Taylor Swift’s vulnerability is her superpower.
From her glorified diary entries from her 2006 debut to her 2024 Grammy-winning album of the year “Midnights,” she has proudly worn her heart on her sleeve.
That heart is bloodied and battered, but it finally beats on “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift’s 11th studio album that she unexpectedly announced as she collected the first of two more Grammys in February.
Then came a bigger surprise when, at 2 a.m. Friday, Swift declared that “TTPD” was actually a double album, with “The Anthology” added to the title and the addition of 15 songs to join the initial 16.
These 31 pensive pop tracks are the antithesis of “Lover.” Sorrow and misery wrapped in melody. Rainbows have become sepia tones. An era endured and not appreciated.
“TTPD” is accompanied by a prologue – a poem by Stevie Nicks – and an epilogue presented as Swift’s summary report as chairman of the tortured poets department (“Chaos “drives the caged beast to do the the most curious things”, she writes). .
As she grapples with responsibility for the failure of a six-year relationship, she doesn’t worry about her pride. Former boyfriend Joe Alwyn is the obvious anonymous antagonist in most of the songs (“My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”), although Swift takes on a lot of the guilt (“The Tortured Poets Department”).
With these songs, Swift takes listeners into the depths of misery catalyzed by a public breakup while she was organizing the largest concert tour in history. It’s an exploration of extremes told in intimate detail. Is this his “Tapestry”? His “Blue”? His “Like a prayer”?
Maybe the old guard still isn’t ready to put Swift on the echelon of Carole King and Joni Mitchell (Madonna? Absolutely). But “TTPD” draws on Swift’s vibrant storytelling on “Folklore” and “Evermore” and highlights the heartfelt confidence she displayed on those musically minimalist albums.
Swifties can exhaust themselves digging for lyrical clues in the F-bomb drop “Down Bad” (“If I can’t have it, I might die”) and guessing whether “But Daddy, I Love It” is funny or cruel (“I’m having his baby. No, I’m not, but you should see your faces”), but it doesn’t matter.
Like the most successful artists in history – the Beatles and Beyoncé, perhaps – Swift is untouchable. Critical evidence. Loved that she unveils a masterpiece or a tentative songbook.
“TTPD” edges closer to masterpiece territory, if not musically – similar cadences and production from Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner coat many songs in the same brilliance – then at least lyrically.
It’s a true headphone album, best experienced quietly to fully absorb the sadness and exasperation in Swift’s voice as she sings resentfully “So Long, London” (“I’m pissed that you let me give you all this youth for free”) and his pain on the melancholy piano ballad “Loml”, which will make you feel your heart broken with nails.
What guests does Taylor Swift have on her new album?
Post Malone dances closely to the fire known as “Call John Legend For a Feature” with his high-profile tracks not only on Swift’s album, but also on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.”
While he offered a pedestrian contribution with Beyoncé, Posty fared better on “Fortnight,” the opening song from “TTPD” that he co-wrote with Swift and Antonoff.
A slight hum in the background deadens Swift’s darkly funny lyrics (“I was a functioning alcoholic until no one noticed my new aesthetic”) while Post Malone dives into the haunting beat with smooth vocals.
It is also one of two songs named Florida. But the second, “Florida!!!,” co-written by and with Florence Welch, stands out, with Swift and Welch trading vocals over a rhythm that’s both cinematic and driven.
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While it’s impossible to top Swift, Welch comes impressively close with his self-penned contribution: “Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine, well, my ghosts and I had a hell of a time.”
These two are ideal companions, musically and philosophically.
“I Can Do This With a Broken Heart” is one of Swift’s best Trojans
The synths float, an electro-pop beat pulses, and the melody is structured like one of Swift’s sparkling pop gems.
But then the lyrics of “I Can Do it With a Broken Heart” kick in and Swift journeys through the most powerful psychological exploration of “the show must go on” since Smokey Robinson and The Miracles described “The Tears of a clown” in 1967.
“I’m a real tough kid,” Swift sings, as defiant as ever. “They said baby, you have to fake it till you make it…and I did.”
With humor and grace, Swift reveals the angst she’s hidden while remaining highly visible over the past year, including putting on an impressive three-hour show several nights a week during her Eras World Tour. But the song takes off with the dichotomy between Swift’s honeyed voice and her singing: “I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday, every day.”
It’s a clever entry into the complexity of mental health, and Swift, her limitless ambition, transforms her grief into something constructive, a Superwoman insensitive to pesky things like misery.
“I cry a lot but I’m so productive,” she coos, tongue firmly on cheek. “It’s an art…you know you’re good when you can do it with a broken heart.”
The capper is Swift declaring: “I’m unhappy and no one knows it!” » as she laughs until the end of the song. But after recognizing what she endured, even her laughter is lacerated.
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Who is Clara Bow?
One of the most intriguing songs on “TTPD” is named after a 1920s silent film star and the layers run deep (pagin’ all the Swifties in digs!)
Is the choice of an actress who was seen and not heard in cinema a metaphor for her life with Alwyn, whose cornerstone was privacy?
Or, as Swift sings from a vantage point, does she just look like the seductive 20-something with the dark lipstick?th a star of the century?
The wispy ballad shows Swift imitating words she (maybe) heard in her startup years, such as “You sound like Stevie Nicks,” before the storyline comes full circle with a new recruit being told : “You look like Taylor Swift…you ‘I have the advantage, she never did.
It’s meta, yes, but Swift often subscribes to a backward glance in order to leap forward – always saturated with poetic sensibility.
What is “The Department of Tortured Poets: The Anthology”?
The 15 additional songs that Swift dropped just two hours after delivering an emotional hit with the first batch include four of the previously announced bonus tracks: “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatross” and “The Black Dog.”
Among the others, Swift is particularly singled out on the slightly pumped-up acoustic guitar “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus,” a song that apparently references her fling with Matty Healy (she laments not being able to save someone who “needed drugs” and was always out of reach).
His strongest vitriol, however, is reserved for “Thank You, Aimee,” which fans say deepens his feud with Kim Kardashian. But Swift is bold and direct when speaking to “Aimée” about her success despite criticism — a familiar, if still welcome, page from Swift’s playbook.
A trio of “named” songs – “Cassandra,” “Peter” and “Robin” – are all seductive ballads couched in pretty piano melodies. “Peter” is particularly endearing with its waltz rhythm and Swift’s warm vocals on this ode to a childhood friend (“The goddess of timing once found us attractive,” she sings).
But the highlight is the bouncy “So High School,” in which Swift sings and strums the guitar with the light glow of ’90s Sheryl Crow. Is her current lover, Travis Kelce, her focal point? Lyrics such as “You know how to play ball, I know Aristotle” and “I feel like such a high school student every time I look at you” are meaningful cues. But more importantly, the song takes Swift out of the mud and into the sun.