Poorwa's blog

“All’s fair in love and poetry…”

I knew it was over for me when I first read that handwritten note on Taylor Swift’s Instagram post 10 weeks ago.

Finally, The Tortured Poets Department is here now. I had actually forgotten that it was going to be released yesterday as I myself was busy receiving a big shock and dealing with my life. Anyway, on the positive note, it makes me want to listen to this album of hers even more because Taylor has always found a way to convey the unsaid, unspoken feelings into melodies that we can all relate to.

So now without any further ado, let’s take a tour of The Tortured Poets Department…

“I have never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets”

(Oh it’s going to be serious…)

Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)

Just 2 seconds into the album and you get the hang of what is going on. “I was supposed to be sent away /
But they forgot to come and get me”, it’s over guys. I always have expectations from the lead single of an album as it gives the whole intro, and Fortnight is just what I needed. Even the violent lyrics like “I wanna kill her” go along smoothly with the pleasant symphony making it the very song I would love to add to my playlist right now. Post Malone really did magic to the song with his adlibs, and boy… I’m in love with the outro.

“I love you, it’s ruining my life.”

The Tortured Poets Department

Okay, that Charlie Puth shout-out was quite unexpected. I think I’ll have to dive into his discography after this, I think he’s already a big artist. Anyway, The Tortured Poets Department feels like it has some inside joke that I am not able to decode (guess that modern idiots line was for me lol), as I’ve never looked into the singer’s personal life so I don’t know much about who this song is referring to. Also as a title track, the song doesn’t really stand out for me, the drums in the intro too sounded similar to Anti-hero. Maybe I should come back here after playing it a few more times.

(I’m listening to it again now at the end of the day, and you could tell from my face that I’m getting obsessed with this song now.)

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

Oh the chorus has been stuck into my mind. This one definitely deserves to be on her concert tracklist. Though I would have liked it even better if there was a bit more in the bridge. It feels like the outros have taken place of the bridges in this album. But the chorus still stands out.

“My boy (My boy), only breaks his favorite toys, toys, oh
I’m queen (I’m queen), of sand castles he destroys, oh, oh
‘Cause I knew too much, there was danger in the heat of my touch
He saw forever, so he smashed it up, oh, oh”

Down Bad

Never been in a club in my life yet but why does the chorus hit like a distant memory. Of all the songs on TTPD I’ve listened to yet, Down Bad is my favorite. And I love Taylor for dropping the f-bomb in this because it was needed. The cry of ‘F-it I was in love’ and the blend of pop with sad lyrics… oh I’m so here for it. No more talk, just go and listen to it if you haven’t and even if you have, I know you wouldn’t mind singing “Now I’m down bad, cryin’ at the gym / Everything comes out teenage petulance” one more time.

So Long, London

So Long, London being the 5th track of TTPD, dwells into the agony of letting go of a relationship that you tried so hard to save but it is crumbling in your face – “I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift / Pulled him in tighter each time he was driftin’ away / My spine split from carrying us up the hill.”

But Daddy I Love Him

“God save the most judgmental creeps / Who say they want what’s best for me”, this one’s for all the toxic fans out there. I’ll tell you something right now, I love it when artists call out the people who claim to have their best interests at heart but willingly make life harder for them. “I’m havin’ his baby / No, I’m not, but you should see your faces” got me laughing lol, it must have given a good jumpscare to all those people.

“I’ll tell you something ’bout my good name
It’s mine alone to disgrace
I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing”

Fresh Out The Slammer

I like the pre-chorus parts “Gray and blue and fights and tunnels / Handcuffed to the spell I was under / For just one hour of sunshine” and “My friends tried, but I wouldn’t hear it / Watch me daily disappearing / For just one glimpse of his smile”. The song is about breaking free from a relationship which she compares to a prison. After breaking free, she knows where is home.

Florida (feat. Florence + The Machine)

Talking about the song, Taylor explains that Florida is a stereotypical location to which criminals flee to start afresh. The perfect place to start anew after a breakup and bury up the regrets. Though it is meaningful, the song really doesn’t get to me like the others. The loud drums in the chorus didn’t work for me, maybe if she used something like that in the previous tracks, it would go along well.

