According to TODAY, Taylor Swift has a notable poet in her family tree. Ancestry.com recently revealed that the “Karma” singer, 34, shares a familial tie with Emily Dickinson, making them sixth cousins, three times removed.
Both Swift and Dickinson are descendants of a 17th-century English immigrant who settled in Windsor, Connecticut, as Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather. Swift’s ancestors continued to reside in Connecticut for six generations before eventually relocating to northwestern Pennsylvania, where they intermarried with the Swift family line.
Swift’s upcoming album, titled “The Tortured Poets Department,” is scheduled for release on April 19.
In 2022, Taylor Swift made a reference to the 19th-century poet while receiving the songwriter-artist of the decade award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
During her acceptance speech, she remarked, “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre.”
Fans, known as Swifties, have also speculated that Swift’s ninth studio album, Evermore, draws inspiration from Dickinson’s works.
Released on December 10, 2020, coinciding with Dickinson’s birthday, the album’s title also nods to the concluding word of Dickinson’s poem “One Sister have I in Our House.”
The poem’s final line reads, “From out the wide night’s numbers — Sue forevermore!”
Taylor Swift unveiled The Tortured Poets Department during her acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys, where she clinched the award for best pop vocal album for her 2022 release, Midnights.
“I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way. But I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans,” Swift said. “So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out on April 19.”
She added, “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you. I love you. Thank you.”
Following her initial announcement, the pop icon has unveiled multiple iterations of her latest album. The musician recently introduced the fourth and ultimate version during her Eras Tour performance in Singapore last Sunday. The concluding edition includes a bonus track titled “The Black Dog.”
