By Julia Ryan – Staff Reporter

Taylor Swift announced her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on February 4 at the Grammys, after she won Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights.” On April 19, the album was released at midnight with 15 songs. But, this was not the end of the album because she also dropped a surprise double album at 2 a.m. called, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”  Swifts calls herself the chairman of, “The Tortured Poets Department,” and believes that once we have spoken our saddest story we can be free of it; Then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry. The album genre consists of a synth-pop sound, with rock and folk styling. Her music and storytelling reflects everything that she has gone through within the past two years, while on tour and re-releasing many of her previous albums. Swift’s storytelling comes into play as many of these songs on the album are about her ex boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, her short lived relationship with Matt Healy and Travis Kelce, her current boyfriend. From the second this album was dropped Taylor Swift’s fans, also known as Swifites, have been continuing to analyze her lyrics and the poetry among it all. 

Track number one on the album is called, “Fortnight.” It is currently the first track to be announced as a single that has a collaboration and music video with Post Malone. The lyrics in the song repeatedly come back to, “I love you, it’s ruining my life.” In this exact lyric Swift leaves nothing to the imagination by expressing exactly how she feels. The music video she directed and produced is an accurate representation of what she pictured as the song’s message. The music video takes place in a mental hospital/insane asylum where she is dressed as Clara Bow. Throughout this music video and the track from “The Anthology,” “Clara Bow,” Swift draws parallels between her and Bow’s respective careers and highly publicized lives in the spotlight. Another collaboration on the album is, “Florida!!! Featuring Florence + The Machine.” This song is unlike any other on the album because it is not about a former boyfriend or exciting new one, it is a message about escape. If you could guess it, Taylor Swift meant for that escape to be Florida and continues on in the chorus where Swift and Florence Welch belt, “Florida/ Is one h*ll of a drug/ Florida/ Can I use you up?”

“So Long, London,” was one of the most anticipated songs on the album and it did not disappoint. Joe Alwyn, from Swift’s previous 6 year relationship, was from London. Fans went wild when they first heard about the title to this track because he was her muse for many years especially when writing the album and song, “Lover.” The lyrics towards the end of the song are, “For so long, London, had a good run, a moment of warm sun, but I’m not the one.” Ultimately Swift gave up on the relationship after she knew she wasn’t the one and no longer felt the joy she felt when she was writing her song, “London Boy” on the album, “Lover.” Not only did Swift write about Alwyn, but she wrote about Matt Healy and her interesting relationship with him. Fans were surprised that there were a lot of songs about him, but it was blatantly obvious when many of her lyrics were gravitating towards him. In the song, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” Swift wrote, “And I don’t miss what we had, but could someone give, a message to the smallest man who ever lived.” As Swift talks about Matt Healy and the small man he is, she gives insight on how the short lived relationship, that many people had thought fizzled out on its own, clearly had more to the story within the lyrics in this song. 

Travis Kelce was the subject of two songs on the album: “The Alchemy,” and “The Anthology” track “So High School.” “The Alchemy” is a representation of the chemistry between Swift and Kelce and how they could not deny that there was something between them. Their relationship was rumored to start sometime around after Kelce attended her concert and tried to give her his number on a friendship bracelet after the show. Their “Love Story, ” is so entertaining, that some might say they are the real life Grabriella Montez and Troy Bolton. Expressed in the lyrics, “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle,” Swift compares how different this relationship is for her and how she feels so giddy around him, like she is back in high school. The mix between moods and emotions on this album is something that no other album has done.  

Other songs on the album are rumored to be about her fans, showbiz, her career, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and her childhood.  In, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” Taylor touches upon her career and how showbiz has changed her in many ways. This connects with the song, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” where it is believed that she is talking about how she had to go on and perform for her fans during her famous world record breaking tour, “Eras Tour,” after having ended things with Joe. It is no secret that Swift’s severely famous lifestyle isn’t easy but through her songwriting she has the ability to let it all out and leave it in the past. Although many people tend to gravitate towards her pop albums it still contains many great hits. The folk styling is just like her albums, “Folklore,” and “Evermore.” Many people say it is a long lost cousin to the album, “Midnights.” Either way Swift has a way of reaching large audiences of more than just Swifities because she is able to resonate experiences with others. Between the entire 31 songs on the album there is a good mix between sad and upbeat songs. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars