One minute I'm watching the Grammy's and Taylor is announcing her 11th album, and the next it's 4:09am on Friday, April 19th and I'm laying on my couch listening track by track, in album order of course, to The Tortured Poets Department. I can't stay up until midnight unless I'm already out on the town and that's very rare to begin with, but what I can do is wake up hella early. I didn't exactly mean to wake up at 4 in the morning but it's like Christmas, so of course I didn't sleep well. I tip toed out of the bedroom with my phone and my Beats headphones and cozied back down on the couch. Both cats looked at me in confusion like "excuse us mom but you're off schedule". Eventually they got over the interruption and embraced it via laying on top of me while each new Taylor song filled my ears and brain and heart. Of course I took the day off work for this momentum occasion and being that it's a double album, I could've taken a week off to get fully acquainted.
There wasn't a single song I disliked on first listen and it's still true even after a fortnight of replays. Sure, there have been some serious growers like But Daddy I Love Him and Down Bad, but then of course there was Florida!!! and Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? who were instant loves.
Taylor said herself this album is full of metaphors and it was certainly noticeable right away - from religion to aliens to toys. There are several themes woven in and out of the entirety of the album. The ones that really stood out were all the mental health and religious lyricism and several songs have a Wild West musical twang and/or lyrics.
Taylor is known for her writing and girl WROTE. This is the most wordy album of all time or at least of Taylor's discography which is really saying something. I genuinely had to look up the definitions of also-ran and rivulets (see below). I guess you can't call an album The Tortured Poets Department without elevating the vocabulary and poetic flow that she's already so good at. And of course she adds in literary references left and right from Macbeth to Emily Dickinson which you can read about more in depth here and here.
Taylor wrote two songs completely on her own, eight with Jack, and five with Aaron for this album. And of course Austin Post and Florence Welch each have writing credits on the songs they are featured in. I've heard so many say TTPD 1 is a Jack album and TTPD 2 is an Aaron album, but I think they are both equal mixes, and more than any thing, they are absolutely Taylor albums.
One of my favorite written reviews came from Rolling Stone, my favorite podcast discussion is of course fellow Swiftie bestie Nikki Glaser, P1 and P2, and my favorite video reaction was Reacts with Ash.
I saw on reddit that this album is "for the fans, not the public" and I have to agree. I feel like the Swifties get it and the casual fans have very mixed opinions. This album is giving Woodvale aka the third in the Folklore and Evermore trilogy, the anger and snark of reputation with the synth bops of Midnights. Is it overwhelming as fuck? YES. Due to the heavy content of the songs, the lyricism, and the number of tracks (31 total) it is a lot to take in and I understand why some are saying they are emotionally exhausted. This isn't an album you can just understand with a listen or two. It's not even one you can decide if you like or not in a listen or two. This is album you really have to sit with and let it wash over you slowly while you digest every little morsel.
To my dear Swiftie friends who never get sick of talking about her and her songs in great depth, thank you so much. You are everything in my life.
And away to the asylum we go...
2. The Tortured Poets Department
Fave lyrics: You're in self-sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road
But I've seen this episode and still loved the show
4. Down Bad
Interesting words: petulance - the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered
Callback:
In a cloud of sparkling dust
5. So Long, London
6. But Daddy I Love Him
precocious - exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age
revelry - noisy partying
saboteurs - one that practices sabotage
It's mine alone to disgrace
Until I actually looked at the lyrics I thought the line "All the wine moms are still holding out, but fuck'em" was actually "Our moms are still holding out, but fuck'em". Oops! Also watching fans react for the first time to the line "I'm having his baby, no I'm not but you should see your faces" is so damn funny. We all were caught off guard with that one. I just see her giggling to herself every time someone listens for the first time and their eyes widen with whatthefuck.
I also enjoy the way the song seemingly starts about Matty but then ends with Travis. She goes from "But daddy I love him" to "Even my daddy just loves him" because once again the whole world, including myself were losing our minds in the fall of '23 when we'd see her at Chiefs games or Travis hanging with her dad on tour.
7. Fresh Out The Slammer
In the shade of how he was feelin'
Thoughts & theories: She uses jail imagery to describe her feelings at the end of the relationship with Joe, just as she used it in reputation - except this time it's negative. She is "gray" and Joe is "blue". This other person (presumably Matty Healy) has stayed in touch with her/gotten back in touch and something has been rekindled but she continues to stay in her dead relationship. So as soon as she and Joe are over she's calling Matty because now she is free. Sometimes it takes the hope of a new relationship to get the courage to leave an old one. No judgement here.
She was quoted in her TIME Person of the Year article as saying 'Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years...I'll never get that time back'. As much as I feel she probably needed to hide away for that year after the summer of 2016 to help her heal, I also think there came a point where she was ready to leave the house even with the circus that always transpires in her wake, but she tried so hard to respect Joe's privacy that she lost a lot herself in the process.
8. Florida!!! (feat. Florence + the Machine)
Callback: Florida was mentioned in Fortnight and now it's got its own song!
