With the release of her highly anticipated album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift has broken multiple records just within the first five days of its release. Not only did the accomplished singer break her own record as the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history, but her album sold 1.5 million copies within three days of its release. Swift’s record-breaking talent is shown in every piece of music she puts out in the world, and her new album is vivid proof of it.
My first thought when I started the album was how personal it felt. The vulnerability Swift shows in her poetry while simultaneously representing so many people who feel the same way is transcendent. Her words felt like I was taking a look into her diary, every lyric true and raw to the relationships and situations she endured. She states in a poem, “It’s the worst men I write the best.”
As well as “The Tortured Poets Department,” she released a second part to the album, two hours later titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” She released a total of 31 songs that night, and these are my top five I chose to cover that review the overall album.
The album starts off with her first single, “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone, who sings background vocals and sings the bridge. I am a big fan of Jack Antonoff, who produces Swift’s songs as well as many other artists such as Lorde, Lana Del Rey, and Troye Sivan. He fabricated most of this album along with Aaron Dessner.
“I love you, it’s ruining my life,” Swift repeats throughout the song. The use of metaphors in this album is a recurring pattern as in many of her other songs, but I believe this is one of her best albums lyrically. The song is about two ex-lovers who are now neighbors, married to different people.
She pretends as if everything is fine between them now, as she states she moved on, but seeing him again sends her back to day one. She still carries resentment towards this lover. The storytelling in this song is so beautifully written, creating a series of visuals to imagine. My favorite part is the bridge, with Post Malone and Swift singing the lyrics back to each other as if they’re having a conversation. “Another fortnight lost in America / Move to Florida, buy the car you want / But it won’t start up,” It perfectly represents the feeling of knowing you will never truly get over something that happened to you. The vocals play a big role in this song, the buildup realistically creating the feeling of desperation in Malone’s voice, as if it were an actual conversation.
Another song I connected “Fortnight” to was her eighth track, “Florida!!!” which features Florence + the Machine. Florence Welch posted on her Instagram story the inspiration behind the song was a book called “Florida” by Lauren Groff. The song portrays the theme of running away due to a crime you committed to start a new life, another common metaphor Swift uses often.
The strength in her vocals makes the song much more evocative. You can understand the desperate feeling of wanting to get away. She uses Florida as a metaphor for a rebound after a heartbreak that was so crushing, that you just want to get away from everything and start all over again. The use of Florida as a metaphor shows how this song is a connection to “Fortnight.”
The production of this album has to be my favorite trait. My favorite produced track is track six, “But Daddy I Love Him.” The song refers to a quote from “The Little Mermaid,” which shows how similar Swift and Ariel’s situations are. Earning her fame from a young age, the public has always had opinions on everything she does. By the end of the song, she reveals how strong her feelings are for this man to the point that she doesn’t care about the consequences or what the “wine moms” think.
Storytelling and production in music is a highly important part of creating the atmosphere for a song, but together it creates something brand new. An example of this is track 14, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” Unlike most of the songs on this album, this song was produced by Aaron Dessner, who helps Swift create some of her most vulnerable pieces, and this song is proof of that. This song resembles the five stages of grief, a common theme in this album. The song starts off slow, setting the mood for the denial she feels over the loss of this relationship.
“Was any of it true?” Swift starts the song off with. The next verse leads into the anger she holds, looking back at the time spent with this ex-lover. “You hung me on your wall, stabbed me with your push pins. In public, showed me off, then sank in stoned oblivion.” This is when she realizes all the pain that came with being with him when she believed she was happy in the relationship.
“I just want to know if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal,” During the bargaining stage, she questions what his intentions truly ever were. Dwelling on what could’ve been which leads her to the depression phase. The production is especially poignant on this part as the song slowly builds up. Every stage has led up to this bridge where she lets out all of her emotions. “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? …In fifty years, will all this be declassified? And you’ll confess why you did it and I’ll say, ‘Good riddance.’”
“And in plain sight you hid, but you are what you did. And I’ll forget you, but I’ll never forgive the smallest man who ever lived.” The song ends with a note of acceptance. She accepts the fact she won’t get over what happened to her, but the “smallest man who ever lived” is not worthy of remembrance. This song is my favorite because it is very thought-provoking with lyrics so personal to her, as many of her other songs, that it makes you feel as if you lived through it with her.
Overall, I think this is Swift’s most vulnerable and honest album, and its beautiful writing has made it become one of my favorite albums of all time. The elements that went into making this album played a huge factor on the rollercoaster of emotions the songs make you feel. Even if “The Tortured Poets Department” doesn’t win Album of The Year at the Grammys next year, it has definitely forever won the hearts of many fans, including mine.
