With every album that pop superstar Taylor Swift releases, she further proves that she is a force of nature. Through good times and bad, she has maintained a loyal following who, over the years, have embraced and connected to her heartbroken, grief-stricken, occasionally murderous ballads.

On February 4th onstage at the 66th Recording Academy Awards, while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for 2022’s Midnights, Swift announced the release of her next album, The Tortured Poets Department. What followed was a chorus of fans, followers, and pundits alike filing their predictions for what this album would mean for the songstress’ career.

Quality over quantity

In the early morning of April 19, Swift surprised fans by releasing a 'double album,’ putting out 15 additional tracks alongside the 16 that were already announced. Swift called this extended edition The Anthology, and naturally, fans went wild. 

The one marker that has defined Swift’s musical philosophy over the past several years is quantity. In 2020, Swift released folklore and evermore six months apart, sister albums consisting of a total of 34 tracks. Less than two years later, she released Midnights alongside its deluxe edition, consisting of a total of 21 tracks. Now, with The Tortured Poets Department, she surpassed her record track listing with the beast of an album. The Tortured Poets Department boasts a whopping 31 songs, and upon listening to the album in full, in one sitting, it’s clear that this philosophy won’t always work.

Swift’s albums folklore and evermore were hits — they are widely considered to be some of her best works, through the producers she worked with on them and the depth of her musical explorations. And, it worked on Midnights, too — it was hard to find a truly unpopular or unadmired song on the album which managed to sum up her entire career. On The Tortured Poets Department, that strategy proves ineffective. The 31-song record, frankly, sounds repetitive. This new sound for Swift brought with it struggles to create unique songs within the universe she's created.

The Anthology

The Tortured Poets Department’s standard edition was expected to release with 16 tracks. The album features 15 additional tracks that were released in the aforementioned “surprise drop,” and the two combined albums have one clear difference — their producers. 

Swift has a long-standing collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff, who has worked on several of her albums, including Lover, Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department's standard edition. Antonoff is widely considered to be one of the greatest producers of the 21st century, having won 10 Grammys for his work with artists like Fun., Lorde, Lana Del Rey, to name a few.

Antonoff has been praised for his ability to collaborate with artists to develop a sound that fits the emotion of the body of work they are creating, rather than bringing a signature sound to the recording booth. That ability has created a catalog of diverse works that prove his versatility in the studio and create for him the reputation of a producer to help guide an artist through phases — much like he has for Swift. Antonoff produced 12 out of 16 tracks on the standard edition, bringing a poppier sound with less mature undertones.

The other main producer on the album, producing even more tracks than Antonoff, was Aaron Dessner, a founding member of the rock band The National. Dessner, producing 17 out of 31 tracks, brings a more emotional aspect to Swift's music, similar to her 2020 albums. Dessner produced 12 out of the 15 songs of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, widely considered to be more similar to Swift’s aforementioned 2020 albums, and therefore garnering more connection from fans than the tracks on the standard edition.

Simply put — Antonoff makes the hits, and Dessner brings the feels. Neither of these traits are a bad thing, but they do show the striking difference in the character of the tracks on this behemoth of an album, something that may translate to be a weakness.

TTPD is impressive

Now, The Tortured Poets Department’s standard edition is a really good album. As I listened through it, I was constantly very into some catchy, dramatic, and intense tracks and it was an awesome experience. A couple of days later, I’m still humming these songs and they’re most definitely stuck in my head. 

There are some remarkable songs on this tracklist — my favourites were “So Long, London,” which delivered the most heartfelt performance on the record, “Florida!!!,” which embraces Florence Welch’s beautiful vocals and is dramatic and poetic at the same time, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” which sonically creates a mysterious atmosphere, and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” which creates a real-life mystery. 

These songs are beautiful, profound and character-filled. While The Tortured Poets Department may never be widely considered to be her best album, it is the most vulnerable we have seen Swift. It translates into an impressive, enjoyable and successful effort.

I believe that The Anthology is the weakness of Swift’s most recent body of work. Songs that I can’t remember a line or a melody from distract from the beautiful, bombastic, profound tracks on this album, featuring chillingly genius, poetic lyrics. The whole album together tells something of a story, though very slowly. Outside of that, the album is mostly tracks that are strangely lyrically paced and sonically almost indistinguishable. As I listened to the album, I went through and took notes on what I liked and what I didn’t, and what stands out to me is how often I typed “nothing special,” “repetitive,” and “basic.”

In other words, this album is a success — but it doesn’t need to be this long. On The Tortured Poets Department, the lyrics are profound, the production is clean and beautiful and the world-building transcends — but it’s all overshadowed by a mass of work that raises questions like ‘who are Cassandra and Peter, and why do they matter?’ rather than ‘where is Taylor Swift, emotionally, romantically and otherwise, as she enters a new phase in her career — and life?’

The Tortured Poets Department and The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology are available for streaming and physical purchase.