I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida
Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable
At least the dolls are beautiful, fuck me up Florida!
Taylor talks: Via Amazon's track by track " Swift said the inspiration for this track actually came from “always watching ‘Dateline.'” “People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida. They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in. I think when you go through a heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’ And so that was the jumping off point. Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida!”
9. Guilty as Sin
propriety - the quality or state of being proper or suitable
Callback: This is most definitely the cousin of False God. Both are sexual and both use religious imagery and words.
Even if it's a false god
We'd still worship
The altar is my hips
We'd still worship this love
Taking all of me, we've already done it in my head
Thoughts & theories: This is her fantasizing about what it would be like with another guy she is infatuated with. Probably Matty or maybe just a rando on the internet or a movie that she got carried away with. It didn't click until I listened to Nikki Glaser's special TTPD podcast episode when she said it's about masturbation and the light bulb turned on. Of course it is.
10. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?
levitate - to rise or float in or as if in the air as if defiance of gravity
asylum - an institution offering shelter and support to people who are mentally ill
you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me. pic.twitter.com/hkhdRlBCkj
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) April 25, 2024
Callback: Is this not the cousin of Mad Woman or what?! Both have her leaning into the crazy and delivering the lines with so much snark.
Don't worry folks, we took out all her teeth
Who's afraid of little old me?
You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me
Thoughts & theories: This is another absolute favorite of mine because it is so fucking sad and even though she says 'we don't get to tell her about "sad" '- I do get it. I picture Taylor as a lion who performs for the masses as expected but the second it has had enough and stands up for itself you can hear the gasps from the trainers and crowds, as if they weren't the ones who made her exactly this way with their poking and prodding. I feel like this song is referencing a lot of her recent "scandals" - Matty Healy, the Olivia Rodrigo lawsuit, the NFL backlash, etc. Ultimately, it can be explained as how society lifts artists up just to tear them down.
Taylor talks: She said via Amazon track by track "alone, sitting at the piano in one of those moments when I felt bitter about just all the things we do to our artists as a society and as a culture...."
11. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
billows - a large undulating mass of something, typically a cloud or smoke
calloused - having an area of hardened skin
Tell 'em he's my man
But your good Lord doesn't need to lift a finger
I can fix him, no really I can
Thoughts & theories: There is another mention of Texas which makes me think maybe there is significance - Did something happen in Texas? Did she use it because the music has a western twang and it fits the story? Did she use it again because that's where Post Malone is from?
12. loml
reformed - to amend or improve change of form or removal of faults
impressionist - someone who practices or adheres to the theories of Impressionism
cinephile - a devotee of motion pictures
phantoms - something apparent to sense but with no substantial evidence
What a bland goodbye
The coward claimed he was a lion
I'm combing through the braids of lies
Thoughts & theories: From the title alone many of us surmised this to be about her 6 year relationship with Joe but there are some very key references to Matty. So, if anything, it certainly could be a combination of both but it does appear to be more about the 1975 guy.
I absolutely love when Taylor flips the script. She's a true mastermind at this because it's done so well in many of her songs.
love of my life flips to loss of my life
you and I go from one kiss to getting married flips to what we thought was for all time was momentary
13. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
crucial - important, significant
Fave lyrics: I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday
I think you can take this lyric a few different ways but the one I really relate to is when you're so depressed you treat yourself again and again to try and help you feel better but in the end it's a short-lived hit of dopamine.
Thoughts & theories: This is quite obviously about her being on the eras tour sad and depressed while the world is praising how amazing it is. The fans aka me not only attended the tour but couldn't get enough and would watch any livestream they could catch. But we really didn't have a clue what was going on. How many times have you had to slap a happy face on and put on a show at work or at a party or whatever? We've all been there.
This song is THE bop of the album. It reminds me of Paramore's After Laughter in that most of their songs were up-beat and catchy as hell but the lyrics were sad AF. I always love that kind of juxtaposition.
Taylor Swift during the summer of 2023 pic.twitter.com/hPJo9ulxw4
— Danielle✨ (@folksyswift) April 30, 2024
14. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
oblivion - the state of being forgotten or unknown
15. The Alchemy
bloke - British slang for man
16. Clara Bow
Half moonshine, full eclipse
Thoughts & theories: I feel like this song is maybe the most under appreciated on the album. I absolutely love it. I love the references to past stars who were the talk of the town in their day and how she has the self awareness to poke fun of herself, much like she did in 22. My only critique is the line "we're loving it" - ok McDonald's slogan. I think "magnificent" would've been a much stronger choice. But come on rhyming Clara Bow with remarkable at the beginning of the song and not rhyming Taylor Swift with magnificent to close out the song just seems like such a missed opportunity.
Taylor talks: Via Amazon's track by track " I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you,” she said. “I picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these architypes of greatness in the entertainment industry. Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music."
Was this post long enough? Probably not.
Did I get to say everything I wanted about this album? Definitely not!
Will I also be discussing the anthology aka the second "album" at a later date? You betcha.
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