Picture this: Swifties are gearing up for the release of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version).” The grids on Taylor Swift’s Instagram are lined up. A black-and-white theme keeps appearing on her feed and her outfits. The Empire State Building posted on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) alluding to the release of the highly anticipated album.
Sike! It’s not “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” it’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” A brand-new album that Swift teased with the note, “All’s fair in love and poetry. Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.” This album is a new theme for Swift — moving away from the poppier tones of Midnights and her recent releases, “Speak Now TV” and “1989 TV.”
Swift announced the release of the new album on Feb. 4, 2024, at the Grammys. I discovered the announcement while at work at The Daily Campus. I was shocked to discover that it was not Reputation, but a new album.
I’ve been excited about this album since the news dropped that it would be released in April. I was even more excited when Swift announced the features on the album: Florence the Machine and Post Malone — two artists I enjoy and was thrilled to see how their unfolded.
The Tortured Poets Department highlights Swift’s powerful lyricism
“The Tortured Poets Department” opens with a feature from Post Malone on the track “Fortnight.” It was not the vibe I was expecting, but still a good start to the album. Malone has been branching off into different genres a lot this year as he collaborated with Noah Kahan on another version of “Dial Drunk,” which is phenomenal. This branching out is a side of his discography that I really enjoy.
In contrast, the second song, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was exactly what I expected. The song has a softer, moodier quality and the emotional lyrics Swift is famous for. I particularly enjoyed the chorus when she sings, “Who’s gonna hold you like me?” It also has one of the most heart-wrenching lyrics on the album, “At dinner, you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on, and that’s the closest I’ve come to my heart exploding.”
The album moves into pieces like, “So Long, London” and “Down Bad.” Seeing “So Long, London” on the track list made me immediately think of “London Boy.” A track on “Lover,” “London Boy” is all about her meeting a, you guessed it, London boy and falling in love with him. This track tells the story of how that relationship ended. It has some of Swift’s most heartbreaking lyrics, such as “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the alter waiting for the proof” and “For so long London / Stitches undone / Two graves, one gun / I’ll find someone.” This song is slowly becoming a favorite of mine.
“Down Bad” and “I Can Fix Him” illustrate Swift’s ability to include relatable lyrics in her music. Almost every person has been “down bad” for someone or thinks that they can fix the toxic “situationship” they’re in. Swift capitalizes on those shared experiences and crafts absolute bops for people in those situations.
Florence the Machine’s feature on “Florida!!!” combines two of my favorite artists in an awesome collab. “Florida!!!” meshes Swift’s lyrics with Florence and the Machine’s powerful vocals and ballad style. “Florida!!!” highlights a common theme on this album. Swift leans into her lower register and crafts stellar alto ballads to juxtapose the higher keys of many of her choruses. This experience can be seen in “Fresh Out the Slammer,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” and “The Smallest Man That Ever Lived” as well.
“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” is another stellar addition to this album. Swift uses her lower register and famous belt in haunting ways. Hearing this song for the first time sent shivers down my spine — particularly when she sings the chorus, “So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street / Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream / ‘Who’s afraid of little old me?’ / You should be.” This song encompasses Swift’s experiences of being ostracized and hunted by the public and her pain is clear in this song. You can’t help but feel her rage and take it on as your own. This track also calls back to the vibes of “Reputation,” where Swift calls out all the adversity she faces and stops caring what people think.
Swift continues to showcase those dark emotions in “The Smallest Man That Ever Lived.” Upon the first listen, it wasn’t my favorite; but after a few more replays, it has easily become one of my favorites on the album. Swift continues to demonstrate her engineering talent by constructing one of her best bridges to date: “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? / Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? / Were you writin’ a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? / In fifty years, will all this be declassified?” You can’t listen to this song without joining Swift in her rage and screaming along to this bridge.
