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Whether it's the ultimate holiday add-on or a mini adventure you seek, Intrepid's Short Break Adventures are sure to tick all the boxes.

They're loaded with value, take the hassle out of planning and help you squeeze every last drop out of your next trip away.

Short Breaks are the ideal add-on to a longer holiday – or a mini adventure of their own. With a duration of 2-8 days, they range from beach breaks to guided excursions, or are centred around an experience like hiking or cooking. Departures are frequent and usually guaranteed. Short Breaks are slightly different to our group tours, with the idea being that you maintain a level of independence during down time e.g. at night. You'll most likely travel on a join-in basis, which means you may or may not be joined by others for activities and transportation, depending on demand. However, we do offer some independent options where you'll travel on your own or with your own party.

Ocean Endeavour Short Breaks

As you travel towards the Great White Continent, make every stop an occasion with these Short Break Adventures. From the sultry city of Buenos Aires to the wild landscapes of Ushuaia and Patagonia, there’s a whole lot of fun to be had before you hop aboard the Ocean Endeavour to Antarctica.

Perito Moreno Glacier Short Break

4 days from 868.

From your base in El Calafate, explore the remarkable Perito Moreno Glacier and visit a...

Ushuaia Short Break

2 days from 498.

From your base in Ushuaia, explore the awe-inspiring landscapes of Argentina’s Tierra...

Rio de Janeiro Short Break

4 days from 638.

Enjoy a short but action-filled tour of Rio. Take in the iconic sights, including the...

Buenos Aires Short Break

3 days from 423.

Get beneath the surface of Buenos Aires on a bite-sized short break adventure. Tour the...

Iguazu Falls Short Break

3 days from 533.

Spend the night in Foz do Iguazu, and enjoy day tours of Iguazu Falls. Visit both the...

Asia Short Breaks

Remember that dream? The one that began on a pearly white beach fringed by waters of sapphire blue. Where waves of incense flooded tiny laneways, and in a small village, a rooster crowed until the rice fields were bathed in warm sunlight. But this is no dream. This is Asia - and it will take your breath away

Taj Mahal Extension

3 days from 388.

Visit India and travel from Delhi to Agra. Travel to the Taj Mahal and Agra’s Red Fort,...

Thailand Hilltribe Trek

5 days from 528.

Travel to Chiang Mai and trek through northern Thailand to discover hilltribe culture,...

Tailor-Made trips

Take four or more on an exclusive trip and tailor your itinerary

Chiang Mai & Golden Triangle

3 days from 615.

Travel to Thailand’s north on this tour to the famous Golden Triangle. Explore northern...

Chiang Mai & Elephant Experience

3 days from 273.

Experience a different side of Chiang Mai by hanging out with elephants at a...

Sapa Adventure

5 days from 423.

Trek through Vietnam's mountainous region in the north-west to experience hilltribe...

Halong Bay Junk Cruise

2 days from 300.

Cast away on a traditional-style boat and set sail through hundreds of limestone karsts...

Mekong Delta Farmstay

2 days from 273.

See local industry, beautiful islands and what life is like along the mighty Mekong...

Chiang Mai Temples, Bikes & Whitewater Rafting

4 days from 460.

On this active trip, you’ll go trekking in Chiang Mai, explore Thailand's lush jungle,...

River Kwai & Ancient Thai Kingdoms

3 days from 645.

Travel to Thailand and experience the bustling streets of Bangkok and the ancient ruins...

Varanasi Homestay Extension

4 days from 335.

Lift your spirits as you float on the Ganges at dawn in Varanasi, and explore the city...

Annapurna Homestay Trek

5 days from 375.

Travel to Nepal and hike the Annapurnas. Travel from Pokhara to Tanting, trekking to...

Kathmandu Valley Trek

4 days from 365.

Travel to Nepal and visit Kathmandu for a spectacular Himalayan experience. Trek from...

Africa Short Breaks

From the stampeding wildebeest of the Serengeti to the forces of nature at Zimbabwe’s Vic Falls, Africa is where Mother Nature parades her finest wares at every opportunity. Trek through rainforests and steamy jungles, meet majestic Maasai warriors and trace the inscriptions of ancient civilisations - the impressiveness of this continent simply knows no bounds!

Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda

4 days from 4930.

Visit Rwanda and travel through some of Africa's most incredible landscapes. Explore...

Vic Falls Short Break

4 days from 665.

Situated on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe the Victoria Falls are over a kilometre...

Chobe National Park Short Break

3 days from 328.

Giraffes, lions, crocodiles, hippos and more await on this safari through the Chobe...

Serengeti & Ngorongoro Safari

4 days from 3203.

Discover the wonders of Tanzania – the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park –...

Kruger Lodge Experience

4 days from 1123.

No holiday to South Africa is complete without a safari in Kruger Park. Spot wild...

Kruger Lodge Experience (3 days)

3 days from 955.

Head out into the wilds of Kruger National Park on thrilling game drives. Stay in...

Zanzibar Beach Break

4 days from 730.

Relax on the Spice island of Zanzibar. Explore Stone Town, savour the smell of spices...

Kruger Experience - Lodge (5 days)

5 days from 1448.

Experience South Africa's Kruger Park and surrounding region on this five-day tour....

Wild Kruger Camping

4 days from 995.

Answer the call of the Kruger, South Africa's vast and famous game park that is teeming...

Kruger & Cape Town Short Break by Plane

11 days from 3218.

Enjoy the African wilds on a safari in Kruger, travel along the breathtaking...

Cape Town & Winelands

5 days from 1103.

Travel to South Africa to discover the wonders of Cape Town and the regional Winelands....

Masai Mara Walk

3 days from 1490.

Travel to Kenya and visit Nairobi. Embark on a journey across the Great Rift Valley to...

Sahara Mini Adventure

3 days from 225.

Travel from Marrakech to your Sahara Desert camp on a 3-day guided tour passing through...

Central & South America Short Breaks

From the glamour and sheen of ‘The Land of Hopes and Dreams’ to the crumbling Mayan ruins of Mexico and the pulsating dancefloors of Rio De Janeiro - the America’s dish up two hemispheres worth of must-see sights and fun-filled sideshows.

Patagonia Short Break - Torres Del Paine

5 days from 1710.

Experience the wonders of Patagonia on a 5-day adventure, exploring Torres del Paine...

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Short Break

4 days from 1175.

Visit South America and travel to Easter Island to discover the history of one of the...

Santiago Short Break

4 days from 875.

Enjoy a short but sweet 4 day stay in Santiago, exploring the city’s historic centre,...

Peru: Amazon Jungle Short Break

4 days from 650.

Journey through the Amazon Jungle in Peru and discover stunning wildlife and friendly...

Machu Picchu by Train Short Break

3 days from 718.

Visit South America and travel through Peru. Tour Cusco, the Sacred Valley,...

Mexico City Stopover

Explore the culture, history, art and iconic sightds on this Short Break Adventure in...

Inca Trail Extension

6 days from 1425.

Take the historic Inca Trail hike and be rewarded with spectacular vistas and...

Ecuador: Amazon Jungle Short Break

4 days from 1453.

Embark on an unforgettable journey into Ecuador's Amazon Jungle. Search for local...

The Middle East Short Breaks

Travel a road that links antiquity with modernity, hear the melodic callto-prayer drift over the hum of modern traffic and marvel at 5000-yearold pyramids reflected in shining high-rise buildings only a decade old. Step into the exotic Middle East.

ANZAC Day Dawn Service 2024

Travel from Istanbul to Gallipoli for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. Sleep out under the...

Gallipoli Pilgrimage

2 days from 225.

Visit Gallipoli and tour Anzac Cove, Lone Pine, The Nek and other places of historical...

Cappadocia Short Break

4 days from 578.

Discover Cappadocia and explore the fairy chimney rock formations and valleys in the...

Petra Uncovered

3 days from 948.

Travel to Jordan and visit Petra, the ancient 'lost city'. Be awed by ancient...

Taste of Istanbul

3 days from 600.

Discover the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul on a Short Break Adventure, covering...

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Photo: Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

The Taylor Swift Effect: 8 Ways The Eras Tour Broke Records & Shattered Sales

As the Eras Tour hits Disney+ with 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version)', take a look at some of the mind-boggling feats the pop superstar has accomplished with her culture-shifting trek.

Taylor Swift has continuously redefined what it means to be a pop superstar for almost two decades. But 2023 might have been her most defining year to date, thanks to the Eras Tour.

With 152 dates in stadiums across five continents, the Eras Tour isn't just Swift's personal biggest tour to date — it's a feat few other artists have accomplished. The sprawling 3 1/2-hour show is an impressive feat in itself, but the tour has gone on to break records and boost economies, firmly cementing Swift's stratospheric position as one of pop's all-time greats. 

There's a reason why the term "The Taylor Swift Effect" has been coined — it captures the impact Swift has had not just on music, but society as a whole. Swift's latest concert tour weaves through her 10- (and soon to be 11 -) album discography, totaling a whopping 44 songs across 10 different acts for each "era." Between the allure of each set's surprise song and the next-level fan engagement, the tour has become far more than your average concert — it's a full-on cultural moment. 

Though the trek still has a bewildering nine months to go (it will hit Europe and another North America stretch from May to December), Swift is celebrating the Eras Tour's one-year anniversary by bringing its record-breaking concert film to Disney+ on March 14th. 

As fans get ready to stream Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) , GRAMMY.com looks at the impact of the Eras Tour so far, exploring the records Swift has shattered since it first began.

Becoming The Highest Grossing Tour Ever

In eight months, Swift's Eras Tour did something no other artist has ever done: gross over $1 billion on a single tour. Pollstar reported the news in December 2023, stating that the 60+ shows she played in 2023 accumulated to 4.3 million tickets sold. 

This number is even more staggering when compared to Elton John 's farewell tour, which lasted five years and had 328 shows and accumulated $939 million . Not only has Swift been able to do the same with 152 shows, but she still has nine months to go — and at the pace she's going, Pollstar projects that she could pass the $2 billion mark.  

Shattering Attendance Records

From breaking the all-time record for attendance during her three shows at Nashville's Nissan Stadium in May 2023 to playing the largest shows of her career at Melbourne's Cricket Ground in February 2024 (performing to 288,000 fans over three days), Swift couldn't stop breaking attendance records at various stops. Including those venues, she's broken eight attendance records at seven so far: Seattle's Lumen Field, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, Pittsburgh's Acrisure Stadium, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Sao Paolo's Allianz Parque (where she broke one-day and three-day attendance records).

Although her friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran already broke some of her attendance records during his own 2023 world tour, Swift has done the impossible again by creating an entirely new record to break: how many people are both inside and outside the venue. Cities like Tampa and Detroit all had "Taygating" — mass parties with thousands of fellow Swifties that include singalongs, cookouts, and trading handmade friendship bracelets like the fans inside. In Philadelphia alone, cell phone usage data in the area determined that around 57,000 fans "taygated" outside throughout the tour's three nights.

Spiking Craft Sales

Creating costumes for Taylor Swift concerts is something that fans have been doing since Swift's Fearless Tour in 2009 and 2010, but a lyric from MIdnights ' "You're On Your Own Kid" created a new way for fans to engage with each other. The lyric "So make the friendship bracelets/ Take the moment and taste it" sparked a friendship bracelet frenzy, and caused a 40 percent chainwide increase in jewelry sales overall at Michaels craft stores, with locations within Eras Tour stops seeing a 300 percent sales increase in beads and jewelry categories leading up to the concert.

Since the start of the tour, Michaels has also helped Swifties create over 22,0000 bracelets in their bracelet-making classes in-store. And that simple lyric has inspired other fandoms to take part — Formula One fans are handing bracelets off to drivers before races, and British soccer players are making them to help boost team morale.

Spawning The Highest Grossing Concert Film Of All Time

When she announced that the Eras Tour concert film would be headed to the big screen, Swift opted to "bet on herself" by personally investing $10-20 million to bypass Hollywood entirely to facilitate a partnership directly with AMC. To say that bet worked would be an understatement: the Eras Tour concert movie became the highest-grossing concert film of all time , amassing $250 million in worldwide movie ticket sales. On the day it was announced, movie ticket buyers broke AMC's single-day advance ticket sales record, amassing $26 million within 24 hours.

The Eras Tour film would not only become a huge box office achievement , but would become the first concert film to ever be nominated for a Golden Globe, competing against other major box office blockbusters like Barbie and Oppenheimer .

Igniting Social Media

If fans can't physically be at the concert or "Taygate" outside the venue, they can tune in thanks to TikTok's live-streaming capabilities. Fellow fans provide streams of the entire concert for those who want to watch the gig. Although the viewer count varies, anywhere from 30k+ people can be tuning in on one stream (statistics have shown that most fans tune in for Swift's surprise songs).

Since the start of the Eras Tour, TikTok has been flooded with over 1.9 million videos, with Variety reporting that Taylor-related content can average around 380 million views per day and no day falling below 200 million views. Swift took note of some of the fan-fronted trends, too, including the viral "Bejeweled" dance, created by fan Mikael Arellano, as part of her choreography on tour.

Read More: Behind The Scenes Of The Eras Tour: Taylor Swift's Opening Acts Unveil The Magic Of The Sensational Concert

Boosting The Economy

Every weekend, cities that hosted the Eras Tour awarded Swift with something special — Nashville placed a bench in Centennial Park as a nod to a lyric in "Invisible String," Santa Clara made her an honorary mayor, Minneapolis renamed the city 'Swiftie-apolis,' and Rio de Janeiro projected Swift's junior jewels shirt from the "You Belong With Me" onto Christ the Redeemer. No matter how the cities honored Swift, her visit was certainly beneficial for their local economies — one stop of the Eras Tour averaged around $1,300 spending per person on travel, hotels, food, and merchandise. 

The U.S. Travel Association likened it to the Super Bowl , but happening 53 times across 20 cities, estimating the economic impact to be around $10 billion by the time the tour wraps. It's a tour that has single-handedly changing travel , according to CNN, with fans choosing their travel based on where they can get tickets. And since money talks, politicians and world leaders — from Canada's Prime Minister to the Chilean President — have come out in spades to beg for Swift to add their countries to the worldwide tour. 

Breaking Niche Records

Two nights in Seattle resulted in a "Swift Quake" after so many fans danced to "Shake It Off," which caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach collected 10 hours of data — from the music to the speakers to the dancing — to see how that energy can impact the ground enough to shake it.

Although not an official record, within the Swiftie community, fans have had battles to see which city can have the longest-standing ovation after "champagne problems," as detailed on Reddit and Billboard . Right now, Swift's penultimate Los Angeles show at SoFi Stadium is the winner, clocking in at 8 minutes .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

Elevating Swift's Discography

After the start of a tour, it's natural for artists to see their discography have a short influx of listeners and then taper off again. But after the first 10 weeks of the Eras Tour, Swift's catalogue was growing more and more with every stop — up to 79 percent more than where she was before the tour began. And instead of listeners streaming specific singles or albums, the streamers were all over Swift's set list; Billboard reported that 23 of the 42 songs performed have doubled in weekly streams. 

The tour even helped the resounding fan favorite from 2019's Lover, "Cruel Summer," transform from beloved deep cut to chart topper. Streams of "Cruel Summer" went up 304 percent, resulting in the track becoming both her 10th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and her sole longest-leading No. 1 on Billboard 's all-format Radio Songs chart.

