Taylor Swift

The Tortured Poets Department is open for business, and the LP does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s tortured by name, tortured by nature.

Throughout her career, Taylor Swift has been known for both her bright, bubbly tunes and sorrowful heartbreak songs. For every ‘All Too Well’, there is a ‘22’; ‘Dear John’ is counterbalanced by "Mine"; a ‘Picture to Burn’ has been soothed by ‘Our Song’. It's an approach that has served the artist well over the years, but it's one she has opted to dispense with this time around.
 
Across 16 tracks—or 31 for those who choose the Anthology version—Swift takes the listener through an emotional wringer with very little metaphorical sunlight to warm the listeners' hearts.
 
Thematically, Swift takes her audience on a journey fraught with faint-hearted lovers, the tenuous thrill of bad boys fuelled by illusory hope, and the stubborn determination to stick it to the haters. All this takes place in the wearying fishbowl of celebrity. This does not escape the irked songwriter's firing line.
 
The project may have a gloomier tone than usual, but its author's prodigious talents remain on show throughout, both with a pen and in the vocal booth.
 
Sometimes, the 34-year-old's sharpness takes the form of the sad pop bop ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’; elsewhere, it’s the faux naïveté on the likes of the title track, while it’s a pithy line that unlocks the truth on ‘loml’.
 
That’s not to say that every song should be preserved in the Sistine Chapel. The clunky ‘Down Bad’ puts pay to a spotless work of art early on, but big missteps are fortunately rare.
 
The eponymous track is an early high point on the listener’s long voyage. The Grammy Award winner quickly opines:
"But you're in self-sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road, but I've seen this episode and still loved the show"
 
It's a succinct verse that quickly keys us into the truth of our point of view character’s state of mind and temperament. And yet, despite the warning signs, our protagonist persists as she states:
"Who's gonna hold you like me ,nobody, no-fucking-body, nobody"
 
The song implies the possibility of a "heart-exploding" marriage, but even the singer doesn’t seem convinced. In another telling line, she sings:
"Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be."
 
The woman who once penned dreams of fairytale romance now has her avatars struggling to muster even a seedling of true optimism, instead settling for going through the motions of love until the bitter end.
 
The fretful ode is a melodically bright '80s-style track which embalms a more jaded outlook.
‘So Long London’ quickly follows, further devastating fans' emotional stability.
"You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof", a pained Swift sings.
 
With a pounding heartbeat, the song comes off as a sequel to the Midnights bonus track ‘You’re Losing Me.’
Last time the lovers were under the spotlight, things looked rocky, and the prognosis from Dr. Swift is not great.
 
With a hint of Lana Del Rey, Taylor laments:
"I stopped CPR, after all it's no use, the spirit was gone, we would never come to.”
 
As well as being lyrically engaging, the work showcases the artist's ever-strengthening vocal talents. While Swift sings of the breakdown, she is able to bring out a listless sadness in her voice. With a well-placed wobble, the vocalist provides the subtlety of emotion while maintaining strong vocal charisma.
 
The album finds the self-proclaimed chairman of the Tortured Poets Department not only ensconced in breakup drama but seemingly willing to court it at times. ‘But Daddy I Love Him’  finds the storyteller in a defiant mood as she unlocks fresh torment from Pandora’s box.
 
This time on the chopping block are all the naysayers condemning a controversial Matty Healy-sized relationship. The two singers notably dated much to the chagrin of the Internet, and Swift hasn’t quite forgiven those folks just yet. She artfully, if bitterly, comments:
"I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing"
 
Despite the scornful prose, the songstress hasn’t lost her sense of humour as she cheekily exclaims:
"But daddy I love him, I'm having his baby, no, I'm not, but you should see your faces."
 
A playful hint of wit amidst the angst.
In fact, the song marks one of the few occasions in which Swift allows a moment to experience the unconfined joy of love.
“I’m telling him to floor it through the fences, no, I’m not coming to my senses, I know he’s crazy but he’s the one I want”, the love-struck bard shouts to the world.
 This doesn’t have the wonderstruck optimism of an ‘Enchanted’ or an ‘Our Song’, but just for a second the storyteller seems almost carefree and living in the moment.

For all its strengths, the album rarely takes the time to delve into the adrenaline heart-fluttering romance, which ignites combustible relationships.
 
