After announcing her 11th studio album at the 2024 Grammys, Taylor Swift fans have been anxiously awaiting the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.” On April 19, Swift not only released the album consisting of 16 tracks, but she also surprised fans with a double album titled “The Anthology,” consisting of 15 tracks — giving fans a total of 31 new Taylor Swift songs to enjoy.
Through the album, Swift takes us on a journey of heartbreak, acceptance and finding new love. In songs such as “So Long, London” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” Swift expresses the pain she felt following her notable split from her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, which occurred in March 2023. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” takes listeners through the pain that Swift felt performing on The Eras Tour while simultaneously dealing with a fresh breakup — with many songs performed on tour being about Alwyn. The lyrics, “He said he’d love me all his life, but that life was too short. Breaking down, I hit the floor. All the piеces of me shatterеd as the crowd was chanting, ‘More,’” show how Swift was going through heartbreak during the early shows in her tour but still proceeded to put her all into performing for her fans. The contrast between the upbeat instrumentals and depressing lyrics further emphasizes the idea of putting on a smile and a happy facade while hurting on the inside.
Contrasting the breakup tracks, filled with pain and sadness, Swift surprised fans by including two songs about her new relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, “The Alchemy” and “So High School.” Swift and Kelce have had a very public relationship since they were first spotted together in July 2023, that many fans have enjoyed following. In “So High School,” Swift compares her relationship with Travis Kelce to a blossoming high school romance filled with excitement and butterflies. In “The Alchemy,” Swift sings the line, “who are we to fight the alchemy?” which is a clever reference to chemistry, and the chemistry in her relationship. I enjoyed these lyrics, along with the happy mood and emotions that the song conveyed.
Upon listening for the first time, the first few songs on the album sounded very familiar, especially “The Tortured Poets Department.” I felt many of the songs were reminiscent of her last album, “Midnights,” such as “Down Bad” and “Sl*t” from “1989.” The electronic music and drum beats were similar to her “Midnights” album and the melodies and overall moods were similar to “Evermore” and “Folklore.” Despite this, I’m glad that the new songs were able to not fall into the trap of sounding repetitive. The keys and themes of this new album were much darker and angrier than the last few.
The features on the song were surprising for me. Leading up to the release of the album, I was most anticipating her feature with Florence + The Machines on the song “Florida!!!” Although I do like it, it definitely was underwhelming — not my favorite of the album. Perhaps the most well known track on the album is “Fortnight” featuring well-known rapper, Post Malone. Knowing the style of Swift’s music, and how different it is from the style of Post Malone, I was concerned about how the song would play out due to these contrasting styles. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how their styles blended, which made for a very enjoyable song. The song can sound quite monotone at some points, but it goes with the overall themes and fits well with the electronic background music.
Overall, Swift’s new album captures many different stories and emotions from her life in the past few years. The album is extremely relatable, with sad songs and happy songs as well as breakup songs and love songs. These themes all come together cohesively over the 31 tracks — making a very high quality album with high quality lyrics. Though some of the songs blend together, being very similar, Swift once again made a very good album earning a rating of ⅘ stars.