Using the Eras Tour to work in tandem with her rerecording release schedule has also become an integral marketing tactic. So much so that coinciding the tour and the releases (as well as the announcements) has helped contribute to her having six albums in the top 20 of the year-end Billboard 200 , more No. 1 albums than any woman in history with 13 (as of press time), and 1989 (Taylor's Version) outselling the original — a staggering 1.3 million albums in its first week. 

Swift wrapped her first 2024 Eras Tour leg in Singapore on March 9, as she's now preparing to release her highly anticipated 11th album , The Tortured Poet's Department , on April 19. Three weeks later, the Eras Tour will pick back up in Nanterre, France, on May 9, with dates nearly every week until it wraps in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Dec. 8. 

With an already record-breaking tour and a new album on the way, there's no doubt that the world will continue to feel the impact of Taylor Swift and her pop star prowess — throughout 2024 and beyond.

5 Reasons Why Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Will Be The Most Legendary Of Her Generation

All Things Taylor Swift

Photos (L-R): Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Clear Channel

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

Upon the arrival of Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department,' take a deep dive into her discography and see how each album helped her become the genre-shifting superstar she is today.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on April 19 to reflect the release of The Tortured Poets Department.

The world now knows Taylor Swift as a global pop superstar, but back in 2006, she was just a doe-eyed country prodigy. Since then, she's released 11 studio albums, re-recorded four as "Taylor's Version," and cultivated one of the most feverish fan bases in music. Oh, and she's also won 14 GRAMMY Awards, including four for Album Of The Year — the most ever won by an artist.

Swift has become one of music's most notable shapeshifters by refusing to limit herself to one genre, moving between country, pop, folk and beyond. A once-in-a-lifetime generational storyteller, one could argue that she is music's modern-day maverick, constantly evolving both her music and the culture around her.

Every album era has seen Swift reinvent herself over and over, which has helped pave the way for artists to explore other musical avenues. In turn, Swift hasn't just become one of the biggest artists of all time — she's changed pop music altogether.

To celebrate Taylor Swift's newest era with The Tortured Poets Department , GRAMMY.com looks back on all of her albums (Taylor's Versions not included) and how each era shaped her remarkable career.

Taylor Swift : Finding Her Place In Music

In a genre dominated by men, the odds were already stacked against Swift when she first broke into country music as a teenage female artist. The thing that differentiated her from other writers — and still does to this day — is her songwriting. She didn't want to be just "another girl singer" and knew writing her own songs would be what set her apart. 

Written throughout her adolescence, Taylor Swift was recorded at the end of 2005 and finalized by the time Swift finished her freshman year of high school. Serving as a snapshot of Swift's life and teenhood, she avoided songwriting stereotypes typically found in country music. Instead, she wanted to capture the years of her life while they still represented what she was going through, writing about what she was observing and experiencing, from love and friendship to feeling like an outsider. 

As a songwriter, Taylor Swift set the tone for what would be expected of her future recordings — all songs were written by her, some solely and others with one or two co-writers. One writer in particular, Liz Rose , applauded Swift's songwriting capabilities, stating that she was more of an "editor" for the songs because Swift already had such a distinct vision. 

The album's lead single, "Tim McGraw," an acoustic country ballad inspired by Swift knowing her relationship was going to end, represents an intricate part of Swift's songwriting process; meticulously picking apart her emotions to better understand them. With its follow-up, "Our Song" — which spent six consecutive weeks on the top of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart — she became the youngest person to solely write and sing a No. 1 country single; she also became the first female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on an album. 

Although Swift's eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift's Eras Tour — Taylor Swift 's forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer's current and more refined vocals. Still, for fans who haven't properly explored Taylor Swift , it's easy to tie together Swift's earlier work to her current discography. 

On the track "A Place In This World," a song she wrote when she was just 13, Swift sings about not fitting in and trying to find her path. While her songwriting has developed and matured, feeling like an outsider and carving her own path is a theme she still writes about now, as seen on Midnights ' "You're On Your Own, Kid." 

Even as a new country artist, critics claimed that she "mastered" the genre while subsequently ushering it to a new era — one that would soon see Swift dabble in country-pop. 

Fearless : Creating A Different Kind Of Fairytale

If Taylor Swift was the soundtrack to navigating the early stages of teenhood, Fearless is Swift's coming-of-age record. More than its predecessor, Fearless blurs the line between country and pop thanks to crossover hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me," yet still keeps the confessional attributes known in country songwriting. 

Most of Fearless is Swift coming to terms with what she believed love to be. On the album's liner notes, Swift says Fearless is about "living in spite" of the things that scare you, like falling in love again despite being hurt before or walking away and letting go. The 2008 version of Taylor wanted to "believe in love stories and prince charmings and happily ever after," whereas in Swift's Fearless (Taylor's Version) liner notes, she looks back on the album as a diary where she was learning "tiny lessons" every time there was a "new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending she'd been shown in the movies." 

Much of Fearless also sees Swift being reflective and nostalgic about adolescence, like in "Never Grow Up" and "Fifteen." Still wistful and romantic, the album explores Swift's hopes for love, as heard in the album's lead single "Love Story," which was one instance where she was "dramatizing" observations instead of actually experiencing them herself. 

Unlike the slow-burn of Taylor Swift , Fearless went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for eight consecutive weeks. It won Swift's first Album Of The Year GRAMMY in 2010, at the time making her the youngest person to win the accolade at age 20. To date, it has sold 7.2 million copies in America alone. It might not be the romantic tale Swift dreamed of growing up, but her sophomore album signalled that bigger things were to come.

Speak Now : Proving Her Songwriting Prowess

Everything that happened after the success of Fearless pushed Swift from country music's best-kept secret to a mainstream star. But this meant that she faced more publicity and criticism, from naysayers who nitpicked her songwriting and vocals to the infamous Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

For the first time since becoming an artist, she was forced to reckon with the concept of celebrity and how turning into one — whether she wanted it or not — informed her own writing and perception of herself. No longer was she the girl writing songs like "Fifteen" in her bedroom — now she was working through becoming a highly publicized figure. Speak Now is the answer to those growing pains. 

Along with having more eyes on her, Swift also felt pressured to maintain her persona as a perfect young female role model amid a time when her peers like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato were attempting to rebrand to be more mature and sexier. During her NYU commencement speech in 2022, she reflected on this era of her life as one of intense fear that she could make a mistake and face lasting consequences, so the songs were masked in metaphors rather than directly addressing adult themes in her music. But that also resulted in some of her most poignant lyrics to date.

Read More: For The Record: How Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' Changed Her Career — And Proved She'll Always Get The Last Word

Writing the entire album herself, Swift used Speak Now to prove her songwriting prowess to those who questioned her capabilities. Much like her previous two albums, Swift included songs that were both inspired by her own life and being a fly on the wall. The album's title track pulled from the saying, "Speak now or forever hold your peace," inspired by a friend's ex-boyfriend getting engaged; meanwhile, "Mean" was everything Swift wanted to say to a critic who was continuously harsh about her vocals.

Retrospective and reflective, Speak Now is an album about the speeches she could've, would've and should've said. From addressing the aforementioned VMA incident in the forgiving "Innocent" to a toxic relationship in "Dear John," Speak Now also hinted that her rose-colored glasses were cracked, but Swift (and her songwriting) was only becoming stronger because of it.

Red : Coming Into Her Own

Highly regarded as Swift's magnum opus, Red sees the singer shed the fairytale dresses and the girl-next-door persona to craft a body of work that has now been deemed as her first "adult" record. On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience " intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion " — all feelings that she'd describe as "red." 

Unlike most of her previous writing that had been inspired by happy endings and fairytales, Red explores the lingering pain and loss that can embed itself within despite trying your hardest to let go. In her liner notes, she references Pablo Neruda's poem "Tonight I Can Write," stating that "Love is so short, forgetting is so long" is the overarching theme for the album. She plays with time — speeding it up in "Starlight," dabbling in the past in "All Too Well," and reframing it in "State of Grace" — to better understand her experiences. 

After releasing country-pop records, Red toed the line between genres more than ever before. Swift leaned further into the full pop territory by working with esteemed producers Max Martin and Shellback for the dubstep-leaning track "I Knew You Were Trouble," the punchy lead single "We Are Never Getting Back Together," and the bouncy anthem "22." But even when the pop power players weren't involved, her country stylings still leaned more pop across the album, as further evidenced with the racing deep cut "Holy Ground" and the echoing title track. 

The slight change of direction became polarizing for critics and fans alike. Following the more country-influenced Speak Now , some critics and fans found the pop songs on Red were too pop and the lyrics were too repetitive, possibly indicating that she might be selling out. If that wasn't enough, Red became an era where Swift's personal life went from speculation to tabloid fodder, with misogynistic headlines and diluting her work to just "writing about her exes." It's an era that would eventually inspire many tracks on Red 's successor, 1989 , like "Blank Space" and "Shake It Off."

Commercially, Red debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling country album and making Swift the first female artist to have three consecutive albums spend six or more weeks at the top of the chart. The impact of Red extended beyond its own success, too. Often mentioned as a record that inspired a generation of artists from Troye Sivan to Conan Gray , Swift's confessional, soul-bearing authenticity set a new standard for straightforward pop music. 

1989 : Reinventing Into A Pop Genius

The night Red lost the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year in 2014, Swift decided that her next album would be a full-on pop record. After years of identifying as a country artist and flirting with pop, Swift departed her roots to reinvent herself, no matter what her then-label or critics had to say. And in true Swiftian fashion, turning into a pop artist didn't just prove her genre-shapeshifting capabilities — it further solidified her as an artist who is at her best when she freely creates to her desires and refuses to adhere to anyone.

1989 was lauded by critics for its infectious synth-pop that was reminiscent of the 1980s, yet still had a contemporary sound. Swift opted to lean more into radio-friendly hits, which resulted in songs like "Style," "Wildest Dreams," "Blank Space," and "Shake It Off," all of which became singles. And where some might trade a hit or two at the expense of their artistic integrity, Swift didn't falter — instead, her lyrics were just as heartfelt and intimate as they were on prior albums.

After exploring pop-leaning sonics she first found with Red , Swift worked with Martin and Shellback again on most of 1989 . This reinvention brought new (and very important) collaborators as well. Swift's now-frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff credits her as the first person to take a chance on him as a producer with "I Wish You Would" and "Out Of The Woods"; both tracks exemplified how future Antonoff-produced songs would sound on albums like reputation, Lover and Midnights .

At the time, 1989 became Swift's best-selling album to date. It sold nearly 1.3 million copies within release week in the U.S., debuting atop the Billboard 200 and reigning for 11 non-consecutive weeks. The album also earned Swift several awards — including her second Album Of The Year GRAMMY, which made her the first female artist to ever win the award twice. 

Following the release of 1989 , Swift became a cultural juggernaut, and the album has had an omnipresence in music since. Swift didn't just normalize blending genres, but proved that you can create a sound that is uniquely yours by doing so. In turn, Billie Eilish , Dua Lipa and more pop stars have refused to conform or stick to what they've done prior. 

reputation : Killing The Old Taylor

For years, Swift was on a strict two-year cycle — she'd release an album one year, tour the next, and then release a new album the following year. But following the heightened scrutiny and highly publicized tabloid drama that followed the end of the 1989 era, Swift completely disappeared for a year. She stayed away from public appearances, didn't do any press, and missed the album schedule fans became accustomed to. It wasn't until summer 2017 when she returned from her media (and social media) blackout to unveil the fitting title for her new album: reputation .

Born as a response to the naysayers and name-callers, reputation follows Swift shedding her public image — which includes the pressure to be perfect, the drama, and the criticism — by declaring, "There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation." Leaning on the same tongue-in-cheek songwriting techniques she used while penning "Blank Space," Swift wrote from the mindset of how the public perceived her.

When Swift released the lead single "Look What You Made Me Do," a song she initially wrote as a poem about not trusting specific people, many assumed the album would center on vengeance and drama. Although Swift said that the album has its vindictive moments — even declaring that the "old Taylor" is dead on the bridge of "Look What You Made Me Do" — it's a vulnerable record for her. Swift described reputation as a bait-and-switch; at their core, the songs are about finding love in the darkest moments. 

Swift still remained in the pop lane with reputation , largely leaning on Antonoff and the Martin/Shellback team. The sound almost mirrored the scrutiny Swift faced in the years prior — booming electropop beats, maximalist production and pulsing synthesizers dominate, particularly on "End Game," "I Did Something Bad," and "Ready For It…?" But the "old Taylor" isn't entirely gone on songs like "Call It What You Want," "So It Goes…" and "New Year's Day," where she lets her guard down to write earnest love odes.

Even after Swift spent some time away from the spotlight, the public didn't immediately gravitate toward her return. And even despite matching the 1.2 million first-week sales of her previous releases, some concluded that the album was her first commercial failure when compared to 1989 . With time, though, it became clear that the response to reputation became muddled with the public's overall perception of her at the time — some even claimed that Swift was ahead of her time with the album's overall sound.

For her 2023 TIME Person of the Year profile , Swift described reputation as a "goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure." For years, she felt the pressure to be "America's Sweetheart" and to never step out of line. Writing reputation became a lifeline following the events that catalyzed it  — a way to shed the so-called snakeskin and make peace with however the public wanted to view her. 

Lover : Stepping Into The Daylight

After finding love amongst chaos with reput ation, Swift was learning to deal with the anxiety and fear of losing her partner — became a major theme of another aptly titled album, Lover . Both sonically and visually, Lover was a complete change from reputation . After touring reputation , Swift found that her fans saw her as "a flesh-and-blood human being," inspiring her to be "brave enough to be vulnerable" because her fans were along with her. Stepping away from the dark and antagonistic themes around reputation encouraged Swift to step into the light and be playful with her work on Lover .

Swift also found a new sense of creativity within this new mindset, one where she aimed to still embed playful themes in her songwriting but with less snark than that of "Blank Space" and "Look What You Made Me Do." Leaning into Lover being a "love letter to love," Swift explored every aspect of it. Tracks like "Paper Rings" and "London Boy" exude a whimsical energy, even if they center on more serious themes like marriage and commitment. Other songs, including "Death By A Thousand Cuts" and "Cornelia Street," are Swift at her most vulnerable, reflecting on a love lost and grappling with the extreme worry that comes when you could potentially lose someone. 

Looking at Lover retrospectively, it's an album that almost symbolizes a bookend in her discography. She was playful yet poignant, picking apart her past lyrics and feelings and looking at them with the perspective of someone who was once on top of the world, hit rock bottom, and survived in spite of it. This evolution is mentioned throughout Lover, particularly in a direct callback to 2012's Red , "Daylight," which sees her describe her love as "golden" rather than "burning red." 

Lover also marked the first time Swift divulged into politics and societal issues, like campaigning against Donald Trump, releasing the Pride-infused "You Need To Calm Down," and feeling disillusioned by the political climate with "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince." Swift's documentary Miss Americana explores this change further, discussing how she regrets not being vocal about politics and issues prior, in addition to opening up about her body image issues and mental health struggles.

