From the desk of Taylor Swift comes The Tortured Poets Department and its double album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology—pop and folk-pop phenomenons that remain a highlight of Swift’s career. Released on April 19, 2024, Tortured Poets was an instant record breaker; according to Billboard, it became the most streamed album in a single week across all platforms, among several other achievements. Tortured Poets came to life with its own segment on Swift’s Eras Tour, during which she theatrically led a frontline march, visited an asylum, and performed a circus act. Swift went on to receive five nominations at the 67th Grammy Awards for the album, including the coveted Album of the Year. All of this to say: Tortured Poets made for Swift’s biggest year yet.
Last April, I ranked every song from the album just a week after its release. But music can change a lot in a year, and my perspective on each song has evolved with each time I listened to them or watched them performed live through Eras Tour videos. One year later, I’ve reranked every song from The Tortured Poets Department—and it’s wildly different from my original ranking.
31. “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”
Best lyrics: “And I could see it from a mile away / A perfect case for my certain skill set / He had a halo of the highest grade / He just hadn’t met me yet.”
30. “Thank You Aimee”
Best lyrics: “I wrote a thousand songs that you find uncool / I built a legacy that you can’t undo / But when I count the stars, there’s a moment of truth / That there wouldn’t be this if there hadn’t been you.”
29. “The Manuscript”
Best lyrics: “The only thing that’s left is the manuscript / One last souvenir from my trip to your shores.”
28. “The Alchemy”
Best lyrics: “Where’s the trophy? / He just comes running over to me.”
27. “The Albatross”
Best lyrics: “Wise men once said / ‘One bad seed kills the garden’ / ‘One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen.’”
26. “How Did It End?”
Best lyrics: “The deflation of our dreaming / Leaving me bereft and reeling / My beloved ghost and me / Sitting in a tree / D-Y-I-N-G.”
25. “I Look in People’s Windows”
Best lyrics: “Does it feel alright to not know me? / I’m addicted to the ‘if only.’”
24. “The Tortured Poets Department”
Best lyrics: “I laughed in your face and said, / ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, we’re modern idiots.’”
23. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”
Best lyrics: “Cause I’m a real tough kid / I can handle my shit / They said, ‘Babe, you gotta fake it ‘til you make it’ and I did / Lights, camera, bitch smile / Even when you wanna die / He said he’d love me all his life.”
22. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”
Best lyrics: “Just say when, I’d play again / He was my best friend down at the sandlot.”
21. “Cassandra”
Best lyrics: “Blood’s thick, but nothing like a payroll / Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul.”
20. “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus”
Best lyrics: “So if I sell my apartment / And you have some kids with an internet starlet / Will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon? / Like it never happened.”
19. “Fresh Out the Slammer”
Best lyrics: “My friends tried, but I wouldn’t hear it / Watch me daily disappearing / For just one glimpse of his smile / All those nights, he kept me going / Swirled you into all of my poems.”
18. “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)”
Best lyrics: “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life.”
17. “Guilty as Sin?”
Best lyrics: “I dream of cracking locks / Throwing my life to the wolves or the ocean rocks / Crashing into him tonight, he’s a paradox / I’m seeing visions / Am I bad or mad or wise?”
16. “Robin”
Best lyrics: “You have no room in your dreams for regrets / You have no idea / The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean / You’ll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline / But for now we’ll curtail your curiosity / In sweetness.”
15. “imgonnagetyouback”
Best lyrics: “Told my friends I hate you, but I love you just the same / Pick your poison, babe / I’m poison either way.”
14. “Peter”
Best lyrics: “I hoped you’d return / With your feet on the ground, tell me all that you’ve learned / Cause love’s never lost when perspective is earned.”
13. “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)”
Best lyrics: “So I did my best to lay to rest / All of the bodies that have ever been on my body / And in my mind, they sink into the swamp / Is that a bad thing to say in a song?”
12. “I Hate it Here”
Best lyrics: “I hate it here so I will go to lunar valleys in my mind / When they found a better planet, only the gentle survived / I dreamed about it in the dark the night I felt like I might die.”
11. “Down Bad”
Best lyrics: “I’ll build you a fort on some planet / Where they can all understand it / How dare you think it’s romantic / Leaving me safe and stranded / Cause fuck it, I was in love / So fuck you if I can’t have us.”
10. “Clara Bow”
Best lyrics: “You look like Taylor Swift in this light / We’re loving it / You’ve got edge, she never did / The future’s bright, dazzling.”
9. “But Daddy I Love Him”
Best lyrics: “I’ll tell you something about my good name / It’s mine alone to disgrace / I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing.”
8. “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”
Best lyrics: “I was tame, I was gentle ‘til the circus life made me mean / Don’t you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth / Who’s afraid of little old me? / Well, you should be.”
7. “The Bolter”
Best lyrics: “And I can confirm she made / A curious child, ever reviled / By everyone except her own father / With a quite bewitching face / Splendidly selfish, charmingly helpless / Excellent fun ‘til you get to know her.”
6. “So High School”
Best lyrics: “Truth, dare, spin bottles / You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.”
5. “The Prophecy”
Best lyrics: “And I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen.”
4. “loml”
Best lyrics: “Our field of dreams engulfed in fire / Your arson’s match, your somber eyes / And I’ll still see it until I die / You’re the loss of my life.”
3. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”
Best lyrics: “Cause it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden / I would’ve died for your sins, instead, I just died inside / And you deserve prison, but you won’t get time.”
2. “So Long, London”
Best lyrics: “You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof / You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days / And I’m just getting color back into my face / I’m just mad as hell cause I loved this place for / So long, London.”
1. “The Black Dog”
Best lyrics: “Now I wanna sell my house / And set fire to all my clothes / And hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons / Even if I die screaming / And I hope you hear it.”