Taylor Swift Shares Her Heartbreak With Apple Music Playlists On '5 Stages of Grief' Ahead Of 'The Tortured Poets Department' Release

Fans' theories regarding Taylor Swift's new album potentially being influenced by the five stages of grief seems to be true! On Friday, April 5, Taylor Swift released five new playlists on Apple Music, aligning with the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The playlists add to the already-high anticipation for the singer's 11th album "The Tortured Poets Department," set to release on April 19th, only about two weeks from today!

"So naturally, she's created a series of exclusive playlists, choosing songs of her own catalog that fit each stage," stated Apple Music in a press release. Additionally, each stage includes a message from Swift herself.

Four of the playlists take their names from the taglines of previously announced deluxe editions, while the fifth playlist is titled "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart," inspired by one of the song titles on "Tortured Poets."

Here are all the 'five stages of grief' albums curated by Taylor Swift.

Starting with denial, Taylor Swift presents the playlist titled "I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life Songs."

Here are all the 'I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life' Songs:

• "Lavender Haze"

• "Snow On The Beach (feat. More Lana Del Rey)"

• "Sweet Nothing"

• "Glitch"

• "Betty"

• "Willow"

• "Cruel Summer"

• "Lover"

• "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince"

• "False God"

• "Style (Taylor's Version)"

• "Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)"

• "Treacherous (Taylor's Version)"

• "Untouchable (Taylor's Version)"

• "That's When (Taylor's Version)"

• "Ours (Taylor's Version)"

• "Superman (Taylor's Version)"

• "Bejewelled"

Swift describes the playlist "a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion. Results may vary."

Moving on to the stage of anger, Taylor Swift presents the playlist titled "You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad Songs."

Here are all the 'You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad' Songs:

• “Vigilante Shit”

• "High Infidelity"

• "Would've, Could've, Should've"

• “Exile"

• "Illicit Affairs"

• "Mad Woman"

• "Tolerate It"

• "Bad Blood (Taylor's Version)"

• "Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)"

• "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor's Version)"

• "The Last Time (Taylor's Version) [ft. Gary Lightbody]"

• "The Moment I Knew (Taylor's Version)"

• "Babe (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "Dear John (Taylor's Version)"

• "Better Than Revenge (Taylor's Version)"

• "Tell Me Why (Taylor's Version)"

• "You're Not Sorry (Taylor's Version)"

• "Forever & Always (Taylor's Version)"

• "Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

Swift says: "These songs all have one thing in common, I wrote them while feeling anger. Over the years, I've learned that anger can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, but the healthiest way that it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it, and then oftentimes, that helps me get past it."

Next up is the stage of bargaining with Taylor Swift's playlist titled "Am I Allowed to Cry? Songs."

Here are all the 'Am I Allowed to Cry?' Songs:

• "The Great War"

• "This is Me Trying”

• "Peace"

• "The Archer"

• "Cornelia Street"

• "Death By A Thousand Cats"

• "Soon You'll Get Better (feat. The Chicks)"

• "Afterglow"

• "I Wish You Would (Taylor's Version)"

• "Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "Come Back... Be Here (Taylor's Version)"

• "Better Man (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "The Story Of Us (Taylor's Version)"

• "Haunted (Taylor's Version)"

• "Come In With The Rain (Taylor's Version)"

• "The Other Side Of The Door (Taylor's Version)"

• "If This Was A Movie (Taylor's Version)"

• "Renegade (feat. Taylor Swift)"

Swift explains that this playlist "takes you through the songs that I've written when I was in the bargaining stage, times when you're trying to make deals with yourself or someone that you care about, you're trying to make things better, you're oftentimes feeling really desperate, because oftentimes we have a gut intuition that tells us things are not going to go the way that we hope, which makes us more desperate, which makes us bargain more."

Now, entering the stage of depression, Taylor Swift presents the playlist titled "Old Habits Die Screaming Songs."

Here are all the 'Old Habits Die Screaming' Songs:

• "Bigger Than The Whole Sky"

• "Dear Reader"

• "Maroon"

• “Champagne Problems”

• "You're Losing Me"

• "My Tears Ricochet"

• "Epiphany"

• "Hoax"

• "Champagne Problems"

• "Coney Island (feat. The National)"

• "Right Where You Left Me (Bonus Track)"

• "Nothing New (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)"

• "Forever Winter (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "We Were Happy (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "Last Kiss (Taylor's Version)"

• "Castles Crumbling (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "Carolina (Where The Crawdads Sing - Video Edition)"

• "White Horse (Taylor's Version)"

Swift shares her insights, "We're going to be exploring the feelings of depression that often lace their way through my songs. In times like these, I'll write a song because I feel lonely or hopeless. And writing a song feels like the only way to process that intensity of an emotion. And while these things are really, really hard to go through, I often feel like when I'm either listening to songs or writing songs that deal with this intensity of loss and hopelessness, usually that's in the phase where I'm close to getting past that feeling."

Lastly, there's acceptance, represented by the playlist titled "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart Songs," named after one of the tracks.

Here are all the 'I Can Do It With a Broken Heart' Songs:

• “You’re On Your Own, Kid”

• “Midnight Rain”

• “Labyrinth"

• “The 1”

• "August"

• "Invisible String"

• "Happiness"

• "Long Story Short"

• "Closure"

• "Evermore (feat. Bon Iver)"

• "It's Time To Go (Bonus Track)"

• "I Forgot That You Existed"

• "Daylight"

• "This Love (Taylor's Version)"

• "Clean (Taylor's Version)"

• "Now That We Don't Talk (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]"

• "Begin Again (Taylor's Version)"

• "Innocent (Taylor's Version)"

• "Breathe (Taylor's Version) [feat. Colbie Caillat]

Swift explains, "Here we finally find acceptance and can start moving forward from loss or heartbreak. These songs represent making room for more good in your life, making that choice because a lot of time when we lose things, we gain things too."

Taylor Swift is currently on a two-month hiatus from her worldwide Eras Tour to ready herself for the launch of her 11th studio album. She initially revealed the album during her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal at the 2024 Grammys, where she won for her previous LP, "Midnights." Since then, she has unveiled the album's main cover and provided information on its four deluxe editions. Additionally, Swift has confirmed that both Post Malone and Florence + The Machine will be featured on the album.

Listen to all five of Taylor Swift’s Apple Music playlists in anticipation of "The Tortured Poets Department" album release.

Explore the playlists for potential Easter eggs and decode the meaning behind each song finding its place in the different playlists around the themes of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (AND WHY!).