Lover became Swift's sixth No. 1 album in America, making her the first female artist to achieve the feat. But Lover was more than any accolades could reflect — it was Swift's transitional album in many ways, notably marking the first album that she owned entirely herself following leaving Big Machine Records for Republic Records in 2018.

folklore : Looking Beyond Her Personal Stories

After the pandemic started and Swift cancelled her Lover Fest, she spent the early stages of quarantine reading and watching a myriad of films. Without exactly setting out to create an album, she began dreaming of fictional stories and characters with various narrative arcs, allowing her imagination to run free. The result became folklore , 2020's surprise archetypal quarantine album.

Crafting a world with characters like the folklore love triangle between those in "betty" and "august," as well as Rebekah Harkness from "the last great american dynasty" (who once lived in Swift's Rhode Island mansion), was Swift's way of venturing outside her typical autobiographical style of writing. She'd see visceral images in her mind — from battleships to tree swings to mirrored disco balls — and turned them into stories, sometimes weaving in her own personal narrative throughout, or taking on a narrator role and speaking from the perspective of someone she had never met. 

She worked remotely with two producers — again working with her right-hand man Jack Antonoff, and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner from The National . Some songs, like "peace," were recorded in just one take, capturing the essence and fragility in the song's story, whereas the lyrics for the sun-drenched "august" were penned on the spot as Swift was in her makeshift home studio in Los Angeles.

Another aspect that separated folklore from her previous work was the obvious decision not to create hits made for radio play, so much so that Dessner claimed that she made an anti-pop record at a time when radio wanted clear "bops." Sonically, it ventured into genres Swift hadn't explored much outside of a few folkier tracks on Lover . Rather than relying on mostly electronic elements, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner weaved in soft pianos, ethereal strings, and plucky guitars.

folklore 's impact on the zeitgeist at a time where everyone was stuck at home helped shape people's quarantine experience. Fans rejoiced at having songs to comfort them during difficult times, and artists like Maya Hawke , Gracie Abrams , and Sabrina Carpenter credit folklore for inspiring them to create and be even more emotionally honest in their songwriting. After its release, folklore became the best-selling album of 2020 after selling 1.2 million records. At the 2021 GRAMMYs, folklore took home Album Of The Year , making her the fourth artist in history to win three times in the Category. 

evermore : Embracing Experimentation

It was exciting enough for Swifties to experience one surprise album drop from Swift, an artist who typically has an entire album campaign calculated. So when evermore was released just six months after folklore , fans were in shock. 

Like its (literally) folklorian sister, evermore was a surprise release at the end of 2020, marking the first time Swift didn't have distinct "eras" between albums. She felt like there was something "different" with folklore , stating in a social media post that making it was less like she was "departing" and more like she was "returning" to the next stage of her discography. In turn, the album served as a similar escape for Swift as folklore did.

Bridging together the same wistful and nostalgic themes as heard on its predecessor, evermore sees Swift venture even further into escapism. She explores more stories and characters, some based in fiction like "dorothea," and some real, like "marjorie," written in dedication to Swift's grandmother. 

Evermore follows folklore 's inclusion of natural imagery and motifs, like landscapes, skies, ivy, and celestial elements. In contrast to the fairytale motifs and happy endings of Fearless , evermore saw Swift become fixated on "unhappy" endings — stories of failed marriages ("happiness"), lifeless relationships ("tolerate it"), and one-time flings ("'tis the damn season"). 

Sonically, evermore is a slight departure from its sister record; where folklore relies on more alt-leaning and indie-tinged sounds, evermore takes the sonics from all of Swift's past records — from pop to country to indie rock — and features all of them on one album. Country songs like "cowboy like me" and "no body, no crime" reaches back to Swift's earlier work in narrative building, seamlessly crafting a three-party story with ease. "Closure" is a "skittering" track that has the same energy as tracks like Lover 's "I Forgot That You Existed," whereas the ballad "champagne problems" is thematically reminiscent of Swift's Speak Now track "Back To December" where she takes responsibility for her lover's heartache. 

Working mostly with Dessner on evermore , Swift was emboldened to continue creating and opted to embrace whatever came naturally to them rather than limiting themselves to a sound. Swift felt a "quiet conclusion" after finishing up evermore , describing that it was more about grappling with endings of all "sizes and shapes," and the record represented a chapter closing. Even so, its poetic lyricism and mystical storytelling cleverly foreshadowed what was to come with subsequent albums, particularly The Tortured Poets Department .

Midnights : Encapsulating Her Artistic Magic

After coming out of the folklorian woods following folklore and evermore , fans and critics alike were intrigued to see what direction Swift would take on her next studio album. On Midnights , Swift leaves behind indie folk sounds and returns to the pop production of 1989 and Lover .

Her most conceptual album to date, Midnights charts 13 sleepless nights and explores five themes, from self-hatred and revenge to "what if" fantasies, falling in love, and falling apart. They are the things that keep her up at night, like the self-critiquing in "Anti-Hero," her rise to fame in "You're on Your Own, Kid," and the anxiety of falling in love again in "Labyrinth." Similarly to Swift's cheeky songwriting style that sees her create caricatures of herself in songs like "Blank Space" and "Look What You Made Me Do," she doubles down on claims she's "calculated" on "Mastermind," a song about devising a plan for her and her lover. 

Although the album is a departure from the two pandemic sister albums, the overall creation process didn't differ too much. In addition to working alongside Antonoff (and bringing Dessner in for the bonus-track-filled 3am Edition), Swift's worldbuilding is still the throughline that connects Midnights and Swift's recent albums, whether she's dreaming of a Parisian escape in "Paris" or using war imagery as a metaphor for the struggle of love in "The Great War."

Read More: 5 Takeaways From Taylor Swift's New Album 'Midnights'

Following the success with folklore and evermore , Swift's intrigue was at a then-all-time high upon the release of Midnights . Along with breaking several streaming records — including becoming the first album to exceed 700 million global streams in a week — it was Swift's 11th No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, and was the highest-selling album of 2022 (and, remarkably, the second best-selling of 2023).

To say that Swift's celebrity has become otherworldly since the release of Midnights would be an understatement. Celebrating her genre-defying and varied discography through The Eras Tour has resulted in old songs having a resurgence, new inside jokes and Easter eggs within the fandom, and a plethora of new listeners being exposed to Swift's work. 

As a result, there has arguably never been more excitement for a Taylor Swift album than for The Tortured Poets Department — especially because the announcement came on the heels of her lucky 13th GRAMMY win in February. Midnights helped further solidify Swift's larger-than-life status at the finale of the 2024 GRAMMYs, too, as she became the only artist in history to win Album Of The Year four times. 

The Tortured Poets Department : A Grief-Stricken Poetic Odyssey

It’s been a while since Swift has penned a full-fledged breakup album. On The Tortured Poets Department , she navigates the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — after her long-term relationship ended. Taking a page from the release of folklore and evermore , she dropped a double album and announced The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology at 2 a.m. on release day. Throughout a total of 31 tracks, the prolific songwriter shelved the glittery pop radio-friendly tunes in favor of more subdued, synthy and heart-wrenching songs. 

On Instagram, Swift described the album as a collection of poetic songs that reflect the "events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time," Swift pulled out the fountain and quill pens to craft songs about the "tortured poets" in her life — sometimes musing about lovers, sometimes taking aim at villains, and sometimes pointing the finger at herself. 

TTPD is also her most confessional album thus far. It pokes fun at so-called fans who overstep with her personal life ("But Daddy I Love Him"), says goodbye to a city that gave her a home ("So Long London"), and muses on how her own celebrity has stunted her growth ("Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?"). To help explain this chapter of her life, Swift brings together a myriad of collaborators — from Stevie Nicks as fellow poetess, to duets with Florence Welch and Post Malone — and leans on real and fictional characters, like Clara Bow, Peter Pan ("Peter"), and Patti Smith .

In the same post, Swift declared that once she’s confessed all of her saddest stories, she’s able to find freedom. Yet The Tortured Poets Department (and its accompanying 15-track anthology) spends much time reflecting: she toys with her own lore, self-referencing past songs from albums like 1989 and poems from her reputation era. 

Fourteen years ago, Swift declared that she would never change, but she’ll never stay the same either. The Tortured Poets Department proves that in the throughline of Taylor Swift's many artistic eras is a commitment to exploration and a love of autobiographical lyricism.

Photo: Don Arnold/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' Is A Post-Mortem Autopsy In Song: 5 Takeaways From Her New Album

"There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed," Taylor Swift wrote of her new album. From grapplings with fame to ultra-personal reflections on love lost, her latest set of fountain and quill pen songs marks the end of an era.

"All’s fair in love and poetry," Taylor Swift declared when she announced her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department , at the 66th GRAMMY Awards . 

Taken from the proverb "All’s fair in love and war," the pop phenom gave us a fair warning: there’s no limit to what she’ll go through to achieve her ends. 

On the freshly released The Tortured Poets Department , Taylor Swift has a few things to get off her chest — so much that it required a surprise second record, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology , adding an additional 15 songs . The sprawling album is a masterclass in songwriting and so personal that it's analogous to performing a post mortem autopsy; The musical shapeshifter is here to exhume the tortured poets of her past and make peace with them. 

In an Instagram post , Swift called the record an anthology that reflects " events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time - one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure." With the release of Tortured Poets , "t here is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed…our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page." 

Describing Swift’s work as a collection of tracks about boys and break-ups has always felt underbaked and disingenuous, but much of The Tortured Poets Department is just that. In true Swiftian fashion, she plays on preconceived theories, opting to toy with the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — after a break-up, bringing listeners along on a peregrination exploring the depths of her relationships and personal growth. 

Analyzing her feelings to craft songs is muscle memory at this point, but with every release Taylor Swift somehow does so with a refreshed and reimagined perspective. The stories she shares with her fans in TTPD might’ve made her feel like she died, but she’s a revenant no longer tortured by the whims and words of other poets.

With The Tortured Poets Department open for business, read on for five key points to consider when listening to Taylor Swift’s new album .

It's Much More Than A Break-Up Record

Although the record orbits around a break-up, The Tortured Poets Department demonstrates Swift's ability to shapeshift as a songwriter. A song about a break-up is layered, typically forcing Swift to unveil her own flaws while wearing her broken heart on her sleeve.

The fifth track on a Taylor Swift album is typically the most emotionally cutting, and "So Long London" is no exception. On the standout track, Swift views the loss of her lover and the breakdown of her relationship to Joe Alwyn through the lens of the city they once shared together. It’s a cathartic release for Swift who point-blank notes the pain they inflicted upon her and how, in turn, they ended up just as heartbroken as she is. 

The high-spirited "Down Bad" and subdued "The Smallest Man in The World" are two sides of the same coin. The former is hopeful that a love could be reignited, whereas the latter sees Swift at her grittiest, pointing the finger at her former lover. "Smallest" poses a series of questions, accusing her ex of being a spy who only wanted to get intel on her.

On piano ode "loml," Swift looks back at the "get-love-quick" schemes she first wrote about in "Why She Disappeared," a poem for reputation . The poem originally considered the death of her reputation and how its aftermath made her stronger while she was simultaneously nursing a new relationship. 

The track has a similar energy to fan favorite "All Too Well," but is even more accusatory — seemingly unlocking another level of her songwriting prowess as she teeters between seething rage and mourning with lines about picking through a "braid of lies" spewed by a partner who "claimed he was a lion" but is really a coward. While Swift is honest about never feeling a loss so deeply, she maturely accepts that the effort she put into keeping the relationship afloat was all she could do. It’s distinctly different from the battles she bravely fought in "The Great War," "Daylight" and "long story short."

She's Grappling With Fame & Owning Her Choices

That Taylor Swift struggles with her own celebrity and the public's perception is nothing new. On reputation ’s album prologue, she stated, "We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us." 

On The Tortured Poets Department, Swift has never been more honest about her feelings towards those who claim to know better than she does. On "But Daddy I Love Him," she doubles down on these frustrations, taking aim at self-righteous "vipers" and "judgmental creeps" who condemn her choice of a lover. Swift holds nothing back, declaring "I'll tell you something about my good name/It's mine alone to disgrace."

Swift stated that her life sometimes feels like a public autopsy with people psychoanalyzing her every thought and feeling. Following the release of Midnights and her larger-than-life Eras Tour , Swift’s been in her "glittering prime" despite experiencing her long-term relationship ending and the media hysteria around it would make anyone feel the opposite. "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart" confirms fans' theories that the GRAMMY winner was indeed putting on a brave face.  

On "Clara Bow" — a song named for the silent film actress whose public life was so scrutinized that she admitted herself into a sanatorium — Swift sings "Beauty is a beast that roars/Down on all fours/Demanding, 'More.'" Again, Swift plays with the double-edged sword of fame, comparing herself to a performing circus animal — something she sings about in "Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?" 

Taylor Swift Gets By With A Little Help From Her Friends

Swift has always looked up to and honored the greats in her music and art, and Tortured Poets is no exception. She recruits rock icon and songwriter Stevie Nicks to help build TTPD ’s world, and Nicks penned a poem featured in Swift’s physical album. Written in Texas, the poem is "For T and me..." and tells the tale of two ill-fated lovers. (Swift also namedrops Nicks in "Clara Bow," touching on the comparisons made between Clara, Nicks and herself.)

There are two additional guest appearances on TTPD : Post Malone appears on "Fortnight" and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine is featured on "Florida!!!" (a surprisingly toned-down lead single). Swift particularly shines when paired with Welch, and the soaring "Florida!!!" sees their intertwined vocals creating a sound as infectious as the "drug" they sing about.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan inspired Swift on "cardigan" ("Tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy") but now the Lost Boy gets his own track on The Anthology ’s "Peter." The ever-inquisitive Swift pleads, "You said you were gonna grow up/Then you were gonna come find me" and confronts this man who wouldn’t grow up. She even puts herself in the shoes of Wendy who waited for Peter Pan to return but has grown tired of waiting.

TTPS Is All Quill And Fountain Pen Songs

A few years ago, Taylor Swift categorized her songwriting according to three writing devices: glitter gel pens for fun tracks, fountain pens for songs using modern imagery and lyrics, and quill pens for tracks with flowery, figurative language. Although devoid of the glittery gel pen songs that comprise many of Swift's hits, TTPD and its accompanying anthology are steeped in fountain and quill writing. 

Most of The Tortured Poets Department are fountain pen tracks — thanks to 2024 Producer Of The Year Jack Antonoff ’s sleek pop production and synth use. Tracks like "Fresh Out The Slammer" and "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" are sharp, snappy, tongue-in-cheek tales of love affairs about to begin and coming to an end with the same sonic exuberance of past Swift & Antonoff songs, like "Out of the Woods" and "Getaway Car."

Tracks on The Anthology , mostly produced by Aaron Dessner , are stripped-back, folk-tinged quill songs brimming with sorrow and harrowing thematics and dives even deeper into her chaotic psyche. "The Prophecy" sees Swift beg to change a prophecy that has been laid out ahead of her — likely stemming from the pressure of being a global superstar when all she wants is to be loved.

This Is The End Of An Era (Or A Chapter)

To her occasional disdain, Swift's highly personal songwriting has created a global obsession with her inner life.  Although she's tired of the "public autopsy," Tortured Poets offers her time to reflect on the "events, opinions, and sentiments" over a time that was equal parts transient and transformative. 

From her growth from the country-twanged teen singer on her self-titled debut to woman who is fearless in her pursuit of happiness, love, and peace, Swift has transformed time and time again. By viewing her work in eras — or, in this case, a chapter in a book of her life — it’s clear that Swift sees this current chapter of her life coming to a close, turning the last page and no longer longing to look back. 

