RATING: 2.5 out of 5
“The Tortured Poets Department,” released on April 20, 2024, is Taylor Swift’s latest endeavor, a sprawling 31-track voyage focused on her feelings amidst the height of her fame. Many tracks were reminiscent of dull retail-store music, and it’s clear that this album was made for Swift’s dedicated fans. Each track contributes to a passably cohesive narrative and reads as a memoir, with “Manuscript,” the final song, confirming this idea. Initially, I was skeptical. ‘Midnights’ was mediocre, and I feared this new release might be equally or even more disappointing. While a few tracks did catch my interest, overall I found the album somewhat lacking.
While tracks like “Guilty as Sin?” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” stand out with their poignant lyricism, others blend into each other, lacking substance. One of my main issues with this album was the length; I wouldn’t recommend listening to the album in one sitting. It was hard to appreciate individual songs, and only a few songs truly stuck with me. The constant, near-random harmonies did nothing to highlight Swift’s voice. Few songs truly challenged her vocal ability, which isn’t necessarily an issue, but listening to similar melodies gets tiring. At times, the songs would be bland to the point of the listeners’ exhaustion, such as “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “Robin.”
Swift collaborated with Post Malone for her opening song “Fortnight,” and with Florence & The Machine for a song called “Florida!!!” While I found the former to be a subpar classic Taylor Swift song, “Florida!!!” truly shines for its refreshingly optimistic tunes amidst the somewhat depressing rest of the album.
In an ironic twist, the song I hated the most was “I Hate It Here.” Swift sings about wishing to be in the 1830s, “I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid.” In context, Taylor speaks about playing a game with her friends where they would pick a decade to live in instead of the current one. The 1830s were the worst period for African-Americans, and Swift addresses the issue by saying “removing the racists” and framing the issue of the 1830s to be misogyny. This isn’t poetry. This is a white woman redirecting the attention to white woman issues, and is, quite frankly, appalling. When I first listened to this song, before those lyrics, I thought the song was about her escapist tendencies, a need to go back to her childhood. I even liked the lyrics, “I hate it here so I will go to the secret gardens in my mind.” But the focus of her song now has become the 1830s line, and for that reason, I think Swift should have removed those lyrics.
Throughout the album, Swift’s uninspired descriptors of romance become fatigue-inducing, making the ending songs far more compelling because of their focus on other aspects of life such as betrayal, and regret. The song “thanK you aIMee,” a clear callout to the artist’s feud with another celebrity, also touches on the feeling of being bullied and hurt by another person, reminscent of an older, bitter version of Swift’s previous song “Mean.” Some other gems in the album include “Cassandra” and “The Prophecy.” In “Cassandra,” Swift’s voice is accompanied by piano, and I found it to be one of the few songs where the audio track doesn’t overpower her voice. The song alludes to Cassandra, a Greek seer who was cursed for her prophecies to be ignored. I found the lyric “when the truth comes out, it’s quiet” to be particularly touching.
Overall, I found the songs in this album to be hit-or-miss. Many tracks were skip-worthy, with a few rare standouts.