Guilty As Sin?

“I keep recalling things we never did” was quite personal. Guilty As Sin serves as a nice sing along track but some parts of it are a bit- boring. The lyrics are beautifully written and the chorus is a hit for me, still, the track overall isn’t something I would listen to a lot. But the possibilities are still there that I might like it more after a while.

Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?

This one reminds me a bit of the song I Know Places, one my all-time favorites. The members of the tortured poets department will relate hard. Every lyric is like a punchline and it’s just stunning. Where do I even start now? “I’m always drunk on my own tears, isn’t that what they all said?”, oh, the respect I have for her, I just love this woman.

“You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me”

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

Listening to this track, it felt like going through someone’s diary entries. Telling yourself that you can fix something, convincing yourself to believe it even if deep down you have already realized that it’s no good. I think I will have to listen to this song a few more times before I give my final opinion on whether I like it or not, but for now it’s a skip for me.

loml

Taylor beautifully converts and changes the abbreviation ‘loml’ meaning from ‘love of my life’ to ‘loss of my life’ in the end. I guess the lowercase title suggests the somber tone of the track because when you’re this sad, no one cares to emphasis on the letters and turn on the caps lock. Where do I start… the piano in the beginning gave me the hint, now I’m totally in love with this song. It’s no use to select a few lines and paste them here because it’s the whole song that is doing the magic.

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

I was grinning and I was crying while this track broke the broken heart again. “Lights, camera, bitch, smile
Even when you wanna die”, “All the piеces of me shatterеd as the crowd was chanting – More”, “I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day”… stop, Taylor, I can’t handle anymore. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart is the sarcastic-depressing highlight of the album for me. Already added to my On Repeat playing on Spotify.

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

I wonder what someone did to be the one she is referring to in this song. It gets better and better every time you hear it. From expressing broken feelings with sighs in the first half of the song, to letting the emotions become the wildfire that will burn down everything. The combination of piano and synth create a perfect atmosphere of disappointment that she tries to express here. I love this song.

“And I don’t even want you back, I just want to know
If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal”

The Alchemy

“Where’s the trophy? He just comes runnin’ over to me”, love this line. Other than that, The Alchemy doesn’t really stand out for me. It also sounds a bit similar to some other tracks on the album, but they still had something that gave them a highlight. For me, there’s something missing in here. Or maybe I’ve just listened to too many breakup songs that a love song isn’t fitting in well?

Clara Bow

Before playing the track I did a quick google search on Clara Bow and learned about The First It Girl. And oh my gosh, this is the perfect ending track for this album. In the song, Taylor sings about her life in the spotlight, starting her career at such a young age how she felt as if an invisible string is tying her to this industry. “Take the glory, give everything / Promise to be dazzling” expresses the dreams of glory, while “Only when your girlish glow flickers just so / Do they let you know / It’s hell on earth to be heavenly” contains a sense of regret. However, as the song comes to an end, Swift adds her own name to the succession of the two stars she mentions earlier in the song, depicting the cycle will go on.

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Final Thoughts

⭐4 out of 5

Favorite tracks from the album….

1. Down Bad
2. Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)
3. Clara Bow
4. But Daddy I love Him
5. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

I’ve been a fan of Taylor Swift’s songs since I was in middle school. But you know to review her albums, it is a tricky task because I’ve never looked into her personal life, and sometimes to understand her songs completely you should come well researched.

I’m going to be honest, if it weren’t for Taylor’s lyrical excellence, a number of songs in this album would be a skip for me. Because synth pop is not a genre I’m very invested in, still, I’m grateful to have these songs out there so I can seek for comfort when I need it. And I believe, for an album called ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, here everything perfectly fits in place.

Swift never fails to impress me with her ability of storytelling in her songs. The whole album was an emotional rollercoaster ride into the depths of raw human feelings and vulnerability, that made me recall emotions that I’ve never yet felt in life but can still relate.

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Let me know your views on The Tortured Poets Department in the comment section below.

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