While “The Tortured Poets Department” is filled with angsty songs, it also has some more upbeat tracks like “But Daddy I Love Him.” The story within this song is reminiscent of one of Swift’s biggest hits, “Love Story.” Both songs share the story of a girl who loves a boy and wants to be with him despite what her parents and the town think. Eventually, she and her boyfriend win over her parents and they all live happily ever after.
The album ends with two phenomenal tracks, “The Alchemy” and “Clara Bow.” Both songs were immediate favorites of mine and ones that I have had on a loop for the last three days. “The Alchemy” has yet another fantastic bridge by Swift and “Clara Bow” has stellar melodies that ring through the song.
2 a.m. comes around, and “The Anthology” comes with it
For an even bigger surprise, Swift dropped a second album two hours after “The Tortured Poets Department” was released. This album, titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” continues the strong lyricism and beautiful melodies Swift began with the original album.
The first song on the album, “The Black Dog,” discusses heartbreak and the aftermath of a relationship ending. Swift highlights the lingering aftereffects of a relationship such as hearing that one song they loved at a bar and not being able to enjoy it with their new person. Swift describes it as “Old habits die screaming” — an apt description of the aftermath of a relationship ending. She also ends the bridge with “Even if I die screaming / And I hope you hear it” — illustrating that not only is their relationship dying, but she is too.
The next track, “imgonnagetyouback,” is a total bop. She uses both meanings of “I’m gonna get you back:” getting back together with him and getting revenge on him. This comparison makes the song even more fun to scream along to. I particularly enjoy the lyric “Whether I’m gonna be your wife or / Gonna smash up your bike, I haven’t decided yet / But I’m gonna get you back.” This juxtaposition between getting back together and getting revenge is an incredibly relatable part of this track. Swifties all over the Internet are freaking out over this song and the way the title of the track mirrors Olivia Rodrigo’s “Get Him Back.”
“How Did It End?” is another of my top songs from this album. The opening vocals are light and airy, highlighting Swift’s vocal talent. Swift continues to use her lower register in this song. This track was produced by Aaron Dessner, who has been a staple of Swift’s team for years since they collaborated on “Folklore.” Dessner’s work with Swift on this album maintains the slower melodies fans first saw in “Folklore.”
Dessner also produced the next song on the album, “So High School.” This song highlights Swift’s ability to create music that sends you back to different emotions of your past. In this song, she calls you back to what a sweet high school crush feels like. She plays into the silliness of a high school crush by adding allusions to high school party games in the lyrics, ”Are you gonna marry, kiss or kill me? (Kill me) / It’s just a game, but really (Really).”
The next song, “I Hate It Here,” continues the theme of slower melodies and softer guitars we see with other works produced by Dessner. This song hits home, especially the lyric, “I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind / People need a key to get to, the only one is mine / I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child.” Swift refers to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, “The Secret Garden” in which the main character hides away in a secret garden that no one has access to. This song emphasizes the feeling of being overwhelmed by the world and locking themselves away to avoid it all. Swift has the power to create relatable music for everyone that branches further than the breakup songs she is often attributed to.
The album continues with tracks like “The Bolter” and “Robin.” “The Bolter” continues the theme of “The Anthology” mimicking the sound of “Folklore.” “Robin” has a very similar sound and can be compared to a lullaby and is very soothing to listen to. The lyrics are also very lullaby-esque and highlight children’s freedom through lines like “You got the dragonflies above your bed / You have a favorite spot on the swing set / You have no room in your dreams for regrets / (You have no idea)”
The last song on the album, “The Manuscript,” summarizes the vibe of the album perfectly. It closes on a slower, lilting melody with powerful lyrics. It plays on the theme of being a tortured poet and how Swift shares her story with this album. She ends the final track with “The only thing that’s left is the manuscript / One last souvenir from my trip to your shores / Now and then I reread the manuscript / But the story isn’t mine anymore.” Swift is saying goodbye to the experiences on this album and moving on from them. She shares them with her fans, so they are no longer hers anymore.
“The Tortured Poets Department” is very quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite Swift albums. This album has something for everyone and hits home for people in all stages of their lives.
Rating: 5/5