One could argue that Swift is an unreliable narrator, only ever presenting her side of the story. But she says that while considering the pain described on TTPS , many now-healed wounds turned out to be self-inflicted. With these stories immortalized, Taylor Swift has spoken her saddest story and is now "free of it." The tortured poets and poems will no longer take up space in this next chapter of her life.

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

Photo: Ashok Kumar/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift’s New Album 'The Tortured Poets Department' Is Here: The Tracklisting, Guests, Easter Eggs & More

Just over two months after Taylor Swift announced 'The Tortured Poets Department' at the 2024 GRAMMYs, the sprawling, bracingly personal album is here. Before you open the department door, arm yourself with the following knowledge.

We’ll be wandering through this Department for the foreseeable future.

Not only has Taylor Swift unleashed an absolute maelstrom with her 16-song new album, The Tortured Poets Department ; she’s dropped a whopping 15 additional tracks via its expanded version, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology .

Clearly, there’s an absolute treasure trove here — for Swifties and the merely Swift-curious alike. A mostly downbeat and discursive affair, The Tortured Poets Department feels like the shadow cast by the gilded, giddy, exhilarating Eras Tour , which isn’t over yet. (Which makes all the sense in the world, as she was simultaneously chipping away at the album while crisscrossing the globe.)

If you’re reading this, you’re probably bracing yourself for this long, solemn, darkly funny journey. Don’t go alone: here’s a brief breakdown of what you should know going in. (And keep checking GRAMMY.com, as there’s plenty more Taylor and Tortured Poets coming your way.)

The Tracklisting

As previously reported , here’s the standard tracklist for The Tortured Poets Department:

Side A "Fortnight" (feat. Post Malone ) "The Tortured Poets Department" "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" "Down Bad"

** Side B ** "So Long, London" "But Daddy I Love Him" "Fresh Out the Slammer" "Florida!!!" (feat. Florence + the Machine )

** Side C ** "Guilty As Sin?" "Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?" "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" "Loml"

** Side D ** "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" "The Alchemy" "Clara Bow"

The Expanded Tracklisting

Aside from The Black Dog Edition , The Albatross Edition , The Bolter Edition , and The Manuscript Edition — which consist of the standard edition of the album with its titular bonus track — here are the additional tracks that complete The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology .

"The Black Dog"

"Imgonnagetyouback"

"The Albatross"

"Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus"

"How Did It End?"

"So High School"

"I Hate It Here" "thanK you aIMee"

"I Look In People’s Windows"

"The Prophecy" "Cassandra" "Peter" "The Bolter" "Robin"

"The Manuscript"

Physical copies of The Tortured Poets Department feature an original poem by the one and only Stevie Nicks .

Titled "For T and me…," the poem starts off with "He was in love with her / Or at least she thought so / She was brokenhearted / Maybe he was too." It goes on to trace a doomed relationship — one party being "way too hot to handle" and the other "way too high to try."

Elsewhere, Post Malone lends a haunting vocal to opener and lead single "Fortnight," and Florence + the Machine elevate "Florida!!!".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiqoZyauhdA

The lion’s share of the album was produced by Jack Antonoff ; Aaron Dessner handled a handful of tunes on the standard edition and the majority of The Anthology .

The Easter Eggs

Where do we begin? For starters, most of the songs seem to be directed at ex Matty Healy of the 1975, but Joe Alwyn and Travis Kelce seem to pop up here and there as well.

In the title track, Swift describes embracing the "cyclone" of a relationship with a partner akin to a "tattooed golden retriever." And they’d be remiss to compare themselves to Patti Smith or Dylan Thomas or any other famously tortured poet of the 20th century: "We’re modern idiots… we’re two idiots."

Elsewhere, Lucy Dacus of boygenius — and Antonoff himself — pop up ("But you tell Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave / And I had said that to Jack about you / So I felt seen").

Far be it from us to speculate on exact subjects, but there are shades of depression ("You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days"), a betrothal that wasn’t to be ("You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof") and the racket of fame ("The circus life made me mean").

As usual, Swift has dumped puzzle pieces on the carpet — daring her ardent, global fanbase to start at the edges and work their way to the center. But never to this degree, across such an ocean of material.

Tortured poets — and those who fall in love with them — assemble!

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift’s Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Taylor Swift Become The First Woman To Win Album Of The Year Twice

Celebrate the release of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ by revisiting the night Taylor Swift made history as the first woman to win Album Of The Year twice at the 2016 GRAMMYs.

At the 2024 GRAMMYs, Taylor Swift became the artist with the most Album Of The Year awards in GRAMMY history with four total wins. But her first record-breaking AOTY moment traces back eight years ago, when she became the first woman to win the category twice.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, relive the moment she won the historic golden gramophone for her iconic fifth studio album, 1989 , at the 2016 GRAMMYs .

“I want to thank the fans for the last 10 years,” Swift beamed, praising her loyal fanbase, the Swifties. She later acknowledged the Recording Academy for “this unbelievable honor” and the project’s main producer, Max Martin , who “deserved to be up there for 25 years.”

Before she left the stage, she offered an inspiring message to aspiring female musicians in light of her groundbreaking win. “To all the young women, there are going to be people along the way who try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” she explained. “But if you just focus on the work and don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday, when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. That will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

Check out Taylor Swift’s complete acceptance speech for her second Album Of The Year win, before diving into the release of The Tortured Poets Department , and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind .

Get Ready For Taylor Swift's ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Album Release: Everything You Need To Know

• 1 The Taylor Swift Effect: 8 Ways The Eras Tour Broke Records & Shattered Sales
• 2 Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon
• 3 Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' Is A Post-Mortem Autopsy In Song: 5 Takeaways From Her New Album
• 4 Taylor Swift’s New Album 'The Tortured Poets Department' Is Here: The Tracklisting, Guests, Easter Eggs & More
• 5 GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Taylor Swift Become The First Woman To Win Album Of The Year Twice

What we know about Taylor Swift 'The Tortured Poets Department' album so far

Tick. Tick. Tick. Taylor Swift will release her 11th album on April 19, and here’s everything we know about “The Tortured Poets Department,” or "Tortured Poets" for short.

There are 16 tracks plus a different bonus track on four versions of the album (20 songs in total). At the Grammys, Swift announced version one would include "The Manuscript." At her concert in Melbourne, Australia, Swift announced a second version with the bonus track, "The Bolter." In Sydney, Australia, she announced a third version with the track "The Albatross." In Singapore, she announced a fourth and final version with the track "The Black Dog."

Post Malone and Florence and The Machine are two contributors on what appears to be a break-up album. The titles are brutal. Fans speculate the album is about Swift’s six-year relationship to English actor Joe Alwyn. Both stars kept the relationship out of the public eye. The back of the first version of the album reads, “I love you, it’s ruining me,” which may serve as a dagger-to-the-chest harbinger.

Keep scrolling for an analysis of what the track titles may mean and be sure to sign-up for our free, weekly newsletter, "This Swift Beat." From behind-the-scenes stories to fan and influencer interviews to a recap of the weeks' events, this newsletter informs, inspires and creates community. You can sign-up for the  free newsletter here . 

The 'Tortured Poets Timetable'

Taylor Swift posted a timetable animation on Tuesday night revealing a music video announcement and highlighting 2 o'clock. The video posted to the singer's Instagram account begins in a "Midnights" room with the 10th album's vinyls scattered on the floor in a smattering of crumpled up papers. It then animates to a locked "Tortured Poets Department" door where two desks are seen, a typewriter and a cork-board with a calendar that reads "8 p.m. ET music video release!!" There is a tally bellow that adds up to 14, which could refer to a fortnight, or 14 days. Watch the video:

What tracks are on 'Tortured Poets Department'?

On April 11, the desktop version of Spotify released the track lengths for the album that's 65 minutes and 8 seconds. The longest song is "But Daddy, I Love Him" at 5:40, and the shortest song is "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" at 2:36. Bonus song lengths were not included.

• "Fortnight" (ft. Post Malone) 3:48
• "The Tortured Poets Department" 4:53
• "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" 3:23
• "Down Bad" 4:21
• "So Long, London" 4:22
• "But Daddy I Love Him" 5:40
• "Fresh Out the Slammer" 3:30
• "Florida!!!" (ft. Florence + The Machine) 3:35
• "Guilty as Sin?" 4:14
• "Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?" 5:34
• "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" 2:36
• "loml" 4:37
• "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" 3:38
• "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" 4:05
• "The Alchemy" 3:16
• "Clara Bow" 3:36
• "The Manuscript" (Bonus track, version 1)
• "The Bolter" ( Bonus track, version 2 )
• "The Albatross" ( Bonus track, version 3 )
• "The Black Dog" ( Bonus track, version 4 )

Five writers credited on 'Tortured Poets'

The composing credits were released on Apple Music on April 15. Per usual, Swift is credited as a composer on all tracks. On two, she is listed by herself: "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" Austin Post (Post Malone) helped with the song he is featured on, "Fortnight," and Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) is credited on "Florida!!!"

Jack Antonoff, a co-producer of Swift's since her "1989" album, is credited with eight titles: "Fortnight," "The Tortured Poets Department," "Down Bad," "Fresh Out The Slammer," "Guilty As Sin?," "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)," "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" and "The Alchemy."

Aaron Dessner, a co-producer of Swift's since "Folklore," is credited with five tracks, "So Long, London," "But Daddy I Love Him," "loml," "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" and "Clara Bow."

Bonus tracks were not included.

Explicit tracks announced on Apple Music

Apple Music made the album — the streaming service has categorized it as "pop" — available for pre-order on March 18 showing that seven of the tracks include curse words, the most of any of Swift's former albums: "The Tortured Poets Department," "Down Bad," "But Daddy I Love Him," "Florida!!!," "loml," "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" and "the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived." The four bonus tracks were not included.

QR Code appears in Chicago

Painters in Chicago were seen April 15 on a green scissor lift in the River North district ( 25 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60654 ) of the Windy City creating a QR code out of "ttpd" letters and "13" numbers. When people scanned the code with their phone cameras, it took them to a 13-second  YouTube short  attached to Swift's page.  A line of Swifties stood  on the curb below to capture photos and videos and plaster them over TikTok.

The YouTube short animates like a typewriter with the message "Error 321" and a faded "13."

Spotify library installation appears at The Grove in LA

I enter into evidence a slew of Easter egg clues at the Spotify pop-up installation. Fans noticed on the outer facing wall of the mini library six slots of vintage postal boxes are pulled out with flowers and invitations. The six slots are pulled out like morgue drawers and fans believe they may represent her six-year relationship to Alwyn.

Inside the exhibit, some of the books have the names of Swift's songs, "The Manuscript," "The Albatross" and "Fresh Out the Slammer." There is an old-style typewriter with the message, possibly lyrics, that Swift shared in her announcement post of "Tortured Poets": “And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / Tick, tick, tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All’s fair in love and poetry… Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”

A globe has a pin on Miami, Florida, where Swift will perform her Eras Tour on October 18-20. There is a vintage clock with the date Friday, Dec. 13. That is Swift's birthday, a day she has made announcements.

On Tuesday morning, a book display showed the lyric: "Even statues crumble if they're made to wait." By afternoon, the page was flipped to: "One less temptress. One less dagger to sharpen."

More: Covering 'This Swift Beat': Sign up for the Taylor Swift newsletter

Why announce the new album at the Grammys?

Taylor Swift loves numerology, especially when it comes to the number 13. On Feb. 4, the singer won her 13th career Grammy for pop vocal album .

"I want to say thank you to the fans," Swift said in her acceptance speech, "by telling you a secret that I've been keeping from you for the past two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19."

During her first Tokyo concert later that week, Swift said she intended to announce the album in Japan but switched to the Grammys.

"I had this plan in my head and I told my friends, I told Jack (Antonoff), but I hadn’t really told many other people," she said. "I thought, 'OK, so if I’m lucky enough to win one thing tonight, I’m just going to do it. I’m just going to announce my new album.'"

Version one of the album included the bonus track "The Manuscript."

What are 'The Bolter,' 'The Albatross' and 'The Black Dog'?

During night one in Melbourne, Swift spoke from the piano of her acoustic set, which she never does. (She usually finishes the guitar song and heads straight for the keys to play her second surprise song.)

"'Tortured Poets' is an album," she said to the packed stadium of 96,000 screaming fans, "I think more than any of my albums that I've ever made, I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through, the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting was something that actually gets me through my life."

Swift added a second vinyl with a different bonus track, "The Bolter." The back of the album has the words, "You don't get to tell me about sad."

Swift did the same thing in Sydney, announcing to 81,000 fans on night one her special edition "The Albatross." A third version of cover art included the phrase, "Am I allowed to cry?"

On night two in Singapore, she announced a fourth and final variant to a crowd of 60,000 titled "The Black Dog" with the phrase "Old habits die screaming."

What were the Easter eggs?

Hours before the Grammys, TaylorSwift.com “crashed” showing an “Error 321 Backend fetch failed.” Error 321 is a communication error that would appear on a fax machine with a poor telephone line connection. Below, “hneriergrd:” appeared to be a scrambled version of “red herring,” which is a clue or piece of information intended to be misleading or distracting. And underneath that was “DPT: 123.” DPT backwards is TPD, "Tortured Poets Department."

The announcement follows the Eras Tour pattern of two rereleases then a new project. In 2021, she announced “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” before announcing “Midnights” in 2022. In 2023, she surprised Eras Tour audiences with artwork from “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” during two acoustic sets.

If she continues the pattern, “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” and her debut album may not be announced until next year. Or maybe there will be a glitch and she’ll coordinate “New Year’s Day,” a song off of the sixth album, with ringing in 2025.

What is the aesthetic of 'TTPD'?

Every era has a different color associated with it. This looks like this will be the “white heart” era as Swift has shared the emoji as her Instagram story highlight for TTPD. 

The motif of the album is like a scene from a black-and-white detective show from the early-to-mid 1900s. The faded photos and evidence folders seem to point to tracing evidence in the death of a relationship, which the titles echo. 

Coders found that the backend of Swift’s site included several words that match the vibe: “chairman,” “bruises,” “veins,” “cadence,” “apple cake,” “talisman,” “love bombs,” “muse,” “ink,” “evidence” and “fake.”

Why April 19th?

Swift is a mastermind and very intentional not just with songs, track titles and announcements, but also release dates. April 19 has two significances that may make it the perfect day for the debut of the 11th era. Historically, in 1775, April 19th was the day the American Revolutionary War started when shots rang out in Lexington, Lincoln and Concord, Massachusetts. Thus began the split of the U.S. from Great Britain, so long London. Again, it could be a metaphoric nod to her split from Alwyn.

April 19th is also "National Poetry and the Creative Mind Day."

What does this mean for the Eras Tour?

Swift has a break from the Eras Tour between March 9 (when she wraps a six-night stint in Singapore) and May 9 (when she begins again in Paris, France). The album will come out on April 19 which begs the question of how will it be incorporated into the three-plus-hour show? 

Will she take the 20 songs and make them a part of her surprise songs ? Will she add a new era? Will she open the show with "TTPD"? If that’s the case, will she cut from other eras or take this show to four hours? The Eras Tour continues to break records, boost local economies and evolve. Time won't fly, but it will tell the answers to these questions.

