After a late night club meeting, I rushed home to begin listening to Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department. Taylor has put out so much music in the last several years, but it doesn’t mean I was any less excited to hear more. After listening to the entire album, I felt disappointed. The double album dropped right as I crawled into bed ready to wake up early for work at 8 a.m. As a fan, I knew it was my duty to still stay up and listen. I enjoyed the second part of the album more, however I still expected more.
Coming off of a six year relationship with Joe Alywn and its brutal end, I thought the songs would cut me up more. There were also way too many songs about Matt Healy, her problematic rebound boyfriend that shouldn’t have taken up as many songs as he did. Lately, Taylor’s newer music has had to grow on me. I didn’t love albums like Midnights or evermore right away, but, of course, now I’m obsessed with all the songs. I’m hoping and thinking that this might be the case once again.
Now, I don’t want to entirely mislead you, because there were some songs I absolutely loved. “So Long, London” literally destroyed me. It was by far my favorite song and deserved that coveted track five placement. Lines like “I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use” or “And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” are so devastating and indicative of her relationship with Joe. “The Manuscript” and “How Did It End?” were other soul crushing songs I feel were about Joe Alwyn. “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” was another powerful song, it’s vulnerability really distinguished it from some of the others.
On the other side of this spectrum, there were some more brutal listens. I loved the song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” until the chorus hit; it’s just so painfully millennial of Taylor. “I cry a lot, but I’m so productive, it’s an art…” I love you Taylor, but that section really made me cringe. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” could’ve been a smart metaphor but it fell short of that potential. “The Tortured Poets Department” also stuck out to me for its lackluster lyrics which was a disappointing song to not enjoy seeing it’s named after the album. “Like a tattooed golden retriever” is only one of the many lyrics that really missed the mark.
I really did enjoy most of the album, but when the songs missed, they really missed. My expectations are always high for Taylor, and I thought she would live up to them a bit more for this album.
And if you’re curious here’s my full ranking on the whole album (31 songs, whew):
- So Long, London
- The Manuscript
- How Did It End?
- Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
- Guilty as Sin?
- Peter
- The Albatross
- The Bolter
- Down Bad
- loml
- The Black Dog
- The Prophecy
- I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
- I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
- Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
- Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)
- But Daddy I Love Him
- Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)
- Fresh Out The Slammer
- imgonnagetyouback
- Clara Bow
- Robin
- I Hate It Here
- Cassandra
- thanK you aIMee
- The Alchemy
- The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
- So High School
- I Look In People’s Windows
- My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
- The Tortured Poets Department