I have been a fan of Taylor Swift since I was a kid. Little 10-year-old me, my sister and my cousin would have “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” on repeat at every cheer practice, but it wasn’t until my senior year of high school, right before the release of “Red (Taylor’s Version),” did I become a true fan, a so-called “Swiftie.”
There’s something special about growing up and watching an artist you look up to grow as well. I think something that makes Swift’s music so appealing to me is the emotion she puts into her lyrics.
“THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT,” released Friday, is no exception. This is Swift’s 11th studio album and features songs about heartbreak, new relationships and overcoming barriers. It continues with the electropop sound from “Midnights” and combines it with lyricism from “folklore” to make an intensely vulnerable album.
After Swift’s breakup with boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, I expected a breakup album, but this album goes beyond that. Swift bears her soul to listeners in this hour and six-minute album consisting of 16 songs. While I wish I could talk about them all, I will mention the most notable and a few honorable mentions.
The album started off strong with “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone).” This song immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album — heartbreak. I was a bit nervous at first after “Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey),” which was notorious for listeners not being able to hear Lana Del Rey at all.
While I would have liked Post Malone to have more vocals on this track, his voice compliments Swift’s very well and creates a nice dynamic on the album. The music video was released later the same day with a much-loved cameo from actors of the “Dead Poets Society,” Ethan Hawke (Todd Anderson) and Josh Charles (Knox Overstreet).
The next song I feel has to be mentioned is the title track, “The Tortured Poets Department.” If anyone needs to get an idea of this album’s overall message, they should listen to this song. It perfectly encapsulates the stage of a relationship where one begins to feel lost to their partner.
My favorite song by far on the album is “So Long, London.”
I have told every person that before they listen to this song, they need to listen to “London Boy” from Swift’s seventh studio album, “Lover,” to fully get a grasp of some of the lore behind this chilling parallel of a song. “So Long, London” is such a contrast to the song “Lover,” going from being in love to giving up on a relationship because it wasn’t working anymore, including lyrics such as: “Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away / My spine split from carrying us up the hill / Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill / I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe.”
I don’t think it is too far of a stretch to say this song and the majority of this album is about Swift’s relationship with Alwyn. From “London Boy,” to “Cornelia Street,” to “You’re Losing Me,” and to “So, Long London,” listeners have long since been able to learn about the decline of their six-year relationship. This album is a perfect end to the era, if you will, of Alwyn and the beginning of another era.
My second favorite song on the album is “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” It reminded me so much of “reputation,” and is a song about overcoming all the people who have tried to take Swift down over the years.
After everything, she has come back time and time again. I especially loved the lyrics, “Is it a wonder I broke? Let’s hear one more joke / Then we could all just laugh until I cry.” The biggest call back to “reputation” to me is when she says, “I was tame, I was gentle, ‘til the circus life made me mean.” After the Kanye West versus Swift drama, Swift came back after a year of no one seeing her and released one of, if not the best, comeback albums of all time, at least in my opinion. This is a song about being put down time and time again, only to come back stronger.
“loml” is yet another gut-wrenching song that reminded me of Swift’s eighth album, “folklore.” The second I heard the piano introduction, I knew I was about to cry. A brilliant choice of Swift is the title of the song, which can either mean “love of my life” or, more fittingly, “loss of my life.”
Just when I thought I had shed enough tears over the album and it could not get any worse, Swift followed the pattern with her release of “Midnights” and “Midnights (3am Edition)” by releasing another 15 songs in an album titled “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY.” This brought the total number of songs on the album to 31, with an overall runtime of 122 minutes.
The second part of the album brought more amazing songs to add to my favorite Swift songs. I still have nt been able to get over “I Hate It Here.” It’s a perfect song to encompass how the album is all about vulnerability and raw human emotion. The complexity of human emotions is translated perfectly into one song.
Others of my favorite songs from the additional 15 songs are “How Did It End?” “The Prophecy” and “The Manuscript,” the last song on the album.
One of the biggest criticisms I have seen about the album since it came out is about the lyrics. Swift’s lyricism is what makes her my favorite artist, and I don’t think she could ever top the lyricism in “folklore” or “evermore.” I think some people were expecting the same level of lyrics but were disappointed.
For example, in “So High School,” Swift sings, “Truth, dare, spin bottles / You know how to ball, I know Aristotle / Brand-new, full throttle / Touch me while your bros play ‘Grand Theft Auto.’” This is a stark change coming from Swift as these are more playful, fun lyrics that don’t really have a deeper meaning. It’s just straight up saying what it means, unlike a lot of Swift’s other lyrics that often take some time to understand the deeper meaning.
However, I don’t think this is exactly a negative, but a refreshing change that shows that music doesn’t always have to be deep. It can just be fun.
Other notable songs on the double album include “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “Fresh Out The Slammer,” “The Albatross,” “Clara Bow,” “The Alchemy” and “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine.”
The sound of this album is perfect. It’s a mix between “folklore” and “Midnights.” The instrumentals are some of my favorites in all of Swift’s music, especially in “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)” and “How Did It End?” They compliment the soul-crushing lyrics perfectly and tie everything together. This album would not be what it is without the instrumentals.
Overall, I am in love with “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT.” While it may not be my favorite of Swift’s albums, it is high on the list, and it is certainly a no-skip album for me. I enjoy the less serious songs that you can just listen to and have fun with. Not every song has to be a deep poetic metaphor — they can be fun and silly, too. I’m excited to see what else Swift has up her sleeve in terms of new music, as well as rerecording “Taylor Swift” and “reputation.”
