Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department
Republic
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Over the past few years, Taylor Swift has had a prolific run. Her latest album The Tortured Poets Department is another instant classic, providing a sanctuary of raw emotion and unfiltered introspection. Staying true to her catalog, each track serves as a window into the turbulent psyche of its creator, delving into themes of love, loss, and existential angst with unwavering authenticity. Through haunting melodies and poetic lyricism, the album navigates the labyrinth of human emotions, leaving an indelible imprint on the listener's soul.
The album is distinctively Taylor Swift, but with some surprising choices along the way. Her frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dressner split the album. The Antonoff tracks are familiar Swift, bright pop anthems straight from her Reputation days. Dressner, of The National, lends gravitas and helps to push Swift to previously unexplored sounds. The duo’s effect is an album that straddles fresh new material and homage to past work. “So Long, London” and “But Daddy I Love Him” are two tracks co-written with Dessner that beautifully demonstrate Swift’s maturity as an artist. The lyrics are wry, standing out against minimal synth backdrops.
The album kicks off with “Fortnite,” an ‘80s soft rock take on Swift’s preferred medium of breakup songs. Post Malone shows up to lend gentle backing vocals over a synth that sounds like it’s straight from Bronski Beat. “Florida!!!” has the second of the two guest spots on the album, in a stunning turn from Florence + The Machine. The band’s theatricality is a perfect match for Swift’s self-mythologizing lyrics, in a sweeping ode to the chaos of the Sunshine State. It’s an epic track, made even more fun by its distance to Swift’s public persona.
There are plenty of classic Swift/Antonoff synth pop tracks on The Tortured Poets Department to balance the more delicate folk-tinged ballads. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” is a bright spot on the album, a manic anthem for the neurotic and talented. It’s a moment when Swift really shines—she revels in her misery, gleefully announcing her intrusive thoughts and dancing past her despair.
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Swift is a capital “r” Romantic. She idealizes the mundane and gleans excitement from the most universal of experiences. While she is simply too rich and famous to be literally relatable, she still easily taps into the everyday anxieties many of her fans share with her. In much of her music, including The Tortured Poets Department, there is a nostalgia for high school that feeds a continued endearment from passing generations of young fans. Perhaps this is the last time that Swift spent time in the real world, but she’s able to make it work through applying the politics of adolescence to her current life. “thanK you aIMee”—which features on the expanded ‘Anthology’ edition of the album—is Swift’s version of a diss track, an extended school bully analogy to stand in for her famous fight with Kim Kardashian.
Her life is too public for her to be truly cryptic and loyal Swfties delight in drawing their own parallels to her life. Tracks like “The Alchemy” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” were quickly attributed to different famous love interests, which adds some glamor to the album. In the same way Beyoncé releases visuals to accompany her music, Swift’s tabloid coverage helps to add another layer of context to her revealing, emotion-filled songwriting.
With 31 tracks, The Tortured Poets Department is long, chock full of fan service and indulgent—attributes that feel easy to criticize. Another sticky topic is the handful of clunky phrases that occasionally litter Swift’s music. Each time she says, “fresh out the slammer,” on the track of the same name, it reminds the listener we are in Swift’s world. The phrase doesn’t exist in popular discourse anymore, except maybe as an affectation. But it’s part of Swift’s vernacular, in her dramatic landscape where people gush with metaphor and emotion.
Like Swift's earlier albums including Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010), The Tortured Poets Department embodies a similar depth of emotion and lyrical vulnerability. Swift's masterful storytelling transcends mere entertainment, weaving intricate narratives of heartbreak, longing, and self-discovery. From wistful melodies to the defiant synth anthems, Swift's new album resonates with a universality that transcends age and experience, speaking directly to the heart of her dedicated fans.
Notable Tracks: “Florida!!!” | “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” | “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” | “So Long, London”
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