Album Review: Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department"
Another lyrical masterpiece in the books
By Kate Gaspa, Staff Writer
May 10, 2024
This album has broken five records already and is on the way to breaking more. With one of the records being the most streamed album in a single week. This album has surpassed 1 billion streams which is a first in Spotify history. Here are some top hits from the album:
Taylor Swift's eleventh album “The Tortured Poets Department '' dropped at midnight on April 19, 2024.
Immediately, listeners became detectives, scholars, and analysts as they pored over every detail and lyric. At 2 am Swift dropped another album Called “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” In less than a couple hours Swift dropped two albums numbering a total of 30 songs on them.
Co-written by Arron Dessner and Jack Antonoff (excluding the songs with featured artists) who are seen on multiple other Taylor Swift albums. She also wrote “Fortnight” with Post Malone and “Florida '' with Florence and the Machine.
TTPD is one of if not the most emotional albums Swift has dropped. It's about her 6-year break up with Joe Aldwin who is an English actor and her on-and-off 10-year relationship with Matty Healy the lead singer of the band 1975.
This album’s vibe is very depressing. All the songs hit a soft spot in everyone’s heart and make the listener feel what Swift is and was going through writing this album. Anyone who has dated someone or been in a “situationship” can relate to these songs.
“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” In my opinion this song is the best song on the album. This song is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. It's a reflection of the music industry and talking about how artists are deemed overly dramatic and bratty.
“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”, is about singer Matty Healy and how he treated her so poorly throughout the years. She talks about how he wears a “Jehovah's Witness suit.” This song is about Matty since he wears a suit for all of his bands shows. Also Swift calls him out for ghosting her saying her friends ghosted him back to show him how it feels to be ghosted. This song brings up so many different emotions of pain, suffering, and overall sadness. This song also has the best bridge out of all of the songs she dropped. You can hear how mad and hurt she is throughout the song and with her amazing vocals.
“Down Bad,” is a song about going through a break-up and how you're down bad and just want that person back. She talks about her own experience with a breakup and how she was crying at the gym and trying to better herself.
“So Long London,” is a sad ballot about her 6-year-long relationship with Joe Aldwin. In 2019 Swift released a song called “London Boy” talking about her relationship with Joe. This song is about how their relationship is coming to an end and how she's saying goodbye to London. This song brings up the pain of having to leave a situation and a person that you love.
As this album hit the teenage ear it stayed and resonated with most teenagers across the world.
You can find the album on YouTube Music, Spotify, and other streaming networks. You can find the CD on her website. It is sold at Target and other stores. I would highly recommend giving this album a good listen.