The Tortured Poets Department is a new album by Taylor Swift

While performing live at the Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift revealed, quite unexpectedly, that her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, would be out in two months. First department meeting (or will it be hereby conducted?) is scheduled for Friday at midnight. Another tentpole in Swift’s currently unfolding world-conquering stretch of career, Tortured Poets will be the latest release in a spring full of new pop albums. Another expectation for Tortured Poets is that it will be a breakup record from a master of the genre who hasn’t released one in a long time. Swift hasn’t released a single or provided much information about the album, so naturally, a lot of mystery, Easter eggs, and, um, strong opinion having have filled in the blanks. Swift seems to be everywhere these days (Coachella! The Bahamas! Chicago?!). Let us therefore talk about what we know before we formally enter the era of the Tortured Poets. I’ll try to address as many of the questions below and pose the ones that aren’t addressed. It feels right to do 13 of them.

First, let’s review the fundamentals. Let’s say I’m ignorant of this album because I detest word puzzles and anything written in an antiquated typewriter font. I had assumed that Taylor Swift was rerecording her older songs while on tour. How could she find time to put new music on tape?

Excuse me for interrupting you, but you raise an excellent point: the timeline matters in this case. At the February 2022 Grammy Awards, Swift made the announcement of TTPD. Shortly after, she revealed at an Eras Tour performance that she had begun work on the album shortly after wrapping up the recording of Midnights, which was released in October 2022. Thus, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift’s most recent reissue, was not even in the works when this album was being worked on. Other fundamental information about TTPD is that it has 16 tracks total, plus an additional 4 tracks on different vinyl versions. Since Folklore, Swift has primarily collaborated with two people: Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. Visually, it’s providing seductive academics. There’ll be a music video as well!

What gives The Tortured Poets Department its name?

Though, allons-y, I guess, I was hoping to avoid this for a longer time. The name of a group chat amongst actors Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, and Joe Alwyn—which Alwyn revealed in a 2022 interview with British GQ—seems to be referenced in the album title. Okay, whatever, the conversation was about Mescal and Alwyn’s parts in the Sally Rooney adaptions. Of course, this is where Swift enters the picture. She and Alwyn dated for six years before breaking up last spring, which coincided with the beginning of Swift’s album-making.

Howdy, boy. Alright. Thus, Swift is a tortured poet and Joe was a tortured man?

Though, I must admit, there’s a grammatical gray area here that makes the Tortured Poets Department organizational chart a little confusing to read. Since “poets” lacks an apostrophe, Taylor is using it as a non-possessive plural noun when referring to herself as the Chairman. That suggests that although the department may not always be led by tortured poets, it is about them. Perhaps the department is some sort of asylum?

Ah, well. Is this album a true breakup record?

Everything suggests that the answer is yes. During a particularly difficult period, Swift described recording TTPD as a “lifeline” while speaking about the album live at an Eras Tour show in Australia in February. I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I did on Tortured Poets, she said. It kind of reminded her of why songwriting is something that genuinely helps her get through life.

There were the playlists after that. Based on the five stages of grieving, Swift created a set of five playlists for Apple Music last week. Selected tracks from her catalog comprised each one. Many of Swift’s previous love songs were there, and they seemed to acquire new significance when listened to in the context of playlists featuring the themes of “denial,” “anger,” or “bargaining.”. Included in the denial playlist was the song “Lover,” which is a waltz composed in the manner of a wedding first dance. “This playlist features songs about becoming so engrossed in the concept of something that it’s difficult to recognize the warning signs,” Swift remarked in a voicemail introducing the selection.

Yes, it is a breakup album.

For the first time in ten years, the breakup songwriter of this century is putting out a true heartbreak record, and it’s worth pausing to think about all that. She wrote “All Too Well” the last time she did this. “.

“All Too Well” is an amazing song. Is everything truly fair, as Swift stated on Instagram when she revealed the album, in love and poetry? I seem to remember the guy from that song not enjoying the attention from it, though.

You seem really familiar with Taylor Swift’s internet persona, for someone who is asking for an overview of one of her albums?

My first reaction to this question is to say, “Who cares?” Not because I don’t care that you have the most passionate fan base on the internet, but rather because I recognize that hard work is hard work and that Swift is always at her best when she doesn’t hold back. This woman penned the songs “Style” and “Dear John” and skillfully constructed an introduction for “Last Kiss” that matched the exact duration of a single Joe Jonas breakup call. I’m not trying to hurt anyone, but I do want that creative energy in charge.

But one of the main concerns surrounding TTPD seems to be how Swift will be received if and when she returns to naming names, partly because it has been a while since Swift released any of those older songs. While she has written about heartbreak on her more recent albums—the last five of which were released while she and Alwyn were together—she has also changed her style in certain instances, describing songs as character studies rather than autobiographical.

She appears to be returning to specificity, though. Track 5 of TTPD is titled “So Long, London,” and it usually contains one of Swift’s most depressing songs. Additional song titles such as “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” further reinforce the idea that Swift is narrating a story about a He who did something bad, and we’re going to find out what that was.

It could be expected, perhaps. Though I’m making room in “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” we won’t be talking about Matty Healy here. It’s been a while since Swift’s last album, which was explicitly autobiographical. It’s also been a while since her last big breakup. You don’t deserve her at your “So Long, London,” “London Boy,” or any other point where you don’t want her there. like that. Swift also gave detailed feedback on “You’re Losing Me,” the one song from the Midnights sessions that was eventually released following the breakup but was not included on the album. Though the lyrics “I wouldn’t marry me” are still fresh in my mind, I can’t recall what was said in the various statements made to People or Page Six regarding the split.

