K: Taylor Swift has nothing to prove. Four albums of the year, the highest-grossing tour of all time, and the only 21st-century artist to crack the top 10 of Billboard’s Greatest Artists of All Time.

   With her billions of fame and fortune, what could come next?

   K: At midnight on April 19th, 2024, Swift released her sixteen-song 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Two hours later, she followed it up with, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology”, a double album with fifteen additional songs.

   K: With so much excitement leading up to the release and more songs than ever before, is it all that fans were waiting for?

     K: “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” while lacking the impressive production of her other albums, is a feat. It showcases Swift’s best lyricism and storytelling, inviting listeners into the mental-scape she has endured over the past two years. It is brutally honest, displaying that despite the admiration she receives, Swift is in no way perfect. She struggles with suicidal ideation, alcoholism, and intrusive thoughts. She is not the “unproblematic queen” many deem her to be. The album is not meant to be Album Of The Year, but a cathartic release of the pain Swift endured. 

   I:  Swift is known for her crazy collabs, examples being, Ed Sheeran on the 2012 album “Red”, or Bon Iver in “Folklore” or even Lana Del Ray on “Midnights”. This album features two collabs. The first of the two collabs,“Fortnight,” was made with Post Malone and is the first track of the album. Track eight is the second and final collaboration of “The Tortured Poets Department.” This song is called “Florida!!!” and was made with Florence + The Machine. 

     K: “But Daddy I Love Him,” titled with an allusion to the iconic line from the 1989 Little Mermaid. The song focuses on all of the eyes watching her relationships—family, tabloids, agents, and even her fans. It showcases Swift’s desperation to love without flashing lights constantly being on her. The lyric, “I’m having his baby/No I’m not, but you should see your faces,” encapsulates the parasocial relationship fans have with Swift, feeling they have a voice in her romances. 

   I: Most know that over the summer Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn called it quits on their six-year relationship. The breakup occurred during The Eras Tour and was very hard on Swift. So she wrote the song, “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” to sum up how she felt during the tour dealing with the breakup. “They said fake it till you make it and I did.” “So Long, London” is a big reference to Alwyn and the relationship. It’s easy to see that this is a parallel to one of her other songs, “London Boy” from the album “Lover”. 

   Unlike “London Boy” this song is much less upbeat. “London Boy” is known for the line, “Home is where the heart is, but God I love the English.” While the meaning behind this song is “so long, London”, it’s the end of an era. 

   K: “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is a fan favorite, but don’t be deceived by its catchy pop beat! It is one of the most soul-crushing on the album. It focuses on Swift’s cheerful facade at the Eras Tour, metronome in her ears, as she masks her depression with a smile. The first months of the Eras Tour were tumultuous for Swift, coping with the heartbreak of leaving a six-year relationship while still having to put on the show everyone was waiting for. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” rips the fourth wall open, allowing listeners to hear into Taylor’s head while the Ears Tour audience whooped and cheered.

   I: My favorite song from the album is “The Alchemy.” This song, just like every other song from this album, has a lot of meaning. This song has many references to when Swift was put into a mental hospital for her eating disorder, anorexia. The song from this album that speaks of Swift being in a mental hospital is “Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?” specifically the line, “you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me”.  

  K: “So High School” is the only true love song on the album, and is deeply implied to be about her current relationship with Travis Kelce. Its guitar backing feels like that of a coming-of-age movie and makes listeners feel the sheer bliss Swift does. The song is a breath of fresh air, and reassures listeners that Swift is in a much better mental space now than she was during the events of this album.

  I: Name drop central. Those were my only thoughts while hearing this album. From “Cassandra” to “Peter” to “Robin” to Charlie Puth to “thanK you aIMee” to so many more. If you do a bit of deciphering you can see that “thanK you aIMee” really just means KIM. As in Kim Kardashian,  Kanye’s ex wife. This song is a very big callout to Kim and Kanye. Especially because it has a line talking about North. 

   I: The final track on the regular album is called “Clara Bow”. Along with this song being a personal favorite it also has a lot of meaning. Firstly being the star Clara Bow. Clara Bow was a famous actress in the ‘20s during the silent film era. Like many other actresses and people in the industry she was heavily mistreated. Bow was made out to be a maneater, or a girl who dates around. She was also heavily sexualized throughout her time in the spotlight. 

   During the second verse of the song Swift says “you look like Stevie Nicks.” Nicks is a member of Fleetwood Mac who was popular in the ‘60s ans ‘70s. At the end of the song Swift says “you look like Taylor Swift.” This has two meanings. One being that Bow, Nicks, and Swift are all conventionally attractive blondes in the spotlight that have been sexualized. Swift saying that lyric is her passing the torch to the younger artists in the spotlight, such as Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, and so many others. 

   I:    Speaking of Gracie Abrams, one of the songs of the album has a little reference to Abrams’ album. In the song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” Swift says the lyric “I said good riddance”. Abrams first album is called “Good Riddance” and in her song “Best” she has a lyric that says “I thought good riddance.” Abrams opened for Swift on The Eras Tour and many fans of Swift are also fans of Abrams so this little easter egg meant a lot. 

   K:“The Tortured Poets Department” allows Swift a platform to showcase her creative writing chops. As many fans have said, she is truly an English teacher in another life. She references poetry greats like Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith, as well as well-known fictional characters Peter Pan and Christopher Robin. These allusions allow Swift to paint a metaphorical picture of the immaturity of her past partners, never growing up and wanting to live in a sheltered bubble from the realities of their world.

      K: “The Tortured Poet’s Department” is divisive. It sheds the romanticization of her past releases, allowing her listeners a birds-eye view of her personal life and psyche. It is not meant for the masses and likely takes a few listens to fully comprehend. It is drastically different from her other releases, but a welcome addition to the catalog. Swift’s worldwide popularity has allowed her to create music solely for her healing. The music may weed out bandwagoners, but Swifties and English majors alike will surely find enjoyment in “The Tortured Poets Department”.