See how brands recreated Taylor Swift’s new album cover

Only Taylor Swift can turn something as simple as changing the color of her social media profile picture into a full-blown internet frenzy. Swifties and brands alike spent Sunday afternoon puzzling over the meaning behind the color swap, with many assuming the wildly popular artist was teasing a re-recording of her 2017 album “Reputation,” due to the album’s similarly black-and-white cover. Just a few hours later, Swift stunned social media by using her acceptance speech for the best pop vocal album award at the Grammy Awards to reveal an upcoming new album: “The Tortured Poets Department.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) Swifties swarmed TikTok, Instagram, Threads and X, formerly Twitter, in a matter of seconds to celebrate the announcement and plaster the moody, monochrome cover of the upcoming album across social media. Brands, of course, followed suit, looking to capitalize on the viral moment and bowing to the influence Swift has held over social media marketing—and pop culture as a whole—since the beginning of her “Eras Tour” last March. Read more: Taylor Swift’s effect on Super Bowl marketing Several brands got in the buzz in the hours leading up to Swift’s announcement. Drumstick, Duolingo and Sour Patch Kids joined in on the speculation that Swift’s black-and-white profile picture indicated a “Reputation” re-recording, with Drumstick and Duolingo inserting their brands into the album cover. Sour Patch Kids followed in Swift’s footsteps by making its X profile picture monochrome and enthusiastically posted, “REP TV INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!”, with “TV” referring to the “Taylor’s Version” addendum on all of Swift’s re-recorded albums. i did something bad pic.twitter.com/PgjzRLUZkX— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 5, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Drumstick (@drumstick) REP TV INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/286j33ij9e— SOUR PATCH KIDS (@SourPatchKids) February 4, 2024 On Threads, restaurant chain Carl’s Jr. frantically wondered aloud over whether it should change the color of its own profile picture, writing “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TAYLOR.” Post by @carlsjr View on Threads The Empire State Building, a noted Swiftie, made a more subtle nod to the rumored re-release with a black and white photo of the skyscraper captioned “Baby, let the games begin,” a lyric from “...Ready for It?,” one of the songs on the album. Auntie Anne’s also referenced lyrics from the album when it changed its image to black and white, writing “look what you made me do…”, while Domino’s opted for a lyrical reference to the song “End Game.” Baby, let the games begin pic.twitter.com/1vM98FQjng— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) February 4, 2024 #NewProfilePic look what you made me do… pic.twitter.com/KIEEkU0UvH— Auntie Anne’s (@AuntieAnnes) February 4, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Domino's Pizza (@dominos) And when Swift revealed she was actually releasing an entirely new album, brands quickly changed course. Sour Patch Kids poked fun at its own enthusiastic belief that Swift would be re-releasing “Reputation,” effectively calling itself a “clown” by adding a clown wig to the image it had shared a few hours prior. Oreo similarly followed up on its initial X post nodding to the potential album re-recording with a clown emoji. https://t.co/jpaMiVQXDl pic.twitter.com/1Jc33xn24E— SOUR PATCH KIDS (@SourPatchKids) February 5, 2024 🤡 https://t.co/nRzg1BwSDX— OREO Cookie (@Oreo) February 5, 2024 Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Auntie Anne’s tapped into the explosion of excitement immediately following Swift’s announcement with an X post created by simply smashing random letters on a keyboard, a common shorthand for extreme enthusiasm in fandom culture. OGNAOFNFOKWNEPGNNCPAMSBFOGLPANDBCOVMAPXMGKDPANXOXMGNDKSNALFNKGLDKANFJVOMA— Auntie Anne’s (@AuntieAnnes) February 5, 2024 Dozens of brands have been recreating the cover of the upcoming album “The Tortured Poets Department,” which is set to debut in mid-April. On Threads, Duolingo replaced Swift with a plush of its mascot, Duo, and Scrub Daddy swapped her for an image of one of the brand’s (very old) sponges. Post by @duolingo View on Threads Post by @scrubdaddy View on Threads Carl’s Jr. regained its composure after its Sunday afternoon panic and created its own spin on Swift’s new album cover, renaming it “The Tortured Carl’s Department.” And AriZona Iced Tea renamed the album “The Tortured Tea Department” in its take on the album cover. More news: Top 5 food and beverage marketing moments, ranked Post by @carlsjr View on Threads we are ready pic.twitter.com/19nsLBwShr— AriZona Iced Tea (@DrinkAriZona) February 5, 2024 On Instagram, brands including Touchland, Sol de Janeiro and Poppi photoshopped their respective products into the greyscale album cover. Poppi went a step further, rewriting a handwritten note Swift included in her Instagram post to include references to the soda brand. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Touchland (@touchland) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Poppi (@drinkpoppi) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sol de Janeiro (@soldejaneiro) Ulta Beauty, too, rewrote Swift's poetic note in its Instagram post inserting the brand into Swift's album cover, turning "And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms" into "And so I enter into my checkout bag / My points I've saved so long." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ulta Beauty (@ultabeauty) Walmart's take on the album cover, which it cheekily named "Literally Every Department," added a greyscale filter to an image highlighting the many aisles in its stores. And Josh Cellars channeled the energy of the memes that came out of the brand's own viral moment last month, captioning its remake of the album cover with "Wine is what some might call, bottled poetry." More news: How Josh Cellars' viral meme is driving wine sales among Gen Z View this post on Instagram A post shared by Walmart (@walmart) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Josh Cellars Wine (@joshcellars) Some brands opted to make posts referencing the name of the album rather than its cover art. The Empire State Building followed up its earlier image with a post reading, “I’m the world’s tallest poet.” Duolingo leaned into its mascot’s unhinged energy, asking if Swift “need[ed] any help in the torturing department.” I’m the world’s tallest poet— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) February 5, 2024 .@taylorswift13 if you need any help in the torturing department, i’m your bird #torturedpoetsdepartment #swiftie— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 5, 2024 Online bookseller Bookshop.org took a more wholesome approach than Duolingo, writing, “Petition to change the name of our poetry section to Tortured Poets Department.” Post by @bookshop_org View on Threads American Eagle, meanwhile, lampshaded social media managers’ efforts to embed their brands into the viral conversation around Swift’s new album. Post by @americaneagle View on Threads Brands such as Tubi followed Swifties who began posting images that they viewed as fitting of the label “The Tortured Artists Department,” contributing an image from the movie “When Harry Met Sally" to the meme. Post by @tubi View on Threads Hilton, which ran a TV commercial during the Grammys that included clips of Swifties getting ready for the “Eras Tour” by sliding on friendship bracelets and placing rhinestones on their faces, declared itself officially in its “Tortured Poets Department era.” In our Tortured Poets Department era 👀 #Grammys https://t.co/ezcCWTVhvM pic.twitter.com/ZA8BJWYE5d— Hilton (@Hilton) February 5, 2024

See how brands recreated Taylor Swift’s new album cover

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