The Landscape of Love and Loss: Analysis of Taylor Swift's 'THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT'
- blondevibrations
- May 3, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2024
Taylor Swift is an absolute force to be reckoned with in the current music industry, it feels like she has everyone wrapped around her finger, and I personally buy into every second of it. With ‘Reputation’ as my favourite Swift album, and its Taylor’s Version re-record being rumoured to be announced at the GRAMMYs, I was both excited and minorly disappointed with ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’ announcement - though, we all figured that this announcement rumour was fake when Swift stepped out in a white (!!!) Schiaparelli dress. However, I cannot express how much this album has risen in my ranking of Swift’s eleven albums to a top three spot, alongside ‘Reputation’ and ‘folklore’. For avid listeners of the album, I feel like this isn’t a shocking addition, as the album is soaked with similar vibes, both lyrically and sonically, to ‘Reputation’ and ‘folklore’. As a holder of two English literature degrees, the poetry and literature references throughout the album makes it a super exciting body of work to analyse, and that’s what I’ve done. When listening to the album for the first time, I selected my ten favourite tracks (in no particular order) to shortlist into this article - which I should preface by saying they are taken from ‘THE ANTHOLOGY’ edition. On its release day, the double album was shocking and overwhelming for many listeners, therefore I hope the addition of some bonus tracks in this article can release a bit of the thirty-one track consumption anxiety that many listeners get with this album! Let’s commence this Tortured Poets meeting….
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me -
This track is built for the ‘Reputation’ lovers, with Swift’s unapologetic confrontational lyricism making a welcomed comeback, featuring the iconic phrasing ‘You don’t get to tell me about sad.’ It feels like this album is Swift really reclaiming her own power and comfort in her own emotions. In ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT', Swift unapologetically shares the stages of processing a breakup with all its corresponding intense emotions, and this is so refreshing to see after previous criticism of Swift’s overly dramatic tendencies - even if this was true, what’s the problem with that? Speaking of drama, it is almost impossible to listen to this song without acting like you are performing in Swift’s ‘tolerate it’ section of the Eras Tour. Swift demonstrates in this album how she transforms pain into motivation and power, and ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me’ is the prime example of this, especially with the title potentially nodding to Edward Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ - a play about the downfall of a marriage. Swift encapsulates female rage in the face of betrayal and heartbreak in this track, and fights back from the self-depreciating tendencies of a breakup.
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart -
Who else has sat at home for the past year in awe at how Taylor Swift manages a 3-hour set most nights? If you didn’t already have the upmost respect for Swift as a performer, you certainly will now. As with ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me’, I’m absolutely a sucker for Swift acknowledging her strengths, having witnessed her be unfairly and unjustly torn to shreds throughout her career; she says it herself perfectly, she’s a ‘real tough kid.’ Swift’s production with long-term collaborator, Jack Antonoff, takes an exciting turn with the inclusion of a click track, inviting her listeners to take a step in her ‘stilettos for miles.’ The whiplash in this song is a perfect break from her classic Swiftian ballads, but maintaining the album’s theme, and seems to reflect Swift’s experience on tour. We know that Swift is more than equipped to write heartbreak anthems for us all to wallow and cry to, but ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ gives us a new outlook at moving on from past relationships. Sometimes you do just have to ‘fake it ‘til you make it’, as unfortunately the world doesn’t just stop because you’re sad.
loml -
A pleasant surprise on this album was another reunion between Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner (‘The National’, ‘Big Red Machine’, as well as collaborator Swift’s ‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’). The song illustrates the movement of love to loss, with the title’s ambiguous abbreviation. This strategic abbreviation is so chronically Swift, with fans initially anticipating it to be short for ‘love of my life’, but in reality standing for ‘loss of my life’ - as Swift never even says the phrasing ‘love of my life.’ Swift and Dessner’s combined writing once again leaves no listener without tears, giving words for the conflict of simultaneous attachment and detachment at the end of a relationship. It’s hard not to associate the lyrics’ imagery in this new album, especially with ‘loml’, with the saturated lyricism and storytelling on ‘Lover’, letting the corresponding artwork speak for itself - what once was colourful and vibrant is left monochromatic. Throughout the song, Swift makes direct comparisons between the beginning and end of a relationship, for example ‘Mr. Steal Your Girl, then make her cry’ and ‘”I’ll never leave,” “Never mind”; it’s incredible how Swift can present an image of a long term relationship in less than five minutes, and is a testament of her strong writing ability, especially when paired with Dessner.
thanK you aIMee -
Kids who used to sing ‘Mean’ at school are now adults and singing along to ‘thanK you aIMee’; just another example of how Swift and her music grows with her own fanbase. We’re told that sometimes other children are just nasty, but in reality those children grow up and continue to be nasty, when we’ve been told they’ll grow up! In this song, Swift tactically puts these grown-up bullies in their place and applies her classic silver lining - let them throw punches, and focus on building something that ‘they cannot undo’. Though the sensitivity of the album’s subject, Swift sets a president for her listeners that if you keep powering through, your efforts will be rewarded; Taylor Swift is my favourite motivational speaker. Swift is known at this point for her Easter eggs, and the subtle ways that she invites her readers to read between the lines to understand the personal meanings behinds songs. This track’s title is one of the loudest ways Swift has commented on a certain ongoing celebrity rift, showing her growing power in a situation in which she was previously too young and polite to speak up about. I can only imagine how healing writing and releasing this song must feel, and I cannot wait to see her listeners grow confidence from listening to it throughout life, in the same way that older fans grew up with the stronger tracks of ‘Red’.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived -
Much like ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’, Swift takes a classic phrase making it her own. The gradual move from the in-line piano and vocal melodies at the start of the song into the intense bridge (a feature that Swift is known for) mirrors the frustration of abandonment without rhyme or reason. The bridge features questions that we all ask after a relationship breakdown, but remains unanswered; Swift maintains her relatability in her songs, presenting a realistic image of the process of heartbreak, and ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ wreaks of the ‘anger’ stage. However, this series of questions also illuminates the difficulty of dating when so heavily present in the public eye, especially with the question of ‘Were you writin’ a book?’, Swift’s dating life has been the topic of thousands of articles over the years, and this bridge highlights the long-lasting damage that the media placing this magnifying glass on her life has. The flipping of ‘forgive but don’t forget’ to forgetting the man in question makes my stubborn and revenge-hungry heart very happy and strongly solidifies the song’s stage in the theory of the album’s grieving patterns.
imgonnagetyouback -
Continuing with the ‘anger’ stage of Swift album, ‘imgonnagetyouback’ is the classic debate of whether you want someone back, or you want to get back at them - a topic that appears very frequently in current pop culture. The combination between alluring lines like ‘I can feel it coming, humming in the way you move’ and violent, criminal imagery with ‘Even if it's handcuffed, I'm leaving here with you’ builds a story like ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’. The song features parallels to previous songs like ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Don’t Blame Me’ with references to playing ‘the game’ and ‘poison’; one of the many ways in which Swift subtly builds upon previous songs with this progression in her storylines. When paired with ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ and ‘Blank Space’, this track really speaks to the presence of Swift’s love life in the public eye and media, with ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ as the consequence of this, and the “craziness” of ‘imgonnagetyouback’ and ‘Black Space’ being how the world (specifically the misogynist world) sees Swift in her romantic endeavours.
The Black Dog -
‘The Black Dog’ is a gut-wrenching track about the unstoppable end of a relationship. The repeated line of ‘Old habits die screaming’ highlights the unescapable torment of the death of a relationship, after spending time sharing your life with somebody. Another line that stands out in this song is the ‘tail between your legs’ analogy, a common reference, but throughout the album, Swift continues to use animal imagery. For example in ‘loml’, she has a subtle reference to The Wizard of Oz, stating the coward ‘claimed he was a lion