Here’s how Emma Stone helped Taylor Swift make ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Taylor Swift’s newest album The Tortured Poets Department is jam-packed with songs — 31, to be exact — and it has nearly enough collaborators to match. But beyond Swift’s go-to producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner and featured artists Post Malone and Florence Welch, there’s another celebrity who had her hand in the album: Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone.

Fans noticed that Emma Stone — credited under her legal name Emily Jean Stone — is credited on the song “Florida!!!” off the new album. But she didn’t provide backing vocals or even play an instrument. Instead, Stone is credited in the album’s booklet as providing “oddities.”

Emma Stone has “oddities” credit on “Florida!!!”
byu/Different_Hedgehog16 inGaylorSwift

What does it mean to bring “oddities” to a track? That’s a question Swifties are desperately trying to answer. On the song’s Genius page, Stone is credited under “thanks” rather than “oddities,” so some think she offered a suggestion behind the scenes. Maybe Stone came up with the Florida theme, or recommended giving the chorus its signature series of drum beats. 

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I could see Emma saying “He’s the Florida of people” and then Taylor being like 🤔💡

— tata is a tortured poet 🤍🩶 (@ogswiftie18) April 23, 2024

emma stone: "i think it's missing something….what if you just went…. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM?"

— kendall (@flylikethesun) April 23, 2024

she definitely just said “fuck me up, florida!!!” and taylor wrote the whole song around it

— rach ♡ (@eg1879) April 23, 2024

Others think Swift herself might just have been in a giving mood and wanted to shout out her longtime friend. No matter what Stone actually did, it’s clear Swift thinks she played a part in making the album the smash success it is today.

As she should on every song ever

— MAStermind: Eras Tour LDN N4/5/6 (@samisntokay) April 23, 2024

in the booklet she's credited for "oddities" so taylor just felt silly ig

— ry ⸆⸉ saw taylor kc n1 (@boylesversion) April 22, 2024

sometimes we just gotta thank her for existing yk

— maggie ౨ৎ (@slutvftv) April 22, 2024

well yes anyone who watched poor things would also be thanking Emma Stone

— matthew⸆⸉ (Head Tayriana) 🤍💋 (@chloesamsophmar) April 23, 2024

It’s not the first time Stone has gotten her flowers on a Swift song. The track “When Emma Falls In Love” from Swift’s re-recorded album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is heavily rumored to be about Stone.

Stone and Swift have been friends since they were teenagers. Last year, Stone attended Swift’s Eras Tour, which she told Vanity Fair was “pretty amazing.”

“I was lucky ’cause we’ve been friends for a really long time. I’ve known her since we were 17 and 18, so she hooked me up, which was very nice ’cause I know those tickets are impossible to get,” Stone said. “She’s a wonderful friend. She blows my mind. I mean, the amount of sheer stamina to do three and a half hours and perform 44 songs and to maintain the extreme energy of the audience — I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Florida!!!” — and the rest of The Tortured Poets Department — are now streaming on all platforms. 

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