Taylor Swift's crazy connection to real-life "Tortured Poet" Emily Dickinson revealed!
New York, New York - Taylor Swift is about to enter her poet era with her next album, but it looks like the album may hit closer to home than anyone could have expected!
On Monday, it was revealed that the 34-year-old songwriter extraordinaire shares a close connection to one of the most acclaimed poets in history, Emily Dickinson.
According to TODAY, Swift and Dickinson are sixth cousins, three times removed, sharing a distant English relative from the 17th century who later settled in Connecticut.
"Taylor Swift's ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until her part of the family eventually settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they married into the Swift family line," genealogy company Ancestry revealed to the outlet.
The revelation comes ahead of the release of Swift's 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, adding further poignance to the connection.
While this era may be the first time she's leaned into the poetic side of her work so heavily, she has referenced Dickinson in the past when she opened up about her different types of songwriting.
Taylor Swift previously named Emily Dickinson as songwriting inspiration
In 2022, Swift explained that she had grouped her songwriting into three different categories: "Fountain Pen," "Quill Pen," and "Glitter Gel Pen."
"I came up with these categories based on what writing tool I imagine having in my hand when I scribbled it down, figuratively," she said at the Nashville Songwriter Awards.
"Fountain Pen" songs, which Swift said constitute most of her work, were described as "modern personal stories written like poetry."
It's her "Quill Pen" tracks that are most notable now, though, given her newfound family connection, as she previously name-dropped Dickinson in her description of the category.
"If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson's great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that's me writing in the Quill genre," she said.
The final category, "Glitter Gel Pen," represents her upbeat, pop side with hits like You Belong With Me and London Boy.
Swift will join the club of "tortured poets" when her next album drops on April 19.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS & IMAGO / Bridgeman Images