The 11th album persists with its hero in the role of moth to a flame with ‘I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)’ featuring the bad boy as a sharp-talking cowboy, ‘loml’ meanwhile casts him in the role of a Casanova, fraudster, offering a tantalising picture of heaven and then handing her hell.
 
As the former offers a backing track fit to grace a Western, the latter provides some of the most incisive lines of the work. The song nods to a single glance that sets the dreams of a happy ending alight before tearing them down.
 
The musician proclaims:
"If you know it in one glimpse, it’s legendary, you and I go from one kiss to getting married."
But the lavender haze is no match for tenuous foundations. In one of the album's best moments, Swift poetically lays it bare:
"When your impressionist paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes."
 
If that doesn’t convince one of the fragility of the affair, then a later pithy line should leave them in little doubt:
"A con man sells a fool a get love quick scheme."
 
These brief lines artfully bring home what brought the couple here and why it will ultimately crumble.
 
Thematically, the album feels heavier than its predecessors, but this doesn't mean there isn’t room for a bit of fun and stress relief.
 
Sounding deliciously dramatic, ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’ is for those who love a spot of hammy villainy.

Found as part of the 31 track edition ‘Imgonnagetyoubackcouple’ is head over heels for a former beau. Swift just isn't quite sure whether it’s head over heels in love or in a scrap. ‘Thank You alMee’ gleefully revels in the artist’s success despite the best efforts of a media bully. Think ‘Mean’, 2.0.
One song promised success admits the vitriol and now we get the I told you so. The target is different, but the sentiment is the same.
 
 
There are moments of frivolity, but these are usually tempered by a black cloud of doom on the horizon. This is not to say the quality of the work has diminished, but rather this is not the main focus of the album.
 
Throughout the megastar's career, she has inked tales of soul-crushing lows and euphoric highs. The Tortured Poets Department takes us through the battle, the stress, the strain, the sorrow, and the runaway train of inevitable heartbreak, without truly allowing us to bask in the carefree joy of love and life.

With lyrics about a heart on reserve for each other and the happy couple being on a “winning streak,” 'The Alchemy' attempts this in the late innings of the standard release, but it’s not quite strong enough to hoist the listener away from the emotional devastation to happier climes.
 
Yes, sunshine and rainbows is not what the project is here for, but if ‘The Alchemy’ is designed as the payoff for an enjoyable if intense ride, it needs to be lyrically warmer, and stronger. A song similar to the gentle piano lead comfort of reputation’s ‘New Year’s Day’ would have worked perfectly in this situation.
 
Whether fans choose the long or short version of the project, they’ll find a familiar sound waiting for them. Long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff and more recent teammate Aaron Dessner reclaim their places in the production booth alongside Swift. As a result, the album is a smartly produced mixture of synthetic and electronic along with acoustic string-led numbers.
 
The soundscapes are more often than not engaging while carrying their singer’s messages and emotions effectively. Musically the album feels like folklore with an 80s flavouring.
 
The bubbly, synth on ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ as well as intentionally saccharine vocal pair perfectly together. ‘Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?’ meanwhile, brings guitars, and drums, that rumble and trundle towards the hook’s crescendo, as we race through the villain's lair.
 
‘Florida!!!’ is another of the set’s heavy hitters as it creates the vibe of two bandits on the run from their sins, amongst the Florida swamps. Florence + the Machine are the willing partners in crime and almost steal the show from their host.
 
Speaking to iHeartRadio, Swift said of the song:
"What happens when your life doesn’t fit, or your choices you’ve made catch up to you, and there’s just, you’re surrounded by these harsh consequences…”
(via Oleander-in-Spring on Reddit)
 
The Wilds of Florida, it would seem, is the refuge for those on the run.
Florence Welch embraces her assignment to the fullest. With a playful hint of a southern accent, she relishes each line, before turning her rich, wobbling voice up to the max. The duo displays superb vocal chemistry together in an atmospheric offering.
 
The production is top-notch, in no small part thanks to Welch’s ethereal approach. Amongst the humming synth, you can hear what could almost be the wind of the wilderness, and is that a guitar squeak or a bird squawk?
 
Overall, The Tortured Poets Department continues to prove Taylor Swift’s lyrical class as the album takes the audience to the depths. Regular fans will appreciate Swift’s typical personal touch, while new listeners may find the record a little too blue to jump on board. The double set is the record that fans once believed that they were getting when 2017’s reputation was announced.

While reputation presented a moody exterior it wore its love story on its sleeve.  The Tortured Poets Department on the other hand, is all mood.