Taylor Swift released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department on April 19th, 2024. The album consisted of sixteen tracks with three featured artists. It sold 1.4 million CD’s and records on the release day, and it earned three hundred million streams on Spotify in a single day. This is an impressive feat as no other album has reached over two hundred million streams, making Swift the first artist to reach this milestone.
The opening track on the album is called “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone).” This track talks about how Swift wishes that her ex is okay, but said her life got ruined by loving him. It implied that as days passed by, her life felt like it was moving in slow motion because she was still in love with her ex. This was a great opening track because it helps us get an idea on the aesthetic of the album and helps prepare us for the rest of the listen.
The ex-boyfriend is speculated to be Joe Alwyn and said to be the topic of many songs. For example, when Swift named one of her tracks “So Long, London,” everyone assumed that track was about him as he was born in the United Kingdom. This speculation was also high because of a previous song titled, “London Boy,” from her 2019 album Lover, that was also about Alwyn. Swift and Alwyn’s relationship was assumed to be over as they weren’t seen together as much. Swift also implies that Alwyn didn’t want to be in a relationship anymore through the lyrics, “You say I abandoned the ship, But I was going down with it.” This would mean that Alwyn was already leaving the relationship, and Swift was trying to hold onto it despite wanting to put herself first.
Personally, my favorite track on this album is “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” because the song really stood out to me as I was listening to the album. It is a sad song as seen through the lyrics, “If you wanted me dead, you should’ve just said. Nothing makes me feel more alive.” As she is going through this sadness, she wants people to feel afraid of her since she wants to feel powerful because of the problems that have caused her to feel this sadness. I really liked the track because the instrumentals were really good and because Swift really speaks out her words so everyone can understand that there were some problems that caused her to be sad.
However, while fans were listening to the newly dropped album, Swift surprised everyone with a deluxe album titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” having fifteen new tracks. She did this because people leaked the album before it got released. Some tracks that were in the deluxe album were also in additional tracks in the different album varieties that fans have brought.
My favorite track on that album is “So High School” because Swift was talking about her recent boyfriend, Travis Kelce. This also stood out to me since Swift has always wanted to be in a happy relationship and now, she’s finally having that. It also stood out because the whole album is sad but, now there’s a happy track.
There was also another track on the deluxe album that everyone assumed was a diss track. Swift named the song, “thank you aIMee,” which spelt out it says “KIM”, and everyone knows that Kim Kardashian has had issues with Swift in the past. Swift said, “All the time you were throwing punches, I was building something, and I can’t forgive the way you made me feel.” It’s been interpreted as Kim throwing punches by lying to her which later made Taylor sad because they had a good friendship, but Kim ruined it by lying.
The Tortured Poets Department was a really good album to me because I liked it a lot and it was similar to her past albums. Others have thought this album was not good since they have said the album is too sad, but they have to be able to relate to this album to like it. They also have to listen to her past albums because they have the same poetic vibe as this album. I really encourage everyone to listen to this album because for me, this album has been on repeat ever since it dropped. Everyone should try to understand why Swift feels sad and the outcome of the problems with what she has dealt with.