I will use my right to speak up and state that, to avoid starting a firestorm, I don’t feel it is my business whether or not Joe Alywn, an adult man I don’t know, has a good experience with the release of this album. I’m more interested in Swift’s current use of her platform to express her hurt feelings because I’m a fan and find her movement through the world fascinating.

Swift is a fighter and a lover at heart. “I respond to extreme pain with defiance,” she said inadvertently during her TIME Person of the Year interview, and it stuck in my memory ever since. Her choice of foil has always been particularly significant because of this tendency. Swift chose what felt like a worthy opponent by taking on the powerful people in the music industry, which is one of the reasons her rerecordings and this most recent phase of her career have received such positive reviews. However, the majority of the prior declines in her popularity can be linked to instances where her opponent was thought to be unworthy of the joust. Swift has always struggled with the notion of playing the victim; in 2017, it became so bothersome that she included it in the delightfully self-referential music video for “Look What You Made Me Do.”. “.

One would think that the answer to the question, “Can Swift pick a fight over her own heartbreak now?” is rather obvious. Yet, this album is being released at a time when Swift appears to be as unflappable as she has ever been—it’s her life and it was her relationship—how could she not be entitled to her own story? The world’s greatest artist is her. She is frequently captured on camera having fun with her new partner. She has a list of corporate partners and a billion dollars. For a brief moment, I’ll become defensive and remind her that making music is her profession, but she will make millions and millions more from these accounts of her suffering. It isn’t necessary to persuade me that Swift felt compelled to record this album despite the fact that it would have been easier to continue with the rerecordings, tour, and enjoy herself with Travis Kelce. She might be able to count on unwavering sympathy, but I’m not sure. It all depends on how devastating these songs end up being.

That’s all very intense, don’t you think? Can we just listen to the songs without worrying about anything else?

I wish I could see the world as you envision it; that sounds like a really nice idea, reader, who is most definitely not just me posing setups for the blurbs I want to write. For many people, I’m sure that is feasible. How many of them are reading this article, I wonder? This week, I’m making an effort to remember that this isn’t that serious and that Swift’s line “Karma is a cat” is one of my favorite from her most recent album. However, there has been a recent combative tone to the public discourse surrounding Swift. A piece about friends breaking up over arguments over Swift surfaced in The Cut the other day. Disputes over Courtney Love just being Courtney Love are prevalent in my social media feeds. Perhaps a little bit of each. Is it the inevitable fallout from Swiftian-scale success? Is it a byproduct of the emphasis on identity and personal narrative in contemporary pop stardom, and how intimate and combative standom has become? Is this somehow related to Jack Antonoff? Be careful when you’re out there.

That being said, the whole “Taylor Swift is writing a whole new breakup album” thing had me extremely intrigued, and I do want to hear what it might sound like. Okay, so I’m kind of scared now.

Indeed, as previously mentioned, Swift co-wrote the majority of this album with Antonoff and Dessner, so it makes sense that TTPD emerged from the same folk-pop and bedroom pop sandboxes that the crew has been playing in for more than three album cycles. Swift once claimed that she composes her songs using three imaginary pens: a fountain pen for intimate tales, a quill pen for songs that mimic historical pieces, and a glitter gel pen for goofy dance songs. Interestingly, promotional materials for this album have shown quill and fountain pens but not glitter gel pens, suggesting that this is a potential Easter egg.

Not to be dramatic, but if there are no bops, I will treat this as a personal emergency. Having said that, let’s not forget that Swift views “Cruel Summer” as a song written with a fountain pen.

Exist any other partners in this endeavor?

Absolutely. The first track, “Fortnight,” features Post Malone and gives him credit as a writer. Florence Welch is listed as a writer on the song “Florida!!!” and Florence and the Machine is featured. It’s unclear how many exclamation points are allowed for a truly tortured poet to use under Department guidelines, or whether Florence actually put them there. ( ).

Aside: Post Malone, who played at the Super Bowl in February and is now the only person credited on both the new Beyoncé and Taylor Swift albums, is having a better 2024 than anyone else. He almost kept the J alive. The “movie.”. A clip of an AI-generated rendition of “Fortnight” is making the rounds on TikTok, and even the fake Post Malone sounds decent on it. I’m excited to hear Posty’s next diss track on Drake.

I nearly forgot that Swift could have simply continued with the rerecordings—you mentioned earlier that she could have done so. When Swift announced TTPD at the Grammy Awards, I was certain she was going to reveal Reputation (Taylor’s Version) instead. Where is it at?

Say this again with me: Black and white typography will not deceive me. Monochromatic typography will not deceive me. Black-and-whi— won’t be able to fool me.

Respect the moderation. Nevertheless, she’s back to her Zodiac Killer antics, am I right? Are Swifties all over the world spending the week looking for hints in QR codes or on building facades?

No, why would you pose that question?

It appears that I have noticed something regarding a morgue?

What connection does any of this have to poetry?

I’m not sure, really. She thought, “We’re going to solve the crime together, even though the main poet died and the other poets are being tortured in the department.”.

Must I be afraid?

most likely somewhat. You ought to be thrilled, though. Additionally, pack tissues. I’ll end by sharing this poem I wrote:.

The Writer Under Torture.

has made the decision to strike back.

And who owns this dog?