What could the track titles mean?

Nothing is confirmed or certain until the album comes out, but here are some possibilities of what Swift's 11th era may entail.

" Fortnight" (ft. Post Malone)

A fortnight is a two-week period or 14 days. Swift loves numerology, and her favorite number is 13. In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe (ahead of the Super Bowl), Post Malone said, "She's so sweet and so kind and talented and she hit me up and said, 'Let's do it.' And I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’”

He didn't discuss any other details but said he can't wait to hear it.

"The Tortured Poets Department"

Half of Swift’s albums have not had a title track including debut, “1989,” “Reputation,” “Folklore” and “Midnights." When Swift announced "TTPD," she tweeted out handwritten lyrics which may be on this track: “And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / Tick, tick, tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All’s fair in love and poetry… Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”

" My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys "

A title about self-sabotage. 

Merriam-Webster defines this slang as “in a bad state or condition” such as being depressed or “marked with strong and usually unrequited feelings of attraction, desire or infatuation.”

" So Long, London "

Track five on each of Swift’s albums is usually the most heart-wrenching. “So Long, London” is intentionally placed and may be an open, but tragic love letter to England’s capital.

" But Daddy I Love Him "

This line is iconic in the “Little Mermaid” when King Triton finds out that Ariel loves Prince Eric and he forbids her from pursuing him. It’s trying to convince an authoritative figure (…maybe even yourself) that your emotions outweigh logic and a relationship that’s run its course may still work.

" Fresh Out the Slammer "

The slammer is slang for jail or prison, metaphorically speaking, it’s getting out of a relationship. 

" Florida!!!" (ft. Florence + The Machine)

A week before her split with Alwyn, Swift switched the first song of her “Folklore” set from “Invisible String,” a song about two people being destined for one another, to “The 1,” a retrospective song about what might have been. Her first concert after news broke of the ended relationship was in Tampa, Florida. 

" Guilty as Sin? "

Guilty as sin is a matter of fact statement that someone is, without a doubt, culpable in a crime. The question mark in this track title shows the turmoil of knowing a certainty but then having to second guess it. This was also the name of a 1993 movie in which a female lawyer represents a man accused of killing his wife. As she digs into his past, she reaches a moral dilemma and grapples with the possibility of betraying her client. 

" Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? "

This title may be a nod to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” The classic play, written in 1962 by Edward Albee, is a dark comedy about an older couple who invite young houseguests over for a dysfunctional and cruel night of fun of games. 

" I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) "

Call a therapist because there’s a lot to unpack with this title. It may be about a toxic relationship in which one party perceives the other as the problem or having defective qualities. It’s an assertion of wanting to control a situation.

“loml” stands for “love of my life.” This could be a reflective track filled with fond memories, or it could be a sarcastic and jaded take. Swift sometimes songs in the complete opposite direction of their titles, like in one of her most melancholic songs, “Happiness.” 

" I Can Do It With a Broken Heart "

Swift worked on the album for two years. She started writing it after “Midnights” in 2021. She wrote it during her massively successful Eras Tour. In 2022, Swift talked to Jimmy Fallon about “Midnights” and incessantly putting pen to paper. “I love writing songs, poems, stories, scripts,” she said. “In the last six or seven years, I’ve just been constantly making things. And the more things I make, the happier I am. So I’ve just continued to do it.” She can do what is expected of her and more, even with a shattered heart.

" The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived "

Calling someone a small man is to say they are ordinary without anything special: wealth, fame, power, etc. Adding the superlative “who ever lived” means there has never been anyone smaller… like ever.

" The Alchemy "

Alchemy is an ancient branch of chemical science and philosophy used to discover the possibility of a universal cure for diseases or a prolonged (maybe even indefinite) life. 

"Clara Bow "

The American actress appeared in 46 silent films. Investors knew fans would fill the seats if her name was in the credits. The black-and-white motif of "The Tortured Poets Department" matches a movie Bow would have starred in during the Roaring '20s.

"The Manuscript" (bonus track)

Is this clever word play for “Man U Script” or is this is a song meant to be the exclamation point of hard work on TTPD? Manuscripts are books, documents, or music pieces written by hand. There is a feeling of personalization, originality and ownership, something Swift has advocated for throughout her career and quest to reclaim her music. The physicality of a manuscript means created with your own hands.

"The Bolter" (bonus track)

Simply, a bolter can refer to leaving in a mad, hurried and nervous dash for the door. Merriam-Webster has a second definition of "a failed attempt to land on an aircraft carrier that occurs when an aircraft's tailhook misses the arresting gear on the carrier's deck so that the aircraft is required to take off again without stopping." This could point to a person rapidly exiting a relationship or the back-and-forth, on again, off again, miscommunication in a relationship.

"The Albatross" (bonus track)

An albatross is one of the largest seabirds with a white torso and long, slender, black-tipped wings. Some Swifties say this was recreated in Swift's Grammy dress with long, black gloves. The term can also reference something that causes deep concern or anxiety or greatly hinders accomplishment. Merriam-Webster's example sentence may hit the nail on the head for this song: "Fame has become an albatross that prevents her from leading a normal life."

"The Black Dog" (bonus track)

A "black dog" is a term referring to feelings of depression, great sadness and lack of energy, according to the Cambridge Dictionary. In English literature and folklore, a black dog was a legend of a demonic hellhound that served as an omen of death.

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the  free, weekly newsletter "This Swift Beat."

Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .

EF Go Ahead Tours Review 2024: Are their guided tours worth it?

EF Go Ahead Tours is a world-leading guided tour company offering a comprehensive travel package with local guides and authentic travel experiences. You've likely heard of them before, but are they really worth it? What do they offer, and how do they stack up to other guided tours?

Guided tours are a great way to travel, make new friends, and enjoy new experiences without the hassle of planning the logistics of the trip. 

While guided tour companies boast of convenience, they tend to fall short when it comes to flexibility and customization. Hence, many travelers resort to planning their trips by themselves using helpful apps like  Pilot .

But, if you still prefer a guided tour with some level of flexibility, EF Go Ahead Tours is definitely a choice to consider. 

EF Go Ahead Tours is one of the world's largest tour companies that host small group tours with unique, authentic experiences. A great benefit of joining an EF Go Ahead Tour is that they allow travelers the benefits of hosting a free private tour with larger groups. 

However, are the experiences they're offering for you? What are the pros and cons? Here's our review of EF Go Ahead Tours! 

What is EF Go Ahead Tours?

EF Go Ahead Tours  is a brand under the EF Tours group that offers both guided and fully customizable tours to destinations worldwide. It caters to young and older travelers, admitting anyone from age six and above (under-age travelers accompanied by adults). The number of travelers in each group is capped at 14-38, and small group tours only admit 10-22 people. 

EF Go Ahead Tours aims to provide you with meaningful tours with flexibility and personalization. It also promotes responsible travel by supporting local communities and adopting sustainable practices.

EF Go Ahead Tours mobile app helps you easily manage your bookings and view tour details. It is available for both Android and iOS devices. 

What does EF Go Ahead Tours offer?

• Tour directors and local guides:  A tour director is assigned for each group to be in charge of all logistics of the trip. They will accompany you throughout, sharing insider knowledge and background information about places you visit.
• Accommodation:  3-4 star hotels that provide comfortable amenities while being located in close proximity to the city. 
• Meals:  Breakfast and some other meals are included in the pricing. Primarily, they focus on local food and beverage specialties. They will arrange meals meeting your dietary requirements if necessary.
• Transportation:  Transport between airport and hotels and other transportation required during the trip are included in the package. While flights are not included, you can get EF Go Ahead Tours to arrange them for you at an additional cost. 

How does EF Go Ahead Tours work?

You can browse for tours by  Destination  or  Travel Styles  on the website. Travel styles are further categorized as  Trip Type, Interests, Seasonal and Special Events , and  With Your Own Group . 

For example, all the related tours will appear if we pick Adventure Tours under travel styles. You can filter the results further by destination, dates, duration, price, and travel style. 

Check out its details, trip highlights, prices, reviews, etc. There's a list of FAQs below related to the trip and other similar tours for you to compare and choose from. 

What destinations does EF Go Ahead Tours cover?

EF Go Ahead Tours covers many of the popular destinations worldwide. Here's a list of where EF Go Ahead Tours covers:

• Europe:  Ireland, Italy, Greece, Iceland, England, France, and Germany 
• The Americas:  United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, and Belize 
• Africa & Middle East:  Egypt, Kenya, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates
• Australia & Asia:  Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India, and Thailand

Benefits of EF Go Ahead Tours

• Worry-free guarantee

If you cancel the booking within 60 days from the reservation date, you are entitled to a full refund. EF Go Ahead Tours also allows you to change the date of tour or destination up until your final payment day. It helps you book with confidence knowing there's ample time to make changes. 

In addition to covering many destinations worldwide, the tour company also offers a diverse range of tours. Group trips for solo travelers provide ample privacy while facilitating socialization. In addition, there are cruise tours, rail tours, food & wine tours, battlefield tours, winter tours, and many more!

• Fewer people 

The worrisome factor about large group tours is they can seem too crowded and noisy to have a quality experience. There's also less opportunity to get to know other travelers better. In this case, small group tours offer a more intimate travel experience. Guides can give individual attention and advice easily. Overall, it makes the trip more enjoyable and memorable. 

• Flexibility 

If you like to travel with friends but don't have the liberty to plan, get EF Go Ahead Tours to plan one for you. You can explain your requirements and get a whole new itinerary done or choose one they offer. Invite your friends and/or family, choose your travel dates, and enjoy. There's also the option of organizing faith-based tours!

Drawbacks of EF Go Ahead Tours

• Increase the number of tours 

While there's a variety of tours, different trip options under each category are quite limited compared to other guided tour companies like  G Adventures  or  Contiki . For example, there's only one tour option for India. They can also add more countries to their list of destinations. 

• Improve refund and cancellation issues

Customers had faced refund and cancellation issues for scheduled or booked tours during the pandemic. There were complaints of EF Go Ahead Tours not refunding the money as per its cancellation policy. But, it's a common problem that many tour companies dealt with their customers following the Covid outbreak. We hope they are resolved now. 

EF Go Ahead Tours vs. EF Ultimate Break

The most significant similarity between EF Go Ahead Tours and EF Ultimate Break is that they are managed by EF Education First Tours. This means that you'll most likely be getting a similar refund, cancellation, and customer service policies between the two tours.

EF Go Ahead Tours identifies itself as the 'older sibling' of EF Ultimate Break. Ultimate Break Tours is geared towards college students and folks aged 18-29, while Go Ahead Tours admits anyone 6 and above. So, the tours offered also tend to be different from each other. 

EF Go Ahead Tours has a wide variety of tours catering to all age ranges. It also provides both private and group tours. EF Ultimate Break only offers group tours and are tailored to suit youth's preferences. 

Read our  review of EF Ultimate Break  to learn more!

Is EF Go Ahead Tours worth it?

Yes! We came across great GoAheadTours reviews online about the unique and immersive experience EF Go Ahead Tours offers. Go Ahead tours are a great way to travel if you prefer to join a guided tour.

Like  Flash Pack , it's an excellent choice for older travelers looking for trips that involve activities beyond partying and drinking. Overall, the tours are ideal for anyone, really. 

Our Rating: 4.5/5

• Variety of tours
• Smaller groups 
• A limited number of tours 
• Refund and cancellation issues

Plan your own adventure!

Guided tours are great, but being able to plan your trip is even better! You get to choose your own stay, tailor your travel itinerary, and maximize your time so that none gets wasted.

Traditionally, planning a trip requires lots of coordination and effort, especially when traveling with friends. Let Pilot solve that problem and help you easily plan your next adventure!

Disclosure : Pilot is supported by our community. We may earn a small commission fee with affiliate links on our website. All reviews and recommendations are independent and do not reflect the official view of Pilot.

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What to Watch Out for on the Next Leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

T aylor Swift is back by popular demand. The North American leg of her historically popular Eras Tour ended alongside the summer: Her last tour date was Aug. 27 in Mexico City. After a little break, she’s starting up again on Nov. 9, this time in South America, starting in Buenos Aires.

There, roughly 240 fans have been systematically taking turns camping out in four tents outside of the Estadio River Plate, some since June. According to Pitchfork, an internal spreadsheet keeps track of how many hours individuals have spent in a tent, which raises the chances of being one of the first fans in line.

In June, the group’s rules leaked online and went viral. They contain such requirements as: No one under 18 is allowed, two people minimum and three people maximum per night, and you must spend at least one night per month in the tent. Some Swifties even offer to log hours in the tent on behalf of people in other provinces who can’t be there in person—for a price.

Filtraron la lista de requisitos para estar en las capas que esperan a Taylor Swift Ni para laburar te piden tanto 💀☠️☠️ pic.twitter.com/4BwofjZa73 — ElBuni (@therealbuni) June 8, 2023

Where the record-breaking Eras Tour is headed next

After her trio of sold-out shows in Buenos Aires, Swift will perform from Nov. 17-19 at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro and from Nov. 24-26 at Allianz Parque in São Paulo. After a winter break, February will take her to Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney, while March will see her in Singapore. 

Summer 2024 will see Swift take the Eras Tour through Europe, including stops in Paris, Stockholm, Lisbon, Dublin, and London. A second North American leg will begin next October, in Toronto. 

The Eras Tour has become known for Swift revealing “surprise songs.” At each show, she sings  two surprise acoustic versions of often lesser-known tracks. Of roughly 161 options , Swift has played 106 songs. That’s 17 from Red (Taylor's Version) , 15 from Speak Now (Taylor's Version) , 14 from Fearless (Taylor's Version) , 10 from Taylor Swift , 11 from 1989 , 9 from Midnights , 7 from evermore , 9 from Lover , 6 from folklore , and 7 from Reputation . 

The next leg of the tour will likely see Swift perform some of the more than 50 songs on the list. And at the last show on the first U.S. leg of her tour, Swift announced that she would be releasing the re-recorded “Taylor’s Version” of 1989 , so the new songs “ from the vault ,” that almost made the original cut and are now available, are eligible as surprise tracks.

Read More: The Staggering Economic Impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

After 56 shows each, Swift has surpassed Beyoncé as having the highest-grossing concert tour by a woman. The former has grossed $780 million so far, while the latter grossed $579.8 million. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie, which came out on Oct. 13, smashed records, making more than $230 million worldwide.

And Travis Kelce—a Kansas City Chiefs tight end and Swift’s new beau—may or may not be coming along to South America with her. Kelce alluded to potentially heading “ somewhere sunny ” for the weekend on New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce , his podcast with his brother, a center for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Cozy Up During Blink-and-You'll-Miss-It Romantic Footage from Singapore Date

Swift performed six concerts in Singapore back in March

Gotham/GC Images

Taylor Swift's YouTube compilation for her new lead single "Fortnight" highlights many moments from the singer's personal life, including an adorable kitchen kiss from boyfriend Travis Kelce .

But there's another romantic moment between them later in the video, and if you blink you might miss it.

Back in March, Swift performed six concerts in Singapore as part of her globe-spanning Eras Tour .

Kelce joined Swift for two shows at National Stadium, and was even seen dancing  to her hit "Look What You Made Me Do."

Between shows, the couple took in the local attractions, including the Supertree Grove, part of the world famous Gardens by the Bay.

