With the release of Taylor Swift’s new album, there is definitely a lot to unpack. After fans tuned in to listen to the new 16 songs, a surprise was unraveled; a double album, making the album have a total of 31 songs. Leaving a lot for fans to be able to explore and indulge into.
Fortnight (Feat. Post Malone)
When discussing the first single, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, Swift explains the themes of living and dying, along with the process of “longing, pinning away, lost dreams.” The song goes over the feeling of aching for your past love, wondering what could’ve been. The song includes very dramatic lines, such as ‘I love you, it’s ruining my life.’ Swift imagines that this song takes place in an American town where the American dream you hoped for and thought would happen, didn’t. “You ended up not with the person that you loved and now you just have to live with that everyday, wondering what would’ve been maybe seeing them out. And that’s a pretty tragic concept really so I was just writing from that perspective.”
The Tortured Poets Department
If you were expecting the album to mostly be a fun pop album, you thought wrong, and the title track of the album proves that. Though sonically, the song provides you with a lot of humor and irony within its lyrics. Such as “you left your typewriter at my apartment, straight from the tortured poets department. I think some things I’ll never say, like, ‘Who uses typewriters anyway?’” And my personal favorite lyric, “I laughed at your face and said ‘you’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith.’ This ain’t the Chelsea hotel. We’re modern idiots.” Produced by both Swift and Jack Antonoff, the song starts with Phill Collin-style drums, already setting the mood for an 80s-style sound.
So Long, London
If you know plenty about Swift, you would know that the ‘Swifties’ seem to have a favor for the fifth track of her albums. The reason behind this is that Swift likes to stick to the pattern of always having the track fives of her album to be her most personal song. This particular track five on The Tortured Poets Department, is titled “So Long, London” which is most definitely alluding to a previous song on her seventh album, “Lover” with a track titled “London Boy.” “So Long, London” is rumored to be about Swift’s previous relationship with an English actor. Throughout the sad narration of the song, Swift hints at the possible reasons for the ending of this relationship. This could be drifting apart due to different lifestyles and wants, the one of them going through depression, and emotional infidelity. This fast-paced yet minimal and almost anxiety-inducing beat gives you a sense of what it’s like for a long-term relationship to reach its end.
Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)
Co-written by Florence Welch, this song frames Florida as a location for Swift to escape her issues. Speaking to iHeartRadio, Swift explains Florida is often a stereotypical place for criminals to flee to start afresh. She parallels this with the emotion she feels whenever she is going through a tough time, stating that she feels like she wants to start afresh, be unknown, and escape, being the reason why Florida was chosen as it felt like an extra symbolic place and was picked to be the center of the song. “I think when you go through a heartbreak there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’ Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in?” The indie-rock singer included in the song, Florence Welch, definitely added to the grungy dark vibe to the song, highlighting both the beauty and brutality of Florida.
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
Compared to the rest of the songs on this album, this one track sticks out for its sparkly upbeat instrumental and its opposing sad lyrics. ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ looks back on Swift’s dazzling experience with her world record-breaking Eras Tour, while also having to deal with heartbreak. As she says in the chorus “They said ‘Babe, you gotta fake it ‘til you make it’ and I did.” Swift was dancing through heartbreak in her shiny bejeweled sequin outfits on stage.
Clara Bow
Being the last track on the first half of the double album, the soothing melody pays homage to not only silent film star, Clara Bow, but also 70s rockstar, Stevie Nicks. It was known that both Bow and Nicks struggled throughout their career and had a few mental health issues due to the stress of their widely known names and that both of them have faced severe backlash throughout their careers. Following the release of the album, Nicks dedicated a poem, titled, “For T– and Me”, as a part of the albums’ prologue.
“She was just flying —
Thru the clouds ~
When he saw her…
She was just making her way —
To the stars ~
When he lost her…”
The song provides a commentary on Swift and the cruel manipulation from others she’s faced throughout her career and her own relationship with the amount of fame she has. The ending of the song is heartfelt as she implies to the other young and up-and-coming female musicians that she has inspired. “You look like Taylor Swift. In this light, we’re loving it. You’ve got edge she never did. The futures bright, dazzling.”
The Black Dog
Being the first bonus track of “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” “The Black Dog” details the struggle of experiencing depression. Popular in English folklore, the phrase ‘The Black Dog’ is often seen as an omen of death, making the song an entire metaphor for the feeling and symptoms of being depressed. Not only that, but The Black Dog is also the name of a popular pub that can be found in London, which Swift also references in the song; “And so I watch as you walk into some bar called The Black Dog.” Throughout the song, Swift goes into detail about the experience of emotional struggle; “Was it hazing? For a cruel fraternity. I pledged it and I still mean it. Old habits die screaming.”
So High School
This fun poppy song has Swift describing how she feels like a sappy high school teenager every time she is with her lover. The nostalgic-sounding song includes references to football, such as “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.” Because of its inspiration from football, it is widely suspected that this track is written about Swift’s current partner, NFL player, Travis Kelce. This sentimental song makes its listeners feel like they’re a part of a cute sappy coming-of-age movie.
thanK you aIMee
Swift has a history of tending to leave secret messages within her lyrics using this technique of capitalized letters. If you haven’t connected the dots yet, the capitalized letters in this title spell out ‘KIM’. Likely being a nod towards Kim Kardashian, and the past feud the two had, involving the infamous leaked edited phone call. This track is most likely a jab towards Kardashian, sarcastically thanking her, now that Swift has moved on and has come back stronger than ever and has built herself a legacy that one cannot undo.
The Manuscript
Being the closing track for the album, “The Manuscript” delves into past love, moving on from that past love, and the bitter yet sweet process of looking back on those memories and growing from them. The verses of the song explore revisiting old memories through a metaphorical manuscript and end with soft piano chords that fade into silence. “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.”
To Swift and many other fans, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is much more than an album. This double album will allow its listeners to engage themselves in an emotional musical narrative with heartfelt storytelling from its 31 tracks of love, loss, and strength that will surely be left as a timeless masterpiece.
