8 Takeaways From Taylor Swift’s New Album The Tortured Poets Division

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Talkin’ ’Bout My Popularity

As on Popularity, Swift addresses her personal public notion on Tortured Poets—comprehensible, given all of the media consideration she’s acquired up to now yr. On the late album barnstormer “Who’s Afraid of Little Outdated Me?,” Swift sings about turning into callous within the face of hypothesis about her non-public life (“I used to be tame, I used to be mild/Til the circus life made me imply”). On “I Can Do It With a Damaged Coronary heart,” she contrasts the cheery demeanor she adopts for followers on the Eras Tour with the abject unhappiness she feels post-breakup. In a second that recollects essentially the most memorable scene of Katy Perry’s A part of Me documentary—through which Perry finds out her husband has filed for divorce, bawls her eyes out, then resets to a chilly smile as she rises to the stage—Swift cheerily exclaims “I’m depressing!/And no one even is aware of!”

A Temporary Inquiry Into Previous Relationships

The Tortured Poets Division is certain to offer near-endless fodder for followers and rubberneckers hoping to glean perception into Swift’s private life. Her lyrics are sometimes assumed to be about real-life boyfriends, and most of the songs on this file appear to reference Healy (she refers to 1 accomplice as a “tattooed golden retriever” on the title monitor) and Alwyn, seemingly the topic of “So Lengthy, London.” “The Alchemy,” which is heavy on soccer references, nods to her relationship with Kelce, with Swift singing about being “on a profitable streak” with a brand new love. And it’s not simply romantic relationships Swift addresses: The Anthology monitor “thanK you aIMee,” with its unsubtle title stylization, is broadly rumored to be about longtime Swift nemesis Kim Kardashian.

Caught Behind Bars

Allusions to prisons, asylums, and basic ailing psychological well being abound on Tortured Poets: On the album’s title monitor, she sings, “Everybody we all know understands/Why it’s meant to be/’Trigger we’re… loopy,” whereas on “However Daddy I Love Him,” she tells a disapproving father, “I do know he’s loopy, however he’s the one I would like.” “Contemporary Out the Slammer” casts a maudlin relationship as a jail—Swift’s new crush is the primary particular person she’s calling when she will get out—whereas she tells the titular character on “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”: “You deserve jail, however you received’t get time.” On “Who’s Afraid of Little Outdated Me?” essentially the most vicious monitor right here, she references gallows and likens her childhood to an “asylum,” and opening monitor “Fortnight” options the road, “I used to be purported to be despatched away/However they forgot to return and get me.” These references, a shade darker than the turns of phrase Swift is often drawn to, appear to be in service of the album’s “tortured” vibe.

Taylor + the Machine

One of many highlights of Tortured Poets is “Florida!!!,” a collaboration with stalwart British pop musician Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine. Swift could have been dinged for relegating Lana Del Rey to backing vocalist standing on Midnights’ “Snow on the Seaside” (which Del Rey later stated was her personal selection), however there’s no means the identical will occur with “Florida!!!”—Welch will get two full verses right here, and later trades strains with Swift. That includes a doomy aesthetic and large, window-rattling drums, it feels extra like a Welch monitor that Swift unintentionally wandered into. Which isn’t any knock: It’s the loudest, most theatrical second on an album that in any other case trades punchy showstoppers for quieter, extra meditative moods.

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