Taylor Swift, who has spiked with popularity in the past year following the Eras Tour and the release of Midnights (2022), just released the Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024. Since the release, a lot of discourse has surrounded it. Swift originally dropped sixteen songs at 10:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, followed by fifteen more at midnight MST.
When it comes to discussing the music of the biggest pop star on the planet right now, there’s bound to be discourse. Many are aware by now that “stan culture” operates this way: when your favorite artist drops an album it immediately becomes a ten out of ten, but when their competitors drop an album it is immediately a zero out of ten. This kind of extremism in music reviews seems to have integrated into music journalism as well, with the big sites covering these stars only giving them ten out of ten reviews because it gives them clicks from fans.
Rob Sheffield with Rolling Stone magazine calls Swift’s new album an instant classic: “She sounds confused, bitter, raging, vulnerable, yet more gloriously chaotic than we’ve ever heard her before.” With reviews like this, it looks like publications can either tear down an artist or build them up entirely. Sometimes the album just does not warrant those kinds of extremes.
From my personal experience, I rate the entirety of the Tortured Poets Department seven out of ten. Jack Antonoff is a great producer, and Taylor Swift is a great songwriter, but neither are pushing each other to reach their best work anymore. They seem comfortable with each other, which is great, but it causes them to stop thinking out of the box.
I am frustrated with the overanalyzing of everything Swift does, and it appears she is too. In “But Daddy I Love Him” Swift talks about how fans can feel overbearing sometimes, but she still loves them: “Screaming ‘But Daddy I love Him’ I’m having his baby – No, I’m not! But You should see your faces.” She talks more about her experiences with becoming a big star and her booming popularity in the past years in her “I can do it with a broken heart” lyrics stating, “All the pieces of me shattered– As the crowd was chanting “MORE!.” This song shows the demands of Swifts fans and how she feels overwhelmed by them.
However, the album does not warrant the harsh reviews either. Becoming the largest star in the world comes with hate, but the exaggerated, harsh reviews made just for the sake of tearing Taylor Swift down are not needed.
The album has a lot of good songs with some of my favorites being “Florida!!! (Feat. Florence + The Machine,” which has the perfect amount of moodiness mixed with Florence Welch’s vocals. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is perfect for anyone who has ever faced a man who needs to be pushed down a peg. Yet my top favorite song is “Down Bad” which is the best song for anyone who has those unachievable crushes.
The album, like all of Swift’s other albums, shows that she is an extremely talented artist, but she can still grow more and explore other genres if she wishes. Tortured Poet’s Department had some repetition with songs that sounded the same, that comes with the territory, but overall the album was good, not great.