In the YouTube compilation, there's a fleeting shot of one of the grove's giant illuminated trees. But sharp-eyed and quick-fingered viewers who pause the video will see Swift and Kelce standing hand-in-hand at the base of the tree, bathed in its glowing green light.

Taylor Swift/ Youtube

If the Supertree Grove looks familiar, it's because it was the backdrop for the lavish wedding reception in the 2018 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians .

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Singapore stops were the last ones before Swift took a break from touring to promote her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department , which was released Friday, April 19, at midnight.

The Eras Tour will resume in May with its European leg. Concerts are slated through the late spring/ summer in Portugal, England, Poland and Austria before returning to the United States in October.

Check out the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment below:

Related Articles

Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department is here, but it could be a logistical nightmare for the Eras Tour

Get ready for another Taylor Swift era.

The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) is the superstar's 11th studio album and is being released around the world today.

It'll be dropping the second the clock hits midnight on the east coast of America, which will be this afternoon in Australia.

• 2pm AEST : ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria
• 1:30pm ACST : Northern Territory and South Australia
• 12pm AWST : Western Australia

So far, we know the album is a whopping 16 songs (not including bonus vinyl tracks) and features multiple collaborations, including with Florence + The Machine.

We also know the first single will be Fortnight featuring Post Malone, with a music video dropping tomorrow morning as well.

Despite no singles being released in its lead up, clues point to TTPD seemingly being inspired by the five stages of grief : denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Plus, many fans have speculated that the album title is a reference to the name of a group chat Swift's ex was part of – The Tortured Man Club.

And while The Tortured Poets Department could very well set new streaming records, it also poses a logistical nightmare for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: how do you include yet another album into a show that is over three hours long?

Below, two ABC reporters and Swifties weigh up the likelihood of how the megastar might adapt her sell-out tour when it recommences in Europe next month.

We could lose some songs from every era to make room

Jessica : This seems like the most likely course of action. To put things into perspective, the Eras Tour includes songs from nine albums, but their airtime varies wildly. Lover, Folklore and Midnights have at least six songs, while Speak Now gets just two. So this might be a chance to balance things out?

Georgie : It would make the most sense to me. I can't imagine a tour that doesn't spend at least some time on the freshest music. But, this is a unique scenario. You have an artist who is essentially doing a greatest hits tour at the age of 34 while she is still churning out new music.

If she does cut music to make room for Tortured Poets, it will be very divisive. Every fan has their favourite era. But, I think if she was to I would hope she cuts songs she has already toured. You have to remember she put out four (now five) albums since her last tour and I imagine it would make the most sense for her to give more air time to Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and TTPD.

Jessica : If you were in charge of Taylor Swift's setlist, which songs would you cull? I'd ditch The Archer from the Lover era so it ends with, well, Lover. I'd be ruthless and cut most of the songs from the Red era as nothing compares to All Too Well (10 Minute Version). But keep the Reputation portion as is! It's perfect.

What if smaller eras, like Fearless and Speak Now, got cut altogether?

Jessica : I love chaos so I would not bat an eye if Taylor Swift dropped the entire Speak Now era from her tour. (But Enchanted is such a core memory for a lot of fans.) I know this might be a wild concept but there's not one song from her self-titled debut album in the Eras Tour (justice for Our Song!), so make of that what you will.

Georgie : I think this will cause a major generational divide. The beautiful part about the Eras Tour is you have fans new and old coming together. Taylor has been making music since 2009 and the Eras Tour has been a chance for people in their twenties and thirties to dress up in glitter and be teenagers again while sharing the new music with teenagers today. I'm a folklore girl through and through so I am hoping if any eras get sacrificed it's the older ones. But I can't lie, it's pretty special to belt out Love Story with thousands of other people.

Could we lose the two surprise songs for a few Tortured Poets hits?

Georgie : Controversial opinion but I would be ok with this. Although, take this as you want because I have experienced the Eras Tour. But the section is a gamble anyway. You never know what she's going to play and someone is always disappointed or their top pick is played another night. If you cut this section, no-one gets hurt. Maybe she subs it out for three best songs from TTPD?

Jessica : I missed out on tickets for the Eras Tour altogether so I was taken aback seeing fans who did score tickets complaining about which night got "better" surprise songs. You can't please everyone! I agree, this would level the playing field and take the comparison factor out of the tour… but I wonder if that uniqueness is a marketing factor as some super fans attend multiple concerts in the same city.

Imagine if she just… didn't play her new album

Georgie : Don't say it or it might come true!

Jessica : I think this would be the riskiest option. Imagine the disappointment on the first night when the tour recommences in Paris on May 9. But some fans, especially in America, who witnessed the Eras Tour last year before this album was announced feel it's unfair if other countries get a different experience. But that's what happens with the passage of time!

Georgie : I see your point but you have to remember we're in an age where many people have watched the Eras Tour happen through TikTok and the cinema release. So is it really missing out when it's been inescapable for over a year? This could be a chance for the people who have waited so long for the Europe leg – who have basically watched the tour on streaming and all over TikTok – to have something unique and worth the cash.

Or she could just include the new album and make the show nearly *four hours* long?

Jessica : I think this option would please the most fans, but I genuinely don't know how she performs for hours on end each night and then travels through different time zones. Oh,  to be a billionaire with a whole team taking care of everything all the time.

Georgie : I don't see this happening. Costs would skyrocket and many stadiums have a noise curfew. That's new costumes, sets and dance routines.

Jessica : But I would eat up new costumes, sets and dance routines! A four-hour concert is outrageous, which makes me think she might very well pick this option. Time will tell.

Georgie : I'm obviously a Swiftie but when I found out about the new album and what that might mean for the tour I just felt… overwhelmed. I'm still processing the release of four albums and two Taylor's Versions in four years. And now she's putting out new music? It's simply too much! The concert is a marathon but if I did have to go to a four-hour show, I'd do it for Ms Swift.

The worst option: Swapping All Too Well (10 Minute Version) for the radio edit to save time

Jessica : Sacrilegious.

Georgie : The people would riot. Jake Gyllenhaal would be thrilled though.

Final thoughts

Jessica : With everything going on in the world, I think this is a fun problem to ponder, and an interesting one for Taylor to tackle. I wish her well in whatever form the Eras Tour takes, because fans are going to have strong opinions either way.

Georgie: I worry that Taylor needs a holiday but, as you said, she's a billionaire now so I think she'll be fine. I hope she tours future albums but I also support her having a rest. Go chill with the cats and Travis. You've danced in high heeled boots for two years.

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Welcome back to the EF travel family

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Want to reconnect with everything you enjoyed about your EF Ultimate Break trip, on a tour made for travel-loving adults? Meet EF Go Ahead Tours, the equally amazing older sibling, offering trips made for you.

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Expert Tour Directors you know and love Your EF Ultimate Break Tour Director quickly became your favorite person ever, so we know you’ll love ours, too. Incredible Tour Directors run in the EF family.

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Groups from 14–38 travelers That number is even lower on our Small Group Tours! Get to know your crew and get a front row seat to discover the history of iconic sites on tour? Check and check.

Stress-free, included transportation All your on-tour transfers are included and we book your flights for you—because why worry about logistics when you can be out exploring the world?

Centrally located, 3–4 star hotels At 5 p.m. you’re unwinding in your private room. At 7 p.m. you’re leaving to walk to dinner at a trendy, downtown restaurant. Talk about having the best of both worlds.

Included multi-course meals with beer and wine Before you can even think about what to pair with your authentic cuisine, there’s a glass of the best local sip already on the table.

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You’ll fall in love with her big personality and how much she can teach you about Italian vino. Can I get a sip, sip, hooray?!

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He’ll stun you with his book smarts when you visit the Eiffel Tower, and show off his street smarts when you ask him where to get to best cuppa’ in England.

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He’s a pineapple farmer who makes a mean piña colada and is an expert on Costa Rican culture. That’s a triple travel threat.

Wave hello to our travelers

Whether you’re looking for a new friend who also believes ordering gelato is the ideal way to eat lunch in Italy or a fellow travel lover who knows how to capture your best angles in front of that iconic monument, (oh hey, Big Ben!) these are your people.

As a former EF Ultimate Break traveler, Elise embraced new EF adventures when she began traveling solo and tackling her bucket list with us.

“I’m just generally adventurous and I like to experience new places, new things. Life is short, so you can’t wait until you’re retired to do everything. With EF Go Ahead Tours, everyone is on the same page. You’re going to travel, to eat, to relax.”

When photographer and avid traveler, Jeremiah, isn’t stamping his passport, he’s out snapping pics of his destination or chowing down on local cuisine with his group.

“My favorite times are our shared meals as a tour group. I’ve heard so many great stories and shared a lot of laughs with fellow travelers... it’s a great way to quickly bond and form lasting friendships.”

“Travel isn't a reward for working, it's an education for living.” This Anthony Bourdain quote is Lydia’s travel motto—and her tour made it easy for her to put these words into action, even as a busy adult.

“You get to go on vacation and be stress-free. I feel like you guys offered that piece of mind. I truly, truly got to enjoy the vacation.” The only thing she has to figure out now is where to travel next!

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Costa Rica is located in Central America and has two coasts: the Caribbean and the Pacific; It also borders Nicaragua to the north and south with Panama. Blissfully, Costa Rica is full of beautiful landscapes and innumerable species of Flora and Fauna.

If you are a nature lover, here you will find several options, from a paradisiacal beach, National Parks or some Waterfall, where you can experience watching your fall and even where it is allowed, cool off in its waters.

You can visit Volcanoes and we also offer you the option to learn about the History of Costa Rican coffee and visit a local plantation. Our Country has a lot to offer, in this site you will surely find what you are looking for and what you need to explore this beautiful country, we have the right place for every type of person who visits us.

So our recommendation is to take your time to review all the information and if you still need more help to discover the vacation you want, do not hesitate to contact one of our travel coordinators, we can help you find the indicated travel option.

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This is travel for the you that wants something new. Like new friends, new cultures, and new adventures. And tbh, posing in front of the Eiffel Tower, ziplining in Costa Rica, and lounging in the Blue Lagoon make Daytona Beach feel like Daytona blech.

Find out your school’s Spring Break dates →

Wondering what to do for spring break? Well first, travel. And second, know that the best spring break trips are balanced spring break trips. Ones that, yes, include their share partying, but also offer a little culture. Maybe a little history. Definitely some new friends.

Speaking of friends...traveling with a bunch of them? Planning and logistics can be a pain, so...have you tried just not planning? Cuz we do all of that for you: hotels, sightseeing, flights, you name it. Turns out the best spring break trips are the ones that you don’t have to do any work for.

Our curated collection of spring break trips match up with most college spring break dates, and they go to some actually cool places. Like Tokyo and Kenya and Paris and Patagonia. Trying to hit the beach? Well, we also go to Belize and Costa Rica and Thailand and the Dominican Republic. Trying to absolutely not hit the beach? Yeah, we go to Iceland and Switzerland, too.

So whether you like cities or safaris or something in between, get more out of your spring break with EF Ultimate Break.

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Trips curated to travel perfection, with so much included and lots to obsess over.

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Spring Break FAQs

How do i book one of your spring break trips.

We make it as easy as possible for college students to book their dream spring break trip. Just pick your place, pick your date, pick your payment plan—and boom! You’re locked in. Need some help choosing where to go or have questions about booking? Our expert Trip Consultants are always available for a chat or call and will answer all of your travel questions.

I’m a broke college student! How do people afford your spring break trips?

We have the most payment plan options for college students—like easy, no interest monthly payments or pay-later financing through Affirm—that make college spring break travel easy and affordable. Want to travel for free? Become a Brand Ambassador and get discounts and free travel when you rally your friends.

Any discounts if I book with a group of friends?

Yup! If you want to travel with your friends from college, call in and talk to a Trip Consultant . They'll make sure you get the right discount and even set things up so you can room together. You can also save money by referring other college students who book your trip (or even a different one).

What makes a spring break trip with EF Ultimate Break different?

This isn’t your clichéd Daytona Beach spring break. For starters, we plan trips exclusively for college students and make them accessible with a ton of payment plans. We handle all the logistics, too, from your flights to accommodations to thrilling excursions and more. Every trip is led by a rockstar Tour Director who knows the ins and outs of every destination and has all the best recos for your free time. You’ll not only have the adventure of a lifetime, but you’ll immerse yourself in culture in ways that just don’t happen on a typical college spring break trip.

Wait, but is there any partying?

There’s plenty of free time to do whatever you want. In fact, you’re traveling with only 18–35-year-olds who are looking for the same things you are. There’ll always be other people in your group that want to go out and your Tour Director can definitely point you to the best spots to let loose.

Can I book solo? My friends are being lame.

Of course! About 60% of our travelers book solo . Since this is group travel for college students, you’ll make plenty of friends along the way that you’ll probably keep in touch with long after you get home.

Is an EF Ultimate Break trip safe?

Hi mom and dad! Your college student’s health and safety are our top priority on our trips. We’re approved by the World Travel & Tourism Council and have global staff available 24/7 if anything comes up. If you want to learn more about our COVID-19 protocols, check out our safety FAQs here .

What is EF Ultimate Break’s most popular spring break destination?

We have plenty of trips that are popular with college students for spring break. If you’re looking for a new twist on sun and sand, check out our Costa Rica Adventure . Looking for a mix of city and sun? Head to the Greek Islands ! Want to feel insignificant as hell amongst 100-foot-tall waterfalls? Consider Iceland .

Everyone is going to Daytona Beach and Cancun? Will I have FOMO?

What’s the opposite of FOMO? Whatever it is, that’s what you’ll have. Our trips take the typical college spring breaks and make them better by leaps and bounds. You’ll travel to unique destinations with other college students and have a legit adventure that’ll make all your friends and followers jealous.

How to Select an EF Ultimate Break Trip: EF Semi-Annual Sale Guide

Disclaimer: This post might contain affiliate links, which means we get a small commission if you make a purchase (at no extra cost to you).

Considering group travel with EF Ultimate Break ? Read more to learn about how to pick the perfect trip for you during their Semi-Annual Sale!

Yay, we’re happy you found this post! Because we’re here to help you decide which EF Ultimate Break trip you should book! With summer rapidly approaching, now is a good time to get your summer travel plans in order! And it’s the best time to book an EF Ultimate Break trip because their semi-annual sale is one of the year’s best sales!

EF Ultimate Break offers a diverse range of tours, from short-term Euro trips to adventuring in Costa Rica to exploring Asia, so there’s certainly a trip for everyone! Throughout the year, EF offers a range of sales and who doesn’t love a good discount on travel!? The semi-annual sale is only here until February 29th!

Having traveled with EF since 2014, we have visited more than a dozen countries and logged months of travel with the company. Our first two trips were through EF College Study, which you can learn more about in this post! We then explored 12 cities and 7 countries in 30 days with EF Ultimate Break’s Grand Tour of Europe trip and loved it. We’ve had nothing but a positive experience traveling with them!

If you’re ready to book your next epic trip with EF Ultimate Break this summer, keep reading to decide which trip is perfect for you!

Pick Your Next EF Ultimate Break Adventure: Everything You Need to Know about the EF Semi-Annual Sale

Why ef ultimate break.

