Taylor Swift’s most recent album, “The Tortured Poets Department” gives insight into her personal life and recent relationships. The double album goes into detail about her 6 year-long relationship with Joe Alwyn, her brief fling with Matty Healy after the break-up, and even dabbles into her current relationship with Travis Kelce. It was suspected that this album was going to be solely about her break-up Alwyn so most “Swifties” were surprised when some of the songs seemed to be about Healy who is suspected to be her rebound.
Swift has a long misconceived reputation for only writing break-up songs. “The Tortured Poets Department”, although heavy on the songs about her relationships, also digs into her relationship with herself during the Eras Tour and even seemingly digs into her relationship with Kim Kardashian in the song “thanK you aIMee”.
The album combines the different vibes of “folklore” and “Midnights” into one. It encompasses the synth-pop style of “Midnights” with the alternative, folk style of “folklore”.
This album is a lyrical masterpiece within itself. With that being said, it is not even close to being in my five Taylor Swift albums. All of the songs sound very similar instrumentally and do not bring anything astonishing to her discography. Now, this does not mean that I do not think the album is great, because I do really enjoy it.
A surprising majority of the songs on the album are about her “situationship” with Matty Healy and the public judgment of the relationship between the two. This comes as a shock to me and other fans who were expecting the album to drag Joe Alwyn since their relationship was so long. There is at least one song about Alwyn, track number 5, “So Long, London” which is a sequel to “London Boy” on her album “Lover”. The song is about Swift cutting ties with her English ex-boyfriend and leaving London after the slow death of their relationship which she hints at in previous albums
There is also a song supposedly about her current relationship with Travis Kelece, “The Alchemy”. The main reason for suspicion is the many football-related references in the song that hint toward Kelce and his Super Bowl win the past year.
The most shocking song in my opinion is, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”. This song is about Swift performing the Eras Tour while mourning her break-ups with Alwyn and possibly even Healy. The song is a point of pride for her as she expressed that she is miserable but her fans have no clue.
This album is good but not something that I am obsessed with. However, it is full of so much figurative language and raw human emotion that it is difficult to decipher in some places. There is no doubt that Swift is an incredible artist but I do not think this is her best work. With that being said, this album is clearly more for herself than it is for her fans so it is hard to judge. I would give this album 3.5/5 stars.
