Rock Island library hosts Taylor Swift release party
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Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department” era will start late Thursday night.
That’s when her hotly anticipated new album of that name drops, at 11 p.m. Central time.
To celebrate both that release and National Poetry Month, the Rock Island Public Library’s new Watts-Midtown branch (2715 30th St.) will host a free party, that will include streaming of “The Tortured Poets Department” and older Taylor hits.
The free event is from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., where teens and adults alike can try blackout poetry, make friendship bracelets, enjoy music, and more.
Blackout poetry is where you take magazine and book pages and black out words with marker, leaving just the words you want to make a poem. Other activities will include lyric watercolor art, and connecting “Animal Crossing” game characters to Taylor Swift eras, or albums, branch manager Rachel Ippolito said Wednesday.
All materials will be provided free for patrons, she said, noting the Rock Island library usually holds some kind of event for National Poetry Month.
“The Tortured Poets Department” follows Swift’s 2022 studio album “Midnights,” which earned her awards for album of the year and best pop vocal album at the 66th Grammy Awards.
Prior to “Midnights,” Swift released “Evermore” and “Folklore” in 2020, “Lover” in 2019, “Reputation” in 2017, “1989” in 2014, “Red” in 2012, “Speak Now” in 2010, “Fearless” in 2008 and her debut album “Taylor Swift” in 2006.
Additionally, she has released several re-recorded albums, including “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021, and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” in 2023.
Ippolito of the library said she’s a Taylor fan, and saw the superstar in concert for the first time last June at Soldier Field in Chicago.
“I thought it was really good. She performed about four and a half hours,” she recalled. “It was a workout just standing in the audience; I can’t imagine performing for that long.”
Ippolito is very much looking forward to the “Tortured Poets” music, and has listened to Swift’s re-recordings as well. “I’m excited for new music from her,” she said.
Another QC Swiftie must-attend is the return of Burning Red, a tribute to the 34-year-old Taylor, back at The Rust Belt in East Moline on May 3. The band was here last Sept. 30, 2023, and tickets for the upcoming show are (appropriately) $19.89, plus fees, available HERE.
The real Taylor returns to her world tour (at slightly higher prices) on May 9 in Paris, and has an extensive European tour before returning to North America in November, with six shows in Toronto, Canada.
You can pre-order “The Tortured Poets Department” on Swift’s website HERE.
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