After two and a half months of waiting Taylor Swift released her 11 studio album titled “The Tortured Poets Department” at midnight. With a mix of synth pop songs, heartbreak ballads and insights into Swift’s past two relationships, the world can now relate to Swift more than before. Swift shows that she is just like each of us, crazy, but in the best way possible.
The album opens with the song “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone. The opening track sets the scene for listeners, this is not a love album, but it’s also not a breakup album, it’s a story. With the next track being the title track, we can see with the numerous name drops including Jack Antonoff and Lucy Dacus, Swift is coming for revenge. And with this revenge, she is coming for our heartstrings.
One of the standout tracks on the album is “But Daddy I Love Him.” Swift takes us through her recent relationships, describing the love that she felt in the chorus, “Now I’m runnin’ with my dress unbuttoned/Scrеamin’, “But Daddy, I love him/I’m havin’ his baby”/No, I’m not, but you should see your faces/I’m tellin’ him to floor it through thе fences/No, I’m not coming to my senses/I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want.” Swift directly writes to the public, telling the media that she doesn’t care how her dating life and partners are viewed.
As the album goes on, Swift becomes angrier, telling a story of her failed relationships and the hurt that she has felt.
Swift does this the best in “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” calling out her old partner. This ballad feels like a stab in the gut, like all of the wind has been knocked out of you. In the bridge Swift sings, “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?/Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?/Were you writin’ a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy?/In fifty years, will all this be declassified?/And you’ll confess why you did it and I’ll say, ‘Good riddance.”
The best thing Swift does throughout the album is being able to drag her past relationships while being mature, showing that she is more than a girlfriend. She is a human too.
These in depth call out lyrics continue throughout the album, but Swift shies away from the ballady songs with “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” bringing back the pop sound she has mastered. But with this dance beat, the lyrics contradict it, “’Cause I’m a real tough kid
I can handle my shit/They said, “Babe, you gotta fake it ’til you make it” and I did/Lights, camera, bitch, smile/In stilettos for miles/He said he’d love me for all time/But that time was quite short/Breaking down, I hit the floor/All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, ‘More”
Swift’s vulnerability shows how even the strongest and most fearless people can be in a tough time. But as she is on the top of the Earth, she still stays true to who she is, and lets the listeners into her mind.
When wrapping up the album, at two in the morning, Swift announced the album would be a double album, with 15 extra tracks, titled “The Anthology.”
These songs stick with the same style, but focus more on individuals, and Swift moving on from her past experiences.
In “So High School,” Swift introduces us to her new partner, professional football player Travis Kelce, sharing what new love is like, “I feel like laughing in the middle of practice/To that impression you did of your dad again/I’m hearing voices like a madman.”
The albums combined are true Swift art. They follow her usual storytelling, while also forcing the listeners to take her side and relate to every lyric she sings. The second album is focused on her thoughts and insecurities in relationships through songs like “Peter” and “The Bolter,” but highlighting thoughts that are unspoken.
She creates a safe space to mess up, and knows that it’s okay to feel life might not go on, but you know it will.
Swift gifted us her vulnerability, passion, and trauma to the world with this album, making everyone from whos single, in a “situationship,” or married to relate in some form, while also making us all have burning hatred for who hurt her.
My ranking: 4/5
Album link: https://open.spotify.com/album/5H7ixXZfsNMGbIE5OBSpcb?si=lgpAg3WaSkudjmyVhyAuLA
