Artist: Taylor Swift
Album Title: The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
Genre: Pop
Release Date: April 19, 2024
Overal Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the midst of her rerecordings and cryptic clues, Taylor Swift has once again left her loyal fans astonished. Releasing her eleventh studio album on April 19, 2024, Swift surprised her fans with an unexpected extended version. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology included 15 added tracks, the double album came out 3 hours after its predecessors release leaving fans with double the music to enjoy and decode.
In 31 tracks, TTPD gives fans an insight to Swift’s recent years full of change and transformation. With songs such as The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, Swift takes listeners through her recent split and the start of The Eras Tour. TTPD explores a synth-pop sound while delivering Folklore quality lyricism as Swift does what she does best, tell her story.
Track 1: Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Opening TTPD, Taylor uses Fortnight to tell her story with “the miracle move-on-drug” she uses to get over her break up with temporary effects. Rumored to be about her very public and highly scrutinized fling with musician Matty Healy, Fortnight recounts her feelings of loss that came along with it. With Post Malone’s background vocals and featured verse, the harmonies and echos add a bittersweet element to a deceivingly upbeat song with layers of depth.
Track 5: So Long, London ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Swift’s track 5 once again leaves listeners with heavy hearts, as per tradition the fifth track is usually reserved for the most emotionally packed song on the album and So Long, London is no different. The song serves as Swift’s reflection on her breakup with her longterm British partner. So Long, London acts as a goodbye and a direct parallel to earlier song London Boy. She uses London as personification of her partner and symbolically leaves it (her relationship) behind.
Track 8: Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Florida’s production is undoubtedly the stand out of TTPD, with booming drums and an electric chorus the song transports you to a much needed escape. The mix of vocals from Swift and Florence Welch tell a story of escaping the consequences of your actions. With striking one-liners like “So you pack your life away just to wait out the shitstorm back in Texas” Florida acts as a bittersweet anthem, a bridge to a getaway.
Track 16: Clara Bow ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In her sixteenth track, Swift takes listeners through a universal storyline we will continue to observe for decades to come. Clara Bow tells the story of what its like to be a woman in the spotlight, and emphasizes the rotating belle’s of the public. Beginning the song comparing a newly famous woman to 1920s superstar Clara Bow, Swift takes you decades into the future as she creates another comparison, this time to 70s legend Stevie Nicks. The cycle repeats itself one final time in Clara Bow, coming full circle as it closes with “You look like Taylor Swift in this light, we’re loving it.”