EF is perfect for you if you want to see the world without the hassle of planning. EF Ultimate Break offers young adults aged 18 to 29 an opportunity to travel affordably across the globe. Group travel is a great way to comfortably explore new places and meet new people. Traveling with a group of 30 other young adults and a skilled tour director will give you (and your loved ones!) peace of mind while traveling.

If you’re still on the fence about traveling with EF, read our full review of EF.

All the EF Ultimate Break Semi-Annual Sale Details!

EF Ultimate Break’s semi-annual sale that offers fabulous deals with hundreds of dollars off the regular tour price! EF Ultimate Break offers trips with costs just below $2000! The EF Ultimate Break semi-annual sale runs from February 13th to the 29th. So, if you’re looking to get a great deal on a summer getaway, you should book now because these prices won’t return until after the summer!

Summer is a great time to travel with EF because, in most places, the weather will be beautiful, you probably have off from school or more vacation time, and you’ll have the most flexibility with selecting tour dates. In the summer, most tours are offered multiple times a month.

Best EF Ulitmate Break Semi-Annual Sale Discounts

If you want to get $100 off your first EF Ultimate Break Tour, book with our like here , and the code will be automatically applied at checkout!

Here are some of the best deals going on right now for the EF Ultimate Break Semi Annual Sale! 

Best Europe Trip Discounts 

• Ultimate Europe – Up to $1000 off
• Ultimate Greek Islands – Up to $800 off
• Italy, France, and Spain – Up to $800
• European Summer – Up to $700 off
• England, Scotland, Ireland – Up to $700 off

Best Asia Trip Discounts 

• Ultimate Southeast Asia – Up to $1000 off
• India the Golden Triangle – Up to $600 off
• Thailand: Island Paradise – Up to $1000 off

Best South and Central America Discounts 

• Costa Rica Adventure – Up to $250 off
• Caribbean Adventure: Dominican Republic – Up to $300 off
• Columbia Escape – Up to $250 off

Best Africa Discounts 

• Kenya: Africa Safari – Up to $700 off
• Highlights of Morocco – Up to $400 off
• Eygpt: Cruise the Nile – Up to $550 off

Cheapest EF Ultimate Break Trips during the Semi-Annual Sale – All Less than $2500!

• Costa Rica Adventure
• Caribbean Adventure: Dominican Republic
• Columbia Escape
• Paris City Experience
• Madrid City Experience
• Lisbon City Experience

If you want an additional $100 off your first trip with EF Ultimate Break, book directly with the link here . When you proceed to checkout, the discount code will be automatically applied! You have to use the link to get the code so if you open multiple tabs it will not be applied, if you don’t see the code when you get to the booking page just come back here and link through the link again. 

Trips for Every Travel Style

EF Ultimate Break offers tours in almost every continent (sorry, Antarctica!) and for a range of travel styles. Enjoy going on an adventure? EF will take you trekking through the Swiss Alps. Want to be in Germany during Oktoberfest? Yep, book it here! Spend over a month in Europe? Yeah, we did it with EF. So, needless to say, one of the things we love about EF is the trip diversity. Here are some of the types of trips you can book with EF Ultimate Break!

With trips ranging from 15 to 49 days, you can experience Europe like never before. Take the Grand Tour of Europe like we did and see 12 cities in 7 countries. Highlights of Europe is a slightly shorter version of the Grand Tour, while Ultimate Europe is a slightly longer version that includes Greece and more of Germany. European Summer meanders along the coast of the Mediterranean are great for anyone who loves the sun and sand. Backpacker’s Europe is the longest trip, skipping Greece for Eastern Europe and more of Italy, southern France, and the Iberian Peninsula.

Short Breaks

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If you’re feeling really ambitious, take the epic 57-day Ultimate Earth trip, where you will literally go around the world exploring the culture, history, and beauty of five continents.

In-Depth Explorers

Immerse yourself in the culture and history of one country on these in-depth explorations. These trips will give you the chance to learn customs, try foods, practice languages, and broaden your perspective of a place. See wonders of the ancient world in Turkey, explore the “golden triangle” of India, discover the modern cities and timeless traditions of Japan, eat and drink your way through the Italian countryside, and time travel to the Egyptian pyramids. Try longer “ultimate” trips to Italy and the Greek Islands to get the full experience of these incredible places.

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Pogacar wins Liege with epic solo break, launching bid for Giro d’Italia and Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege bike race on Sunday thanks to a solo break 30km from home launched on a steep climb and sustained to the finish line.

Issued on: 21/04/2024 - 17:07

Ahead of Pogacar 's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double bid the 25-year-old Slovenian blew the opposition away with a maverick acceleration that none could answer on the 254km race in the Ardennes forests that marks the end of the spring classics.

Billed as a duel between Pogacar and winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutchman came in a commendable third but was far from going shoulder-to-shoulder for the title.

Frenchman Romain Bardet was second, also solo 1min 39sec off the pace with Van der Poel leading a bunch home at 2min 02sec.

Another pre-race favourite was Briton Tom Pidcock, who was 10th on the day after a mechanical problem at a key moment hindered his day.

The win puts to bed Pogacar's fall here last season that broke his wrist and blighted his Tour de France bid.

"It was an emotional day of riding for me," a drained-looking Pogacar said.

"Not just because of my hand but also because two years ago just before the race Urska's mother died, so I was riding for her today," Pogacar said referring to his professional cyclist partner Urska Zigart.

Pogacar also won here in 2021 and this was his sixth one-day Monument win with three wins at the Tour of Lombardy and his 2023 Tour of Flanders triumph.

Champion Remco Evenepoel, former winner Primoz Roglic and Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard would all have been suited to this course but are injured after a mass fall at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Pogacar came into the race fresh from altitude training and at the start line said he had "no regrets about not racing la Fleche", referring to the frozen and drenched midweek race in the same region.

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Taylor Swift’s breakup songs made The Eras Tour a mega-success, jokes be damned

Joke all you want, but the songs hit hard

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Share All sharing options for: Taylor Swift’s breakup songs made The Eras Tour a mega-success, jokes be damned

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is trending toward an opening weekend gross of over $100 million , which would immediately make it the highest grossing concert film of all time. It’s not a surprise when you look at the success of the tour it’s based on, which sold the most tickets ever for an artist in a single day and is projected to earn $2 billion by this month. The show’s set list spans the many “eras” of the 33-year-old Swift’s career, with room for hits like “You Belong With Me,” “Bad Blood,” and “Anti-Hero.”

While Swift’s songwriting and genre curveballs have defined the many eras of her still-early career, so has public fascination with her non-artistic life. In particular, Swift’s romantic history has grown to mythological proportions, her reported relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce making as many headlines as the The Eras Tour box-office records. Photos and videos of Swift attending Kansas City Chiefs games went viral, as so many paparazzi photos of the musician and her current flames have in the past.

The joke is that Swift will inevitably write a song about Kelce once they break up, part of a recurring punchline that has followed Swift for over a decade now. Just searching for “ Taylor Swift break up song ” on Twitter unleashes a barrage of mockery in anticipation of it. A cursory online search shows people already using ChatGPT to “find out” what one would sound like.

But what might be mockery to some is a reason for adoration to others. That openness about relationships and their (extremely) likely problems? For Swifties, that’s the draw.

Objectively, Swift has written a ton about break-ups. In “Tim McGraw,” the first song on her self-titled debut album, her in-song character hopes that a high school boyfriend remembers her every time they hear a song by the country artist. The track was apparently inspired by real-life events . Raw, autobiographical songwriting is not a new thing, for Swift or any artist. There are few more prominent sources for the emotion of modern art than getting dumped. But Swift’s popularity has turned her into the patron saint of rejection, to the extent that every hit song inspires detective work from her fans in order to dissect just who the lyrics are about.

“Last Kiss”? Reportedly inspired by her late-aughts love for Joe Jonas . “Back To December”? Twilight series star Taylor Lautner . “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”? Her paparazzi-filled time with Jake Gyllenhaal . “I Knew You Were Trouble”? Her Gyllenhaal again, or possibly John Mayer. Even Kanye West, who didn’t date Swift and simply publicly feuded with her for a while, apparently got the treatment in “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” The list goes on.

As such, Swift’s career has become Rear Window for people that like celebrity gossip, despite her typically remaining publicly vague on whoever she’s supposedly throwing under the bus in her songs. It’s certainly treated that way by those who laugh about her array of romances. New significant other? They’re going to eventually hear a verse or two about how they messed up. And as Swift enters her mid-30s, a time when society nudges most people toward the idea of “settling down” if they haven’t already, the joke gets a little more mean. It’s a woman on a cycle of bad dates, a reputation that Swift has spoken about numerous times, ranging back to tracks like “Shake It Off”: “Got nothing in my brain… I go on too many dates/But I can’t make ‘em stay/That’s what people say.”

Her detractors may wonder why Swift hasn’t gotten married or found “the one” yet, but consider the numbers: 19% of women between 30 and 49 are single (32% are single between 18 and 29). And according to a 2011 study, unmarried people between the ages of 18 and 35 had a 36.5% chance of breaking up over a 20-month period. Her songs about ongoing romantic quests the hard truths of finding love hew get closer to reality than most traditional media.

Even if you’re not calling it quits, most relationships will have at least some brand of problems along the way, problems that get magnified when you’re in the public eye like Swift is on a constant basis. Swift’s ability to croon about them, through a high school lens in her first album Taylor Swift , all the way to her most recent record Midnights — in which she daydreams about a past relationship in “Maroon,” wonders about her own romantic choices in “Midnight Rain,” and mentions unrequited love in “You’re On Your Own, Kid” — is one of the reasons why Swift’s audience remains so huge. Just as one makes art about failed romance, there’s something intensely freeing about Swift’s mix of country-infused guitar ballads and brash pop epics about how much it sucks to be left stranded or be unsure about your relationship.

For Swift fans, the appeal doesn’t really lie in the break-ups (Though there are few better sensations than shouting a song at the top of your lungs when you’ve got the blues because it nails exactly how you’ve been feeling). Rather, it’s all an ode to the general messiness of relationships, something Swift has turned into perhaps her finest art. For those that have stuck with her since the beginning, back when she was promoting through MySpace and held up as the future of country music, all the way until now, as she snaps photo ops with Beyoncé at her film’s red carpet premiere, her consistency in admitting that relationships can be hard is far more important than mean-spirited allegations that she flirts too much.

The reviews for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour are glowing, with a focus on how great concert films celebrate artists and are the next-best thing after the real-life tours. And why wouldn’t they be? Swift has proven herself to be the Break-Up Whisperer for multiple generations of her fans, and has channeled her music to reflect something that most people are bound to run into. In “Anti-Hero,” Swift sings “I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser.” That’s poignant; the chaos of connection means that we’re all likely to run into things that confound and embrace us in equal measure. If Swift can remain a voice for dealing with that, Swifties wouldn’t have her music any other way.

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An ever-present feature of a Tour de France stage is the breakaway: a small group of cyclists working incredibly hard to stay clear of the main peloton, attempting to reach the final kilometres of the stage with their advantage intact and a stage win in sight. And yet, breaks are caught more often than not, with the effects of wind resistance and strength-in-numbers giving the peloton a massive advantage.

Over the last seven years, in roughly 140 stages, just 39 breakaways have succeeded, and with almost 1,500 riders involved in a breakaway during this time, each individual has an average probability of just 2.6% of winning a stage — just over one in 50. Considering the Tour de France is only 21 stages long, and some of those stages (i.e. the time trials) give no opportunity for a break, why bother at all?

Other than the obvious – trying to win the stage – there are also other advantages to getting into a break. You might want to gain publicity for your team sponsor, be well-placed near the front of the race to help a team leader later in the stage, or earn intermediate sprint or king of the mountain points for the minor jersey competitions. But it is unquestionably of interest to know which breaks to try and get into, and which have no chance of succeeding, in order to build a strategy that beats the odds.

Data provided by Peter Northall and James Baker of Frontier Economics investigates a number of properties of breakaways that might influence whether one wins a stage:

– Stage number: By later stages of the Tour, riders that have fallen out of contention for the overall standings might instead target stage wins.

– Terrain: Sprinters’ teams target stage wins on flat stages, whereas on mountain stages, the focus is instead on gaining time in the general classification. These uphill stages are also slower, which reduces the benefits of the peloton drafting in a big group.

– Length of the stage, and when the break forms .

– Size and composition of the break: A larger break creates more of a shelter from the wind, reducing the peloton’s advantage.

– Whether the stage is after a rest day .

It is useful to have a look at how these factors have affected breakaway success in recent years. The terrain has a significant impact: there has only been one successful break on a flat stage since 2013. This was stage 19 in 2017, which was placed in between seven successive mountain stages and before a race-deciding time trial. As a result it may have been treated as a bit of a rest day by the teams chasing the yellow jersey. In contrast, breakaways won over half of high mountain stages, and almost half of medium mountain stages.

The length of a stage and how many kilometres the break takes to form seem to have less of an impact, with no real pattern to when breaks succeed (the green dots in the diagram below). Most breaks lead for almost the entire stage (possibly due to the definition used, which is the first clear-cut breakaway of the day) – especially in longer stages. The exception to this is a cluster of very late breakaways in shorter, flatter stages (circled below) – these all have the same profile and may have been doomed because the sprinters’ teams refused to concede enough control to let a strong breakaway get a hold.

The number of riders in a break has an obvious effect, with larger breaks normally succeeding (there were 28 breaks comprising more than 20 riders, and the break succeeded in 86% of them). When considering the strength of the riders in the break, there are two main criteria considered in the Frontier Economics data – how many Grand Tour stage winners are present, and how good they are, measured by how many stages they have each won. The second criteria is biased towards sprinters (who win stages in bunch sprints, rather than getting involved in breakaways), but regardless, the composition of the break does not have much of an impact – especially compared to the influence of the size of the break.

As seen below, the exception to this is in small breaks, which tend to only succeed when full of talent (i.e. close to the dashed line):

Finally, the break tends to succeed much more than usual after a rest day — seven out of 14 such stages were won by the break. However, this may just be because a high percentage (50%) of these were high mountain stages, in which the break tends to do better.

So what are the most important factors?

Because the data is binary (either the break succeeds, or not), we can use logistic regression to model it, giving a percentage that the break succeeds in any given stage. The coefficients of each property in the model will tell us what is important when determining if a break is successful or not – the larger the coefficient, the more that property affects the odds of the break succeeding.

Interestingly, the only two properties of any significance that come out of the model are (1) the terrain and (2) the number of riders in the break, with terrain being twice as important as size.

So when deciding which break to join, there mightn’t be as much to consider as conventional wisdom would suggest. The strength of the other riders in the break, how much of the race is left, how long the stage is overall – these can have an affect, but not a significant one, and not nearly as much as the terrain or size of the break. The modelling also suggests that the fate of the break really lies in the peloton’s legs, rather than the breakaway’s – the peloton has the power to decide whether or not to bring the break back, based on the wider tactical considerations of each team.

To get a bit more detail, it would have been better to use data that includes these considerations, as well as more detailed profiles of each stage – for example, the current GC standings, the amount of climbing in the stage, and whether it is a summit finish or not.

Despite these limitations, what does the model say about this year’s Tour?

Riders should aim to join a break in the high mountain stages towards the end of the race, when the GC riders will most likely be focusing on each other and won’t care about the break as much. And they should hope this break is as large as possible – as long as they back themselves to beat the rest of the breakaway!

