Unraveling Taylor Swift’s new era: ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
By: Amy Tang
What do Charlie Puth, a typewriter, Stevie Nicks, and a Jehovah’s Witness suit have in common? Well, they all exist in the meticulous mind of Taylor Swift. On the evening of April 18, the singer-songwriter released her highly-anticipated eleventh studio album The Tortured Poets Department, which was shortly followed by a surprise drop of 15 additional songs on The Anthology. Given Swift’s nearly two decades long career we’re no strangers to her infectious heartbreak anthems, however The Tortured Poets Department delivers a break-up album like never before and quite possibly her most honest one to date.
Photo: Beth Garrabrant
Picking off from the Midnights era, the new record opens with “Fortnight” featuring rapper Post Malone. Within the first few notes, the mystery surrounding the sound of Swift’s new era came to a halt as she seemingly has fully embraced the synth-pop genre—at least for the time being. Having joined forces with frequent collaborator and producer Jack Antonoff once again, this should come as no surprise (but would it really be Taylor Swift if she didn’t have a couple of tricks up her sleeve?) Between the glimmering notes, danceable beats, and earwormy melodies, Swift tells a haunting tale of chasing a whirlwind romance that goes wrong and dealing with the emotional turmoil that follows. For the past several months leading up to The Tortured Poets Department’s release, fans and the general public alike have tirelessly theorized who the album is about. Through tracks like the woeful “So Long, London,”and “loml,” to the pulsing “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” and “Fresh Out The Slammer,” one can quickly put together exactly how Swift feels about her past relationship. Especially in “loml,” a devastating piano ballad where she mourns “talking rings and talking cradles” with someone touted as “the loss of [her] life”.
While most of this record consists of songs about grief and heartache, you can also expect to hear Swift’s inner-angst and defiance. Ripping another page out of her diary, “But Daddy I Love Him” is a candid open letter to the public, poking fun at the constant conversations and judgment surrounding her love life: “I’m having’ his baby / No, I’m not, but you should see your faces.” On the same note, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” bites back with lyrics like “I’m always drunk on my own tears, isn’t that what they all said? / That’ll sue you if you step on my lawn / That I’m fearsome and I’m wretched and I’m wrong.” Her voice dances along to beating drums as she muses on about her critics and the pressures of living life in the public eye.
As we dive deeper into the album, several of the tracks within The Anthology re-invite listeners to the soft, idyllic sounds reminiscent of Swift’s folklore and evermore eras. This comes as a delight to many fans who enjoyed her work with another popular collaborator and co-producer Aaron Dessner. The acoustic-driven instrumentals and delicate rhythms apparent in tracks including “The Albatross,” “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus,” “I Hate it Here,” and “The Bolter” (among many others) are where the The Tortured Poets Department really shines. By stripping away the flashy pop arrangements, her expressive storytelling and raw performance feels automatically elevated and fleshed out.
This new installation in Swift’s discography is introspective, messy, and honestly a little bit all over the place. With a sweeping total of 31 songs, the sonic transitions between synth pop and indie folk certainly provide a more interesting listening experience, but it doesn’t completely save the album from falling into musical monotony at points. Although we get a taste of promising ventures through gems like “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “Guilty as Sin?” the overall production for The Tortured Poets Department leaves room for improvements here and there. At the end of the day, Taylor Swift is best known for pouring her heart out, and she does just that; so if you can spare a couple of hours, it’s definitely a record worth delving into.