At midnight, on Friday, April 19, audiences listened to Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Not even two hours later, the second half of the album was unexpectedly released, a complete shock to Swifties everywhere.
The second release “The Anthology” was another full hour of music, with song titles unfamiliar to the listeners. Swift slyly dropped the easter egg hint of “2” prior to the release, which stood for the length of the album, exactly 2 hours and 2 minutes long.
The announcement of this album was a surprise, as many hoped she would finally be releasing “Taylor’s Version” of her most famous album, “Reputation.” However, she announced this new album instead, being released only two years after her latest album, “Midnights.”
Between her “Era’s Tour” and the re-release of “Speak Now” and “1989,” it is mystery as to how she was able to write, record and produce alongside Jack Antonoff within such a short timeline. This is especially shocking when we consider the topics of this album, which many believe to surround Swifts recent romantic and personal life.
One of the suspected people Swift sings about is her ex-boyfriend of 6 years, Joe Alwyn. Her other ex-boyfriend Matty Healy, the lead singer of the band “The 1975,” is suspected to have been the inspiration of a few songs like “Guilty as Sin” and “But Daddy I Love Him.”
One of the most obvious (and hilarious) tracks is “thanK you aIMee,” which spells out the name “Kim” with capitalized letters. The long-drawn beef between Swift, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West was finally addressed in this “diss track” of sorts where she explicitly calls the Kardashian out on all she has put Swift through.
This album also included some amazing features like Florence + The Machine in the song “Florida!!!” and Post Malone in the song “Fortnight.” The Fortnight music video was the only music video released so far, but it was well done.
The album’s vibe is comparable to her albums “Folklore” and “Evermore,” since they are not as upbeat and are woven together with lyrics that are arguably better heard as spoken poetry.
The thematic content of her songs has changed over the years, but this album had some of the most drastic changes, including more mentions of alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and focuses on allusions to religious imagery.
We can see this in songs like “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” where lyrics like “Your good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger, I can fix him I can,” are starkly different from the good Christian girl image she has been putting forward for most of her career.
Another song that doubles down on this in “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” which is a very raw and emotional song about her feelings toward society’s constant attack on her. One of the most shocking lyrics was “[I] put narcotics into all my songs, and that’s why you’re still singing along.”
This felt like a true poetry book, and listened to in order, feels like reading a series of diary entries. Much like traditional poetry, these songs are full of verses that take time to understand. It is definitely an album listeners will have to work for to get.
The album is fatalistic, with dramatic statements throughout like, “I love you, it’s ruining my life,” which was in the song “Fortnight.”
There has been some criticism online that the album is unoriginal, and I agree that many of the lyrics sound familiar to her other songs. However, I think it was strategic of her to do this because many of the lyrics feel like a response to her older songs as a message to her younger self.
This is obvious in songs like “So Long London” which directly correlates to her song “London Boy” from her “Lover” album. There are also lyrical references to the song “You’re Losing Me” from her “Midnights” album. Lyrics like “I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use,” from “So Long London,” feels like a continuation from the lyrics “I can’t find a pulse, my heart won’t start anymore,” from “You’re Losing Me.”
Another powerful reference is to her song “New Romantics” where she had previously sung, “Please leave me stranded, it’s so romantic,” which starkly contrasts her song “Down Bad,” where she sings, “How dare you think it’s romantic leaving me safe and stranded?”
Almost every song feels like a reference to a past lyric or time for her, but the last song of the album assures audiences, “Now and then I re-read the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.” These being the last words of the album feels so refreshing, a perfect way to wrap up the messy rehashing of past mistakes and wounds by no longer claiming the pain as her own anymore.
This album was different from her typical romantic and positive songs, but it was satisfying to have more mature content described. Listeners can appreciate just how much feeling Swift put into the album, with messages that are obviously close to her heart.
Photo by Beth Garrabrant