A few weeks ago, on April 19th, an incredibly exciting event occurred. Taylor Swift’s long-awaited new album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released at midnight EST. The fact that 258.3 million adults in the US alone consider themselves Swifties, this drop of this album has been anticipated eagerly for months. As a Swiftie myself, I am no exception.
Even if you’re not a Swiftie, give this article and the tracks it discusses a chance. The Tortured Poets Department is truly such a sensation, and this article only breaks 5 of (what I think) are its best tracks.
Two hours after the drop of the new album, Taylor shocked us all with the surprise release of a second part to the album, which she called The Anthology. It included 15 other songs that had not been a part of the tracklist.
Unsurprisingly, the drop of the album broke world records. Within four days, the album had over 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming the most streamed album on the entire platform. This week, it hit No.1 on Billboard 200 just weeks after its release, and even the physical merchandise sales, including vinyls, were incredibly successful.
In addition, there are so, so, so many details in TTPD and references to different events and underlying messages, but it would take five different blog articles to explain them all. If you’re interested in delving into the rabbit hole and learning about them, visit the Taylor Swift Wiki here, or just spend a bit of time on Swiftie Instagram Reels. You’ll discover just how much of a *mastermind* Taylor Swift really is.
If you’d like to listen to the album but haven’t the time for 31 songs, here are my reviews of the 5 highlighting songs in the album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
5. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
A haunting breakup song, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is one of the many songs in the album that Swifties strongly suspect as a reference to her recent breakup with Joe Alwyn after a six-year relationship. Some of the main themes in this song include betrayal, anger, and sadness… along with some biting insults toward her ex. If the rumours are true, Joe, you really messed up.
4. Fortnight
Although it’s one of the most popular songs on the album, I must admit that Fortnight wasn’t one of my favorites. However, it is such an iconic song that I needed to mention in this post, because of both its popularity and its contribution to the musical theme of the album. Mostly with pop synth and percussion, the song almost had the mood of a Midnights track but with less *shimmer*.
Rumour has it that Matty Healy, one of Taylor’s exes, was the inspiration for this song. She casually dated him for a short amount of time, and announced their relationship a month after publicizing her breakup with Joe Alwyn. Perhaps this brief romance sparked the name of the song?
3. The Bolter
Perhaps I’m a bit biased for this highlight. But I really, really do like this track. After listening to most of her more recent music, with its slightly more modern musical style, I really missed the acoustic sound of her guitar that first got her famous. The Bolter gives the acoustic feel and general vibe of her earliest albums, like a mix of Red and Fearless. It’s really almost a mashup of themes from different albums – the strumming guitar from the Fearless album, the storyline lyrics similar to the Evermore album, and the language choice of the Midnights album.
2. Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
There is so much to unpack with this song. But I won’t go into the symbolism or the deeper messages or all the rumours involved behind the song. Let’s get straight into why this song is one of the best ones in the album.
It’s among her collection of tracks across different albums that are really about her and reflect who she sees herself as. It’s mind-blowing to listen to this track and almost feel as if I can see inside the mind of one of the biggest music superstars. I really enjoy the growing theme of pensive self-reflection in more and more of her tracks. They have always existed in the vast majority of her music, but to see her expand the theme into more songs in her recent album and in Midnights.
Almost as if she’s reminding us all that she’s human too. Which honestly I think many of us forget because of how absolutely stunning Taylor Swift really is.
That brings us to the final track…
1. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
This track is clearly about Taylor’s feelings during the Eras Tour. It is about how she doesn’t fail to paste a smile on and achieve all of her career goals (“hit all my marks”) despite being heartbroken. The last lines in the song are:
“Cause I‘m miserable,
And no one even knows!
Try and come for my job.”
This is one of her first songs where she incorporates situational irony into music. And it suits the song perfectly. She’s a musical genius.
Taylor pairs up depressing lyrics with a fast paced, cheery tune and a major key. It drives the message that much deeper – that despite her feelings and her mental state, she truly had to fake it ’till she could make it, and she did. Having to go on tour for years singing love songs for people you just broke up with? It must have been so tough… yet nobody could tell, she hid it so well.
This is honestly my favorite song in the album, because it reflects how we never really know what struggles that someone could be hiding behind a set of smiles and happy lies.
TL;DR
Why are you reading this? What do you mean, it was too long? I summarized an album of 31 songs into its 5 best highlights, and minimized all of the TS references. But if you insist, here’s a numbered list of the best songs on The Tortured Poets Department. Give them a listen, even if you’re not a hardcore fan.
- I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
- Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
- The Bolter
- Fortnight
- The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived