts on what a new Eras Tour might look like. I’d love to hear your own thoughts - Happy May!
In this newsletter you’ll find:
Swiftie May Dates - important dates to keep track of, plus reminders of when my Dear Reader Newsletters will hit your inbox this month
Could something drop on May 3rd?
A TTPD Era in the Eras Tour?
My May Swiftie Playlist - a playlist to complement your TTPD listening
My TTPD Mashups - this is just the beginning!
My Featured Recipe of the month - a TTPD Breakfast Bowl
Coming Up - fun things to look forward to
Upcoming Dear Reader Newsletters
Upcoming YouTube Videos
Swiftie May Dates
Since TTPD dropped almost a fortnight ago, it’s really felt like things have kicked back into high gear. Our Swiftie May Dates calendar is looking pretty packed! First up, tomorrow (May 3rd) is a fortnight after TTPD dropped, which could be quite significant. Taylor isn’t expected to make an appearance at the Met Gala on May 6th (some articles say differently, so it could happen, but it’s quite close to her Paris Eras Tour shows). However, there are rumors that we may see Taylor and Travis with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. I love seeing Taylor having these fun experiences (like Coachella last month)! Though of course if she’s too busy prepping for the Eras Tour, that would also be completely understandable. Because starting on May 9th, the Eras Tour is back!
Could something drop on May 3rd?
After the incredible surprise of a double album at 2am, all of Taylor’s ✌️’s seemed to make sense. But lately Swifties have been finding 3’s. The TTPD logo has a roman numeral three in it. Taylor Nation shared this series of seemingly random photos, including Taylor pressing the number 3 on an elevator (an Easter Egg for Speak Now TV in the Bejeweled Music Video, but why repost it now?). Cue the clowning.
The general consensus is that something could go down on May 3rd. Especially as it also happens to be a Fortnight after TTPD’s release. What could happen is very much up in the air. Some are guessing a third album is on its way. Personally I’m leaning towards a music video of “Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me”. That same post was captioned with, “You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised us” - a play on WAOLOM lyrics which then kickstarted a whole trend across social media. I could be biased, because I think a music video for WAOLOM would be absolutely epic. So we’ll see what happens. What are you thinking?
A TTPD Era in the Eras Tour?
As we’ve entered a whole new era, it’s interesting to think about how that could impact the Eras Tour, restarting in Paris next week. Excitingly, Taylor shared this YouTube short, showing her in tour rehearsals but with some new elements in play. One shot shows her on a stand with what looks like the TTPD logo on the front. Another shot shows her dancers with top hats and canes - props which haven’t made an appearance in the Eras Tour before. Plus we see her with a white microphone. Could we be getting TTPD on the tour?!
I feel like she’ll go ahead and add a new TTPD era to the setlist. My big question is what, if anything, will she cut in order to add it? The show is already such a marathon! Given that she cut some songs for the theatrical release of The Eras Tour Movie, she might cut those from the tour now to make room for TTPD.
There’s also this lyric glitch in the Apple Music version of “I Hate It Here”. Taylor sings something that sounds like “no midnights in Paris”. Some are wondering if she might replace the Midnights era with TTPD in the tour - literally have no Midnights era in Paris. But I just can’t imagine the Eras Tour without the Midnights era. It has such iconic numbers! What I could see happening is Taylor possibly changing the final era of the show. Midnights has been the closing era, as it was Taylor’s most recent album. With TTPD now taking on that role, maybe it’ll become the new final era of the show. Can you imagine Taylor ending with “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”?! 😭 Or, I’m envisioning a mashup between that song and “Mastermind” - how iconic would that be?
It’s fun to think about what could go down in Paris - because there’s so many possibilities. Whatever Taylor decides to do, I know it’ll be amazing. What are you thinking?!
May Swiftie Playlist
With a new (double) album out, your listening may already be fully occupied with TTPD - absolutely fair. But if you’d like to supplement your TTPD listening, I’m super excited to share my May Swiftie Playlist with you! Don’t worry, it’s got plenty of TTPD songs on it, because I also cannot stop listening.
I took a bit of a different approach to this playlist, keeping in mind the new album. In my monthly playlists I usually try to include a variety of Taylor Swift songs from across her albums. I love jumping around the eras, but still centering them all around a main theme or idea to fit with the month. But for May’s playlist, I wanted TTPD to dominate the playlist. So I curated it to sonically and thematically fit with TTPD.
My April Swiftie Playlist was themed around rain, as April is known for being quite a rainy month. Following on from that, May’s playlist revolves around what comes after the rain - whether it’s sinking into a lavender haze, doing what you have to do with a broken heart, thinking about them, finding escapism, or any number of other iterations. You can listen to my May Swiftie Playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube. If you prefer a clean version of the playlist, here it is on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
Upcoming Playlists Update: I didn’t end up sharing my Swiftie’s Complete Spring Playlist last month, because I figured it would quickly become not quite complete once TTPD released. Now that TTPD is out, I’m working on adding those songs to the playlist - so it’s on its way. I also have a very fun playlist coming your way super soon, to pair with an exciting project I’ve been working on!
Click here for links to all of my playlists!
Featured Mashup: TTPD Mashups
When Taylor releases new music, I immediately start thinking of mashups in my head, linking her new songs with her past work. TTPD is no exception! I feel like this album has more mashup opportunities than ever. So far I’ve shared two TTPD mashups, but I have soo many more that I want to create, with the list growing every day. Let me know if you have any TTPD mashups ideas and requests - and stay tuned for more!
Featured Recipe: TTPD Breakfast Bowl
Almost a year ago I started a series of Taylor Swift album themed breakfasts. I’m still so so proud of that series - it took me a lot of time to come up with the concept for each video, plan out the outfits, the shots, make the breakfasts, film, edit and upload. But I honestly had so much fun doing it! When TTPD dropped, I knew I needed to update my breakfast series with an appropriately themed TTPD breakfast bowl. So I created this white smoothie bowl, topped with granola, coconut shreds, and styled with all the TTPD props. The recipe feels almost too simple to even share - just blended frozen bananas and yogurt. But I think the end result pairs quite well with the album.
Coming Up
Here’s some fun content to look out for this month! As always I’d love to hear what you’re most be interested in seeing - let me know in the comments if you have any ideas and/or requests.
Upcoming Dear Reader Newsletters
💌 May 13th - free for all Dear Reader subscribers! With a roundup of Swiftie updates and recent happenings.
💌 May 22nd - a newsletter for paid subscribers! I’m working on something TTPD-related (there’s so much to dig into with this album!), but let me know if you’d be interested in anything else.
💌 Eras Tour Roundup newsletters - for paid subscribers!
After each city’s Eras Tour shows, I’ll send out an email rounding up all the highlights - in case you missed anything! This month’s roundups will include the shows in Paris, Stockholm, Lisbon and Madrid (Taylor is busy busy 😅). Here’s an example of a roundup email for Singapore’s shows. If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can unlock 1 paid post for free and/or try a free trial. If you’re interested in receiving these extra emails and supporting this newsletter, you can upgrade your subscription for $5/month or $50/year.
Upcoming YouTube Videos
Since sharing my TTPD reaction videos (part 1 and part ✌️), I’ve been working on a whole new TTPD series to share with you. I’m still editing, but will share ASAP. If you’re interested in this viral reel that I shared, I think you’ll really enjoy it! I’ll keep you updated, but if you want to make sure you don’t miss it you can subscribe to my YouTube channel 🫶
That’s a wrap on this newsletter. I hope your May is off to a beautiful start! Let me know your thoughts and requests in the comments. Until next time…
Who uses typewriters anyway?
Bekah
🎶 Can I Ask You a Question? 🎶
🤡 Do you think something will happen on May 3rd? What?!
🫶 What’re your predictions about what the Eras Tour will look like when it restarts next week - do you think there’ll be a TTPD era?
🎶 What TTPD mashups would you like to see?
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I wonder if tomorrow, May 3, Taylor will announce additional dates for the eras tour?? I totally think she’s going to add TTPD to the set list and with that behind said I’m hoping she want to spend more time on tour with the new TTPD set?!