‘The Tortured Poets Department’: the girls that get it, get it.
Welcome to the longest Substack I have ever written (so far).
‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and ‘The Anthology’, Taylor Swift’s 11th album has been out for over three weeks and the general consensus with fangirls (me) is that girls that get it, get it. Over the last three weeks the album has inspired me to google the Chelsea Hotel, (eventually) read a Patti Smith book and basically not listen to any song which is not on the album.
I woke up on release day expecting to hear 16 new Taylor Swift tracks over my morning coffee but got the (kind of) unexpected surprise that ‘TTPD’ was actually a double album, with ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and ‘The Anthology’ - I love it when Swiftie theories are correct. So, my listening party - literally just me with no makeup, in pyjamas, drinking coffee, struggling to process Taylor Swift’s incredible vocabulary - now had 31 songs.
The opinions of this album have varied - quite drastically. But I am in the percentage of people who genuinely enjoys the album and the storytelling within it. Throughout the album there is a theme of separating what appears to be happening vs what is actually happening.
The song ‘TTPD’ - is one of my favourites on the album - it is in the category of ‘Suburban Legends’ and ‘Gold Rush’, but with some of the humour of ‘Blank Space’. Making fun of the fact that even in an idolised version of the relationship they are not Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith (two famous poets). Just two people, or potentially one of them pretending to be.
“And you’re not Dylan Thomas and I’m not Patti Smith, this ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, were two idiots”- ‘TTPD’
However, underneath that there is a fear about how they will not end up together in the end.
When I hear the final minute of the song, I envision two people running through an old-fashioned hallway together, until they eventually sneak out of the window.
This theme can also be seen in the opening track – ‘Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)’. The lyrics of ‘Fortnight’ reference a relationship of ‘good neighbours’, as well as the more mundane parts of suburban culture. The idea of keeping up appearances when there is more beneath the surface - Swift referencing ‘aesthetic’ in the opening verse.
The song also references being ‘sent away’ - which some of us have linked to the final verse in ‘Hits Different’ from the ‘Midnights’ album. This highlights the way people were sent away for not conforming. Not to forget that in the music video for the song she starts off in what appears to be an asylum.
The second part of the album also offers this separation, with the changing eras getting mentioned in ‘Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus’- talking about changing ‘plans and lovers and outfits and rules’ to run away from her feelings towards the person she is speaking to in the song. This line can be seen as a reference towards the different era’s in her life. The eras themselves were a visual experience with different outfits, music videos and albums - but the lyrics suggest that those were done for a deeper reason beneath the surface.
However, this separation is not limited to the public vs personal but can also be seen within the relationship itself. ‘loml’ which starts of being ‘love of my life’ and ends being ‘loss of my life’. In the song she accepts that everything a person promised her about marriage and having children was all an act, now she is left grieving something which was never there to begin with.
“You shit-talked me under the table
Talking rings and talking cradles
I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all” - ‘loml’
Ending the bridge with ‘something counterfeit’s dead’. Implying that something dishonest is never there to begin with.
The more ‘emotional’ tracks also offer a sight into personal thoughts and feelings in regard to specific themes in a person’s life. Especially the song which I fear I most relate to – ‘The Prophecy’.
“A greater woman wouldn’t beg
but I looked up to the sky and said
“Please I’m down on my knees
Change the prophecy,
I don’t want money,
Just someone who wants my company..” - ‘The Prophecy’
Like a dagger to the heart, ‘The Prophecy’ looks at women’s relationships to singlehood and failed relationships. The idea that singlehood came as a result of a curse which has been put on a woman that is unchangeable.
There are also heavy religious undertones to the album. There is a reference to ‘Eve’ in ‘The Prophecy’. Additionally, there is religious imagery in song ‘Guilty as Sin?’. In the track Swift sings ‘Without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?’. Which can be seen as a subtle nod to the way religious gossip spreads.
Additionally, there is religious imagery in ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’, where Swift sings ‘I would have died for your sins, instead I just died inside’.
Despite the album being a stand-alone to the previous work she has produced there are still elements of the ‘classic’ Taylor Swift which many of us grew up listening to. We have writing and production credits for Jack Antonoff, as well as Aaron Dessner. We have nods to her being a hopeless romantic, while simultaneously fearing that she will never find somebody.
The final track of the original ‘TTPD’ ‘Clara Bow’ also hold similarities to ‘The Lucky One’ from the ‘Red’ era. With reflections of fame, women who came before Taylor, as well as Taylor’s own story within the industry. ‘Clara Bow’ had references to the actress of the same name, as well as Stevie Nicks and Taylor herself. ‘The Lucky One’ references Swift in first person at the end, with the rest of the track being rumoured to be about Joni Mitchell.
The 31 tracks end with ‘The Manuscript’, which in many ways reflects on her past relationships and past selves - telling the story in the same way you would tell your therapist or friends about your life.
At the beginning she refers looking back through ‘The Manuscript’ – ‘now and then she rereads the manuscript’ - simply put looking back through her life. At the end of ‘The Manuscript’ she says that she doesn’t have it anymore. The meaning behind the lyrics, like the meaning behind most is up for interpretation, and truthfully when I first listen to a song my mind does not naturally interpret meaning.
However, like I have done for the most recent Taylor Swift album releases, I watched YouTubers react to the album. If you have ever done this, you have probably come across ‘Chats and Reacts’ - two Australian content creators - Bonny and Emily. During their reaction video to the second half they mention (alongside one of their friends) that she no longer owns the manuscript because she gave it to us (the fans).
Through the albums, the vault tracks, Easter eggs and if you have been around a while capitalised letters. The songs were given to us and I think that is a beautiful place to end the album on.
Now that we have come to the end of what I can only assume is the longest Substack entry I have ever written; I feel like it goes without saying but I will say it anyway - I am obsessed with this album. Honestly, I feel like I need to write a second part because I have not even mentioned songs like ‘The Bolter’ and ‘Peter’. For a couple days I literally did not listen to any other songs - and that includes other Taylor Swift songs. There is something about the vibes of this album that is captivating beyond any words in my vocabulary.