Looking at the actual profile of the stages in the 2020 Tour gives an extra level of insight missing from the model used. For example, stage 16, which is never flat and has a steep ascent well-suited to an attack 20 km from the end, seems more likely to have a breakaway winner than the following stage, which might be too tough for a break to beat the top GC riders.

But as discussed, much of it depends on the mood of the peloton and how willing they are to let a break go the distance. The graph below put the chances of a successful breakaway at around 25% for yesterday’s stage 6. As we now know, the peloton was happy for the break to stay away, leaving Alexey Lutsenko to finish nearly three minutes ahead of the bunch .

How will the rest of the stages unfold? We’ll have to wait and see.

About the author

Josh Silverbeck is a final-year Maths student at Oxford University. He enjoys playing sport, particularly water polo and cycling, and has spent the summer writing articles analysing data from European football and now the Tour de France.

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What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France? Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view.

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Morgan wallen breaks silence on nashville arrest, chair throwing, morgan wallen speaks on arrest ... i've made amends, tour goes on.

• Breaking News

Morgan Wallen 's speaking out about his arrest in Nashville ... saying he needed to make some mea culpas before he could put out a statement -- and adding, his tour will go on.

The country star -- who cops arrested after he allegedly threw a chair off a downtown bar's roof -- posted to X Friday, saying he didn't wanna speak out on this until he did a few things first ... including making good with the people he feels he's harmed.

I didn't feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I'm not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility. — morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) April 20, 2024 @MorganWallen

Morgan writes, "I didn't feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I'm not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility."

He adds, "I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe. Regarding my tour, there will be no change." FWIW, Morgan has a concert scheduled Saturday evening at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Mississippi ... not to mention Stagecoach next weekend in CA.

As we reported ... officers took Wallen into custody back on April 7 and booked him on three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

An eyewitness told us Wallen threw the chair -- which landed feet from Nashville PD officers -- for no real reason ... and, pictures of Wallen chatting up a lady at the bar just before the toss showed no indication he'd end up hurling it off a six-story high roof.

Morgan's kept a low profile since the incident ... although, we did see him spending time with his baby mama KT Smith and their son Indigo last weekend -- and, all seemed good between them.

Sounds like Wallen's contrite about the dumb incident ... and, he's ready to move on from it. The question ... is the criminal justice system ready to do the same??? Time will tell.

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Icebreakers to Get Your Tour Members Talking

Tour experts weigh in on some of the best icebreakers to help group socialize and to promote camaraderie

Getting a diverse mix of tour members to start talking with each other may require some behind-the-scenes maneuvering on the part of the tour director. We asked Leisure Group Travel readers what works for them when it comes to the best icebreakers. Below are their answers to the questions: How do you get a busload of strangers to mix and socialize? What are your techniques for promoting group camaraderie on tours?

I find it best to have what I call a “pre-party” for our bus trips that are more than one day. It’s at these get-togethers where people meet and mingle best, and we can include some fun icebreakers. Of course, refreshments are always served.

Judy Hoppie Brigham City Community Hospital Brigham City, UT

Getting a busload of strangers to mix and socialize has always been easy for me. Once we have loaded on our bus I welcome each one and ask for any new travelers to raise their hand. Next I ask all of our regular guests to introduce themselves during the trip. After this I introduce myself and most of the time my grandson goes on our trips so I introduce him. He knows what he needs to do. He will intermingle with each guest and before long everyone is just having a great time and laughing and much more. Just before we leave I have a word of prayer. I continually thank them for being here today and for their fellowship. Also have a group saying. Mine is “Let’s Have Fun in the Sun.”

Joseph Yokshas Papa Joe Will Travel Winter Haven, FL

Sometimes I like to break the ice on a tour by randomly handing out name tags shortly after departure. When the passengers inevitably say “this isn’t mine,” I ask them to humor me and put it on anyway. Then, at the first rest stop everybody has to find the person wearing their name tag. It’s a great way to break the ice right off the bat!

Bob Roth Lakeland Bus Lines, Inc. Dover, NJ

These are my guidelines for creating a busload of happy people:

1. Be a warm gentle person. 2. Treat each guest as a guest in your home. 3. Try to address them by name. 4. Prior to the tour check to see from where the people come – try to introduce them to other people from their area. 5. If you know a couple of the people have the same interest or hobby, introduce them. 6. Have games as icebreakers that help them intermingle or start conversing. 7. Start the tour with a quotation, poem, proverb, etc. so they will relax and respond. 8. Talk about future tours and ask for their interest in them. 9. Get the coach driver involved, so he or she will respond. 10. Before you depart for the tour, walk through the coach greeting the people, and if possible tell individuals about anyone who may live near them, or something to get them conversing.

I believe if you sincerely enjoy people and what you are doing, you will automatically have the people enjoying one another and the tour.

Esther M. Scott Assistant Vice President Hinsdale Bank & Trust Hinsdale, IL

I start at the front and pass around a roll of toilet paper and tell everyone to take only what they will need. When it comes back to the front, I start with the last person and we go around and tell first their name and where they are from. Then with their toilet paper sheets they have to tell one interesting thing about themselves for every sheet they tore off. We have a lot of fun with it!

Shirley Howie-Garrett Sunshine Travel Lancaster, SC

On all overnight trips we prepare name tags that are worn for the duration of the trip—this helps people get to know each other’s names. We make everyone feel welcome by passing out a bottle of water and a small treat. Seats are rotated each day so people are sitting near new people and they get to know each other. We try early on an overnight trip to play a game whereby people have to quiz each other to obtain the answers—this helps everyone mix. We have a joke-telling period on all trips which helps people enjoy themselves with a laugh or two. I believe it is human nature to feel wanted and appreciated, and this is our main goal in helping to make trips successful.

Eunice Morrow Torrance-South Bay YMCA Torrance, CA

At the first stop for a meal, you have everyone at the table tell three things about themselves. One thing must be the truth and the other two things have to be a tall tale or something they dreamed of doing but never did. You go around the table and start with the first person who has three things ready to tell. No one is allowed to ask questions or make comments. Then the first person to their left has to state which of the three statements is true. The person who told the three things does not say either way whether it is true or false until everyone has made a guess. Then you see how many people you can stump with your three things. Then you go on to the next person and do it all over again. You learn so much about each other with these icebreakers and it’s loads of fun and laughs! Everyone seems to loosen up and talk among themselves after that.

Dianna Turner Rutherfordton, NC

One of our favorite icebreakers is to make a list of questions, such as who speaks French or who has met a president. The wilder the question the better but stay in good taste!

Another game: Take an index card and list three things about yourself and one of them must be a lie. Put your name on it and then let the tour director read off the name and three things. The people on the bus must select the lie.

Brenda Tidwell Leisure Time Charters & Tours Emerson, GA

If the group is truly a mixture of areas, we always have everyone introduce themselves as well as play a game-type activity in the beginning that requires folks to match with another person through birth date, cards we have passed out or a few other things. Also, at our first stop we do a “mix” that involves everyone meeting other folks and when we get back on the bus they talk about what they found out. By the time we are through the group, we are well down the road and they don’t realize how long they have been riding.

Jackie Stempfer Like Gold Tours Murrysville, PA

Once all the pick-ups are finished, I like to serve a snack and chat with the passengers. While chatting with one couple, I will ask a question of the couple across the aisle to include them in the conversation. Once the two couples are chatting with each other, I casually move along to let them get further acquainted. If they already know each other or are traveling together, then I add in the couples in front or in back of them. Soon, everyone is talking with each other and adding other passengers into the conversation as well. At each stop, (coffee, lunch, etc.) I rotate the seats. I ask the passengers to leave something in their seat, on the aisle seat so that once move them they will know where to sit. I move each passenger’s belongings back two seats, putting the items on the window seat so that I don’t get mixed up with whom I have moved. By doing this, on a three-day tour, passengers will circle the whole bus before the trip is completed.

By the second day, every one is talking without my help and enjoying meeting and getting acquainted with new people at each change. If we are staying local the next day, I give them new seats when they get on (using the same rotation) in the morning and at lunch only. This method has always worked very well for me. By the time the trip is finished, no one wants to say goodbye to all the fun they had on the tour while getting to know each other along the way.

Linda Dickinson Wrong Bus Holidays Manchester, NH

One of the things I do for icebreakers is to hold a trivia contest. It relates to the neighborhood we are touring and gets people involved. An inexpensive trinket can be offered as a prize.

Susan Birnbaum SusanSez NYC Walkabouts New York, NY

Every morning after everyone is on the bus we sing “Good morning to you, good morning to you, we’re all in our places with sunshiney faces, Oh what a way to start a new day.”

Then we sing “This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made, we will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it and be glad in it, This is the day that the Lord has made, We will be glad and rejoice in it, This is the day, this is the day that Lord has made.”

It’s hard to be grumpy after all that.

We rotate seats mornings and noon. The driver’s side moves forward and the door side moves back. That way people can get acquainted.

Ruth Duncan Granger Roadrunner Travel Club Texarkana, AR

Try put some of these icebreakers to use on your next group outing! For more group travel planning advice, be sure to check out the Expert Advice section.

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John Smoltz, Annika Sorenstam highlight PGA Tour Champions Invited Celebrity Classic

Dozens of celebrities will tee it up alongside PGA Tour Champions players this weekend in Dallas, helping raise money for local charities.

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This week, Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas, hosts the Invited Celebrity Classic, one of the most prominent celebrity golf tournaments of the year.

Over 40 celebrities from sports and entertainment will tee it up alongside 78 professionals from the PGA Tour Champions , including John Smoltz , Annika Sorenstam , Greg Maddux, Tony Romo, Larry the Cable Guy and many others.

These celebrities not only help give the PGA Tour Champions further notoriety, but they also help raise over $250,000 for local charities—similar to the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on the LPGA Tour .

One of the beneficiaries of this event is the Momentous Institute, which helps strengthen young children by providing educational opportunities and supporting those with emotional troubles and mental health disorders. The tournament also helps support The First Tee of Greater Dallas.

But the Invited Celebrity Classic extends much farther than North Texas. Amateur players from around the country compete in regional and national competitions for a chance to be one of 10 players to compete alongside the stars this event has to offer.

“That’s the great thing about golf. You can play with anybody in this game,” said two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen in an interview with Playing Through .

“Everybody’s got a handicap, and everybody plays. Golf is such an equalizer, and it’s nice to have all these other celebs from different sports, play the game and come and play with us. It’s a great attraction for people that come and watch the event to see some others battle it out on a golf course against us professionals.”

John Smoltz’s Place in Golf

One of the big celebrity draws this week is Smoltz, the former Atlanta Braves pitcher who now broadcasts MLB games for FOX Sports.

A terrific player in his own right, Smoltz came close to earning his membership card on the PGA Tour Champions this past Fall. But he fell short in the second round of qualifying. Still, the Invited Celebrity Classic affords Smoltz another opportunity to play alongside the best players in the world aged 50 and older.

“[Smoltz] is somebody we see quite regularly out here on tour,” Goosen added.

“He plays in a few events and he’s a nice guy.”

On a call with members of the media on Apr. 2, Smoltz revealed he has two new hips after recent operations, but that has not affected his drive to compete.

“I feel great and I am able to walk the golf course now,” Smoltz said.

“I’m excited about the chance I have, but for me, at the end of the day, its all about making putts.”

During qualifying stages, Smoltz did not have a round with more than 25 putts during the first phase. But he needed at least 38 putts in each round during the second stage, which explains why he did not make it through the second round of qualifying.

“I have a problem,” Smoltz said.

“I would rather play 54 holes in a day than go out and chip and putt. I love golf. I love competition.”

The other aspect that the Hall of Fame pitcher struggles with is with his rhythm.

“I wish there was an ability to hit my shot like when I want to throw my pitch. One good thing about pitching is we dictate the tempo. The one bad thing about golf is you can’t control it,” Smoltz explained.

“You have too much time and your mind wanders while out on the course, but with pitching, I like the tunnel effect of throwing it downhill into the catcher. But I am working on those things, trying to replicate those guys on tour who have made it their livelihoods. But golf is a beautiful thing, it humbles somebody pretty quickly.”

Thankfully for the celebrities, the Invited Celebrity Classic employs a modified stableford format based on handicaps for the amateur players in the field. Therefore, Smoltz will not have to worry about chasing down PGA Tour Champions players, unlike his experience in Q-School.

Annika Sorenstam Looking to Break Through

Still, the competition remains fierce among Smoltz and the other celebrities.

Look no further than Sorenstam, a 10-time major champion on the LPGA Tour. She hopes to finally break through with a victory in a celebrity tournament after recording eight top 10s, which includes two runner-up finishes and a T6 finish at the American Century Championship last summer, which Steph Curry won in epic fashion .

“I am determined one time to get these guys. That’s the main reason. But I also enjoy it. I have a lot of fun. As you know, I don’t play much nowadays, and this makes me practice a little bit, makes me still kind of stay within the game,” Sorenstam said.

“I am competitive and I do enjoy playing and I’m still determined, so I’m going to keep trying.”

In 2023, Sorenstam finished in third place at the Invited Celebrity Classic, six points behind Romo. Mardy Fish, who won in 2022, finished in second.

Funny enough, Sorenstam also came in third in 2022, the tournament’s inaugural year.

“Always fun to see some of the guys I’ve played with in the past and some of the guys I’m trying to beat every time, which obviously, Tony Romo, Mardy Fish, Mark Mulder, just to name a few,” Sorenstam added.

“I enjoy seeing them and enjoy playing with them. But also if you get paired with somebody new, it’s kind of fun, too.”

Now in its third year, the Invited Celebrity Classic offers a $2.7 million purse with $2.2 million going to the professionals and $500,000 going to the celebrities.

First round coverage will air on the Golf Channel as an encore presentation on Friday evening from 9 to 11 p.m. ET.

Golf Channel will broadcast live second and third coverage on Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. ET.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

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Golf Channel ‘Big Break’ co-host Stephanie Sparks dies at age 50

Chris Condon

Stephanie Sparks, an All-American college golf and former U.S. Curtis Cup player who went on to co-host several Golf Channel programs, in the reality show “Big Break,” died April 13 at 50. Living most recently in Orlando, Spark’s cause of death is unknown.

Sparks was born in Wheeling, W.Va., and had an accomplished amateur golf career that included winning the 1992 North and South Women’s Amateur and the 1993 Women’s Western Amateur and Women’s Eastern Amateur. She played college golf a Duke University, earning first-team All-American honors as a freshman and second-team as as sophomore. She later competed on the 1994 American Curtis Cup team that tied Great Britain & Ireland at The Honors Course outside Chattanooga, Tenn.

Injuries hampered the end of her college days in Durham and lingered as she turned pro. She played one season on the LPGA Tour before ending her career. But golf remained a large part of her life. In 2004, she played the part of Alexa Stirling in the movie “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.” And she became a co-host of Golf Channel’s popular reality show “Big Break,” in which contestants competed for the right to play in pro events. She also appeared on the series “Golf With Style" and “Playing Lessons with the Pros.”

“She had been a professional golfer herself,” Tom Abbott, Sparks co-host for seven years on the “Big Break,” told Golfweek , “so she knew what it was like for the contestants, and she wanted them to succeed. She kind of rode their emotions in a way when we were doing the show.

“She knew how tough it was.”

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