20. Tortured art thou poets

Grab your dictionaries, Taylor Swift’s new album is out and it’s all poetry. The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) was released last week and it’s a double album nevertheless. There’s so much to unpack, an anthology of poems and songs from the past two years of Taylor’s life. Those two years include the release of her Grammy award-winning album Midnights, her 6-year relationship with Joe Alwyn ending, the start of her record-breaking Eras Tour, and overall world domination stretching farther than her impact on the music industry. Perhaps this glittering imagery we know so well, we were blind-sided to the possibility of Taylor’s next body of work being utterly depressing and messy. As a diehard Swiftie, I’m here as a fan with a review that isn’t all praise and glory. This album and all its complexity begs to be analysed. I went song by song, and was at 1,600 words… so here are a select few.

Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)

The album starts with a line about how Taylor was meant to be taken away to a mental asylum but they must have forgotten. Her craziness and mental instability are thematically rigid within this album, just watch the music video which encapsulates the world we enter into with this album. Think crazy professor, but a tortured poet. This boppy, 80s-inspired strangers-to-lovers song must be about Matty Healy. Healy is the frontman of one of my favourite bands (no, not One Direction), The 1975.

Lottie’s lyric: “I love you, it’s ruining my life”.

The Tortured Poets Department

Sonically, this song excited me, I’m a big 80s music fan, and it sounds like a song by The 1975 (Side Eye). Referring to a typewriter is again a Matty Healy reference, something he included in his “10 Things I Can’t Live Without” GQ interview in 2018. 

Lottie’s lyric: “I’ve seen this episode before and still love the show”

My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys

Wow. From the title alone, this song just goes there. Perfect use of metaphors in this song, and trust Taylor to make a hard-hitting song sound so fun and dance-y. Singing this with my best friend who also recently went through a breakup was incredibly cathartic and magical and a pure example of how Taylor understands heartache so well. Together in my new apartment, we screamed “Once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me” and it was an out-of-body experience. Thank you, Mother Taylor.

Lottie’s line: “‘Cause I knew too much, there was danger in the heat of my touch”

Down Bad

Yet another relatable song about being immature when it comes to love, missing the level-headedness you believe you have. You’re not thinking straight, you’re being over-dramatic and it’s okay, it’s warranted. It’s a nice bop before we wallow in our feelings going into track 5.

Lottie’s lyric: “I loved your hostile takeovers, encounters closer and closer”

So Long London

The echoing harmonies at the beginning of the song transported me back to my car crying to “Death By A Thousand Cuts” on her 2019 album Lover, regardless of the name of the song, I knew this song was going to hurt. A truly devastating song of someone questioning how a lover could hurt you so much, “How much sad did you think I had?” took my breath away. It’s hard not to grimace at the pain in this song, let alone with the parallels to some of her previous work about the love this relationship used to have.

Lottie’s lyric: “And you say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it”

But Daddy I Love Him

This song belongs to a hypothetical grown-up version of the Fearless album. Taylor sings this to the fans who are so concerned with who she’s dating, what she’s doing, what she’s not doing, always thinking they know what’s best for her. She’s over it, wanting them (me sometimes) to stop the “bitchin’ and moanin’”, and let her live!

Lottie’s lyric: “Dutiful daughter, all my plans were laid, tendrils tucked into a woven braid / Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all”
Fresh Out The Slammer

Taylor’s served her time, living in the shade a former lover was under, and now she knows how to navigate relationships and what not to do to keep a relationship healthy. “Fresh out the slammer I know who my first call will be to”, what a beautiful way to put something so simple.

Lottie’s lyric: “Handcuffed to the spell I was under, for just one hour of sunshine”

Florida!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)

Here’s another upbeat song, this time about escapism, daring the hurricane you ran away from, with your name written on it, to follow you to the place you know it can’t bother you in. Throwing in the towel, running away from the shitstorm, and being in a place where you can get away with avoiding reality.

Lottie’s lyric: “Yes, I’m haunted but I’m feeling just fine”

Guilty As Sin?

Having a crush is suitably named, what a crushing experience. You spend time recalling things that haven’t happened, fantasising about spending time with them, but never acting on them. This song is about wanting something else, perhaps more exciting, but nobody knows.

Lottie’s lyric: “This cage was once just fine, am I allowed to cry?”

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

The unofficial eldest daughter’s anthem. As someone with EDS (Eldest Daughter Syndrome), this song speaks to some of the rage and misunderstanding I experienced growing up. Generally, I can see why people might not warm to this song, but personally screaming these lyrics is some transcendental therapy.

Lottie’s lyric: “I was tame, I was gentle ‘till the circus life made me mean. Don’t you worry folks, we took out all her teeth.”

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Clear the room, I’m dancing like an absolute fool. Another 80s beat, play this in a gym and I’ll be the fittest in the class by the end of the week. “Lights, camera, bitch, smile” on the Eras Tour… she’s unstoppable. 

Lottie’s lyric: “I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art”

Clara Bow

Musically, this is one of my favourites on the album. With such honest lyricism about being compared to female greats who came before her, Taylor knows the up-and-comers will be compared to her. I almost cried at the last verse of this song, it just struck a cord.

Lottie’s lyric: “Only when your girlish glow, flickers quite so, do they let you know”.

The Anthology is the name of the second half of the double album. Here are my honourable mentions otherwise this will go on forever.

So High School

I won’t defend Taylor’s cringe in this song, I hope she’s being unserious with some lyrics. There’s irony in her essentially living out the narratives in “Love Story”, “Fifteen” and “You Belong With Me”, and she’s just riding the wave. This song sounds like it came out when Taylor was in high school and I adore the drums in this.

Lottie’s lyric: “I want to find you in a crowd just to hide from you”

I Hate It Here

Sonically this is like warm honey to my ears yet such a sad narrative. Here are more escapism references, although this time, within your mind, landing you in the place you hate anyway. I hate the line about there being no racists in the 1800s, there’s no reason this line couldn’t have been changed.

Lottie’s lyric: “I’m lonely, but I’m good. I’m bitter but I swear I’m fine. I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life, and I’ll get lost on purpose”

thanK you aIMee

There’s a lot to unpack. I’m not getting into it, I can’t delve back into the drama of Kim and Taylor. Taylor quoted to Rolling Stone last year, that it was the lowest point in her life, regarding snakegate/Kanye’s ‘Famous’ lyric. 

Lottie’s lyric: “I was building something, and I couldn’t wait to show you it was real”

This is merely an opinion piece, and my opinion can be swayed as a Swiftie. This isn’t my favourite album of hers, but she needed to write it, release it, and move on. I think her next body of work whatever it may be, will be much stronger than this. Not just because of the general backlash on this album, but because she’s an artist who does what she wants at the end of the day. Regardless, we all know the re-record, reputation (Taylor’s Version) will be iconic.