Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Tay Tay's forthcoming project -- which she's titled "The Tortured Poets Department" -- sounds eerily similar to a group that Joe once admitted he'd created among his buddies in the virtual world ... and on its face, Taylor might be trolling it.

The reason many are jumping to that conclusion -- Joe spilled this little detail a couple years ago during an interview he did with Paul Mescal on an 'Actors on Actors' segment.

In the sit-down, Paul and Joe -- who are friends, BTW -- reveal they're part of a WhatsApp group called the 'Tortured Man Club' ... where they apparently share their woes about their significant others. They had a good laugh about it, noting they weren't so tortured anymore.

This was during a time when Paul and Joe were both in relationships -- Joe was obviously still with Tay Tay in late 2022, and PM himself was dating singer Phoebe Bridgers.

Of course, the name of their joke-y club sounds eerily similar to Taylor's new album title ... almost to a T. And considering that Paul broke up with Phoebe not too long after this chat with Joe (not to mention Joe and Taylor hitting Splitsville) ... it's all seemingly connected.

Funny enough, Taylor and Phoebe are low-key BFFs these days ... so yeah, it's a dig.

While her fans are reveling in this perceived connection -- basically, it's yet another post-breakup album with Taylor torching her ex -- some are raising an eyebrow if this is in fact the route she's pursuing ... 'cause she's knee-deep in a relationship with Travis Kelce.

Fact is ... if Taylor's gonna use a whole album (or a good portion of it) to trash Joe/air out her feelings about their breakup -- which most people assume is the case at this point -- then it makes ya wonder ... how does TK feel about that???

He's not the type to hold his tongue -- and you gotta imagine if he's bothered by it, he'd let it be known. Her album is coming out in about 2 months ... so we'll see, we suppose.

BTW, we recently ran into "Million Dollar Matchmaker" star Patti Stanger ... and we got her thoughts about Taylor and Travis, generally, and whether she thinks they'll go the distance.

As it turns out ... PS does think they'll get hitched eventually, and had some other interesting insights -- including what their sexual chemistry might be like between the sheets. According to her, they have great sex!

One more thing we'll leave you with regarding TS -- we actually have a new podcast coming out this week that touches on all things T-Swift ... it's called "TMZ Swift-Tea" and we're going to be talking all about Tay Tay and everything that comes with her ... good or bad.