Why Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department” left me with mixed feelings
Taylor Swift released her long-anticipated “Tortured Poet’s Department” (TTPD) on Friday, surprising fans with a double album featuring 31 songs, which is 13 backwards, with a two-hour runtime. “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” is the first record to receive more than 300 million Spotify streams in one day.
TTPD was originally announced at the Grammy’s earlier this year when Swift became the first artist to ever win a Grammy for Album of the Year four times. And while Swift is famous for writing songs about real people in her life, her announcement did not prepare anyone for the scathing lyrics about ex Joe Alwyn, situationship Matty Healy and long-time enemy Kim Kardashian.
I am a long-time Taylor Swift fan, and even I can admit when Swift has maybe missed the mark. The songs on the album that are good are incredible, soul-crushing and overall amazing. The songs on the album that are bad are the worst she’s ever released.
I will start by writing about what I loved and then everything that I didn’t.
Some of my favorites in the album include “Clara Bow,” “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine),” “Black Dog,” “So Long, London,” “The Bolter,” “The Prophecy,” “Cassandra,” and “The Albatross.”
To me, these songs stood out instrumentally and lyrically. The first half of the album is synth-pop and reminiscent of her prior album “Midnights,” except more manic. The second half has more powerful piano ballads and features many songs that are not directly about Swift’s life but are beautifully done character studies. Many of the songs on this album blended together, and the best songs were the ones that distinguished themselves in some way.
For example, the song “Cassandra,” is about one of Homer’s characters: the cursed daughter of the King of Troy. This song is both beautiful and powerful while somehow becoming relatable for the modern age. In this song, Swift sings, “Everything I thought I knew is falling out of view / And if I run fast enough, could I break apart / As empires crumble and cathedrals flatten in my heart?”
And in the song “Peter,” Swift references Peter Pan and how Wendy waited so long for him to grow up. You may recall a similar Peter Pan reference in “Cardigan” from her album “Folklore,” but in this newer song, Wendy is no longer waiting and is trying to move on: “the shelf life of those fantasies has expired / Lost to the "Lost Boys" chapter of your life.” I loved this song and the way Swift sings it.
I wish I could be more in-depth about the songs I’ve already mentioned, digging into their significance and individual greatness – Swift is incredible at producing songs rich with meaning – but the word count will not allow it, and I must address my qualms with TTPD.
NOW: Before you crucify me for criticizing Taylor Swift this harshly, TTPD was incredibly heavy and makes several unconventional artistic choices that I admire, but it is unreasonable to expect this album to be as well-received as her other works.
I found some of these songs to be unbearably cringy. The lyrics in “So High School” about her boyfriend Travis Kelce –“You know how to ball, I know Aristotle/Brand new, full throttle/Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto/It's true, swear, scouts honor” – are so unclassy and maybe a little too modern.
Other questionable lyrics can be found on “I Hate It Here,” where she sings, “My friends used to play a game where / We would pick a decade / We wished we could live in instead of this / I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists.” Maybe there is a higher context here, but if you have to say “without the racists” maybe just scrap the line altogether? I understand she was romanticizing classic literature that she read as a child, but, again, it misses the mark.
In the title track “The Tortured Poets Department,” she sings, “"You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist/ I scratch your head, you fall asleep/ Like a tattooed golden retriever," – maybe it’s the way she sings it, but I truly detest this line. As an English major and an amateur poet, I’ve always had an appreciation for Swift’s lyrics, but these lines push me out of the song.
There are other issues I have with the album, too. I thought her bringing up Kim Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter in the song “thanK you aIMee” was uncalled for. I don’t care what Kim did to Swift all those years ago – why are we using her children as a way to hurt her? (Do I secretly enjoy the drama? Of course! But I also think the song is objectively bad).
There are a few songs I just don’t enjoy the sound of, including “But Daddy I Love Him,” and “My Boy Only Breaks his Favorite Toys.” And maybe it’s just because of the sheer size of the album, but even after five listens, some of the songs are forgettable.
I could easily divide TTPD into two categories of “all-time favorites” and “never want to hear again.” I am not denouncing my identity as a Swiftie, but I am both poetically inspired and physically tortured.
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