So tortured, so poetic, “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” has made its mark on the world. Taylor Swift announced her 11th album on Feb. 4 after winning her 13th Grammy for her 2022 record-breaking album “Midnights.” Swift, known for her songwriting skills, makes no exception with this masterpiece. The album contains 16 songs and an anthology of 15 extra tracks. Swift produced the album with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who worked previously with her on “Midnights.”
With 31 songs, it becomes Swift’s longest album, surpassing “Red (Taylor’s Version)” by one track. This album has a lot to offer and has something for everyone and has a ton of songs that stand out which makes the album special.
“So Long, London”: The end of her six year relationship proves Swift can write personal songs and her track fives [her most vulnerable songs] are a prime example of this. “So Long, London” is a remarkable song that focuses on how much effort Swift put into her relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. In the song Swift parallels many of her past love songs from her albums “reputation,” “Lover” and “folklore.” The chorus of the song is enough to send chills down your spine and the references will ruin your day in the best way possible. Another impressive thing about “So Long, London” is how she ties the verses straight into the chorus which complements the song.
“Guilty As Sin?”: One of my favorites on the album, “Guilty As Sin?” is a melodic synth pop masterpiece that has an interesting hook from beginning to end. This song just has a certain unexplainable feeling to it that gets listeners hooked and don’t know what it is that is making them feel that way. The song samples “About You” by The 1975 and Swift perfectly works with the original song while making the song fit into her own style.
Following up to the release of the album Swift hinted at a double drop any chance she got. When she announced the project to her Spotify library installment the number two kept appearing in statues and on clocks. Swifties correctly assumed it was a double album and the second part “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY” was released at 2 a.m April 19. These additional 15 songs were all produced by Swift and Dessner besides “The Black Dog” which was produced by Antonoff, these songs are very simple production wise. These are the songs that are most cohesive in the album and anyone who likes “folklore” and “evermore” will love them.
“The Prophecy”: “The Prophecy” is about how Swift feels she can’t find one true love and feels the world is working against her in finding someone to be hers. It portrays her feeling of being tortured and rekindles the classic sound of “folklore” sonically sticking a rhyme scheme to the beat of “seven,” another song on her 2020 album. This song is one of the strongest lyrically and emotionally in the album. From lyrics like “Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand” to “I’m just a paperweight in shades of greige [a color of gray and beige]… Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it’ll be okay” Swift illustrates her longing to have an experience that doesn’t leave her broken and emotionless.
“Cassandra”: In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a prophetess, cursed by Apollo so that her true prophecies would never be listened to or believed. In “Cassandra,” Swift compares herself to the goddess and recalls the events of 2016 when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West faked a phone call with Swift. Despite her attempts to tell the world that it was fake, everyone turned on her and made her look like a villain. The song also borrows elements from folklore’s “mad woman” where Swift also talks about the struggles of being a woman in the industry. A lyric that stands out to me is “Blood’s thick but nothin’ like a payroll Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul” Swift reveals that wanted to be friends with West and she looked up to him when she first became an artist but he only ever cared about the money.
While “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” isn’t geared toward casual listeners, it reminds the Swifties that her ability to create songs that she knows they will love hasn’t changed. In the end the album smashed “Midnights” first day stream record of 186 million streams with her new record debut of 313 million streams on Spotify.
Overall, “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” is one of Swift’s best works and though “Red (Taylor’s Version)” remains at number one in my album ranking, this album makes a close second. With her diverse use of sounds from pop in “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” to country in “thanK you aIMee” and her magnificent collaborations with popular artists like Post Malone and Florence + The Machine. Swift creates a soundscape that sticks the album together perfectly. In my first listen I was blown away by how amazing the album is. Despite many critics saying the album isn’t as good because of Swift’s lack of pop songs that casual listeners love and focus on unhinged lyrics, the album does something rare: using two separate genres and blending them together perfectly. One thing’s for sure: her reputation will forever and always impact generations to come and I’m excited to see what she does with her next re-records and albums.
