Taylor Swift debuted her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19th. The album, which Swift revealed to be a double release, contains 31 tracks with various features, including Post Malone and Florence & The Machine. Songs from The Tortured Poets Department topped the Billboard Hot 100, and fans frenzied over Swift’s purposeful lyrics and beautiful melodies. The album does not contain a traditional pop hit single, unlike many of Swift’s previous releases, as each of the songs leans heavily into the folk-pop genre. The album’s deeply personal songwriting opened a newfound window into Swift’s personal and romantic life, leaving fans decoding each lyric to uncover Swift’s medium of storytelling. Despite The Tortured Poets Department’s wild success, fans cannot shake the feeling of slight disappointment at an album that feels a bit too familiar, overlapping with previous albums or even other tracks within the album. The Tortured Poets Department showcases Swift’s lyrical craftsmanship and raw talent, but seems to lack a certain edge that her previous albums had, coming in at 3.5 Falcon Stars.
“Fortnight” featuring Post Malone proved to be the highlight of The Tortured Poets Department, ranking number one overall on The Billboard Hot 100 and arguably boasting one of the best Taylor Swift bridges of all time. In spite of facing an AI-generated “leak” just hours before the release, “Fortnight” won the hearts of many listeners with its bleak pop, catchy beat.
As The Tortured Poets Department contains a generally unheard-of number of songs, many fans raised the question of quality over quantity, complaining that certain songs lack a distinctive “spark.” Some can’t help but wonder if Swift’s longtime songwriting partner & producer Jack Antonoff is responsible for this fault. In the past, Antonoff has contributed to many of Swift’s big hits, such as “Getaway Car” and “Cruel Summer,” but his signature style is beginning to feel fatigued. Generally, Swift’s independently written songs in The Tortured Poets Department exhibit much more musical originality and nuance than those collaborated with Antonoff.
Through the album, Swift reveals a messy, problematic side of her songwriting that has been asleep for years. Despite fans believing that the album was going to be centered around Swift’s recent split with long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn, many tracks seem to expose Swift’s following relationship with Matty Healy, with the titles “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and album single “The Tortured Poets Department” linked to the 1975 lead singer. Romance aside, Swift allegedly calls out Kim Kardashian with the album’s 24th track “thanK you aIMee,” seemingly exposing Kim’s streak of mean girl habits.
Overall, The Tortured Poets Department is a solid, typical Taylor Swift album, further establishing both Swift’s creative mind and distinctive voice. Even though The Tortured Poets Department is conceivably far from Swift’s best release, it still contains many prominent tracks and is an exceptional contribution to Swift’s lengthy discography. Even if the new album isn’t quite your cup of tea, at least Florida has a fresh source of audio to run behind tourism commercials and Charlie Puth got a healthy boost to his so-claimed “underappreciated” career.