Upon first listen, Taylor Swift’s new album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT appears rushed. Referring to her lover as a “tattooed golden retriever” after singing they declared, out of all people, “Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist,” contrasts Swift’s usually sophisticated writing and comes off as cringe-worthy. But who said great songwriters can’t have fun?
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT released Friday at midnight with an extended version dropping at 2 a.m. to make THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Swift’s longest album at 31 tracks total. The 2 a.m. drop reminisces the Midnights 3 a.m. edition, and just as Midnights did, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT holds the potential to grow on audiences.
The album, produced by Swift’s frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, feels repetitive. Nothing separates this album stylistically from Swift’s other projects produced by Antonoff and Dessner. While the two make incredible producers and musicians, their partnerships with Swift run their course in TTPD.
The songs sound familiar, but they are comforting to a certain level. They’re catchy, and after more listens, they become more likable such as the tracks that stand out from the rest: “Florida!!! (featuring Florence + The Machine)”. With a punchy chorus and a similar lyricism to “no body, no crime,” the song presents something different from much of Swift’s discography. “Florida!!!” and the first track and single on TTPD, “Fortnight (featuring Post Malone)” stand out as the only two features on the album.
The Lone Star State also has two features. In “Florida!!!”, Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine sings, “So you pack your life away just to wait out the shitstorm back in Texas.” In “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” Swift sings, “The dopamine races through his brain on a six-lane Texas highway.”
The album, filled with references, reflects Swift’s life. “Cassandra” refers to the Trojan priestess known for her accurate but rarely believed prophecies. “Peter,” about a partner unable to grow up, reveals a character similar to its namesake, Peter Pan. Alongside allusions to famous works, Swift names famous figures: Clara Bow, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and Stevie Nicks, amongst them. Swift even names herself in “Clara Bow”, an anthem about fame similar to “The Lucky One”. In the title track, she mentions her producer Jack Antonoff. In another song name, she capitalizes certain letters in a less than subtle way (see: “thanK you aIMee”), which fans have speculated is a reference to Kim Kardashian.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is an album to marinate on. It’s a necessary album for Swift – one that she shared, “reflect(s) events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time. … This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. … Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.”
3 ½ black dogs out of 5
