The Tortured Poets Department debuted on April 19, 2024. This is Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, and it took two years for her and her producers, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, to create and release. It delves into her past in a poetic and self-reflective way. When released, Taylor announced it on Instagram describing it as “an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.”
Not only did she release one album with 16 songs, but at 2 a.m. her fans got a surprise with 15 more songs added on. This add on album version is called The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
Some may call this a “double album”. “There are a lot of good ones [songs], but I really like “loml” or “The Black Dog”, there are a plethora of bangers,” explained Trail Heyl (11). Taylor included two collabs in TTPD, including Post Malone on the song “Fortnight” and Florence and The Machine on the song “Florida”.
“The tortured poets department is definitely in the top three or four albums Taylor has put out, I loved all the literary references and poetic techniques she includes in her songs, and I especially enjoyed the collab with Florence and The Machine on her song ‘Florida’. I think she continues to demonstrate a truly magical ability for storytelling, and I can’t wait to see what she does next!” explained Ellie Holm (12).
With this album, Taylor made history and broke countless records. Not only was The Tortured Poets Department the first album in Spotify history to exceed 300 million streams in a single day, but it also surpassed one billion streams just five short days after the release. On the Billboard 200, her album started off the bat with the No. 1 spot and claimed the title of the biggest streaming week in Billboard history. On the Hot 100 chart, Swift broke her own record previously set by her album Midnights by filling the top 14 spots with songs from TTPD. She now ranks at number two for the most weeks spent at No. 1, recently surpassing Elvis Presly and second only to The Beetles. This is only a small portion of the records broken by The Tortured Poets Department and Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift went back on tour with her first show after a break in Paris on May 9, 2024. The fans shortly realized that they were going to be the first ones to experience songs from TTPD live. Taylor added a whole section to her performance for The Tortured Poets Department, with seven songs added. There are completely new outfits for her performance and even new merch.
Taylor Swift is known for her easter eggs, hidden meanings, and secret clues that she sneaks into her songs. Her fans have gotten accustomed to this and now look for these things and love to create theories about which song is about which ex-boyfriend, or how it relates to her life. Many of the songs on TTPD have been concluded to be about her ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, who she had dated for six years; these songs include “So Long London”, “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”, “loml”, and “How Did It End?”. There are also a few songs that have been rumored to be about her more recent ex, Matty Heally, including “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”, “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can), and Fortnight (ft. Post Malone). The fans are most excited about the songs about her current boyfriend and football star, Travis Kelce; they include “So High School”, “The Alchemy”, etc. Lastly, she wrote one song speculated to be about her past rival, Kim Kardashian; the song title is “thanK you aIMee” with the capital letters spelling out Kim and the first lyrics describing Kim's appearance.
Scott Lindsay (12) explains his opinion on TTPD: “I was inspired by my best friend to listen to The Tortured Poets Department. My favorite song is probably “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”. I actually made it into the first 10% of streams so I basically consider myself a super fan now – I even sent her a grad card.”
This is my favorite album so far, and I have been avidly listening to it nonstop since it came out. I enjoy diving into the TikTok rabbit hole of song theories, and I have made some of my own. Scott Lindsay (12) explains his opinion on TTPD: “I was inspired by my best friend to listen to The Tortured Poets Department. My favorite song is probably “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”. I actually made it into the first 10% of streams so I basically consider myself a super fan now – I even sent her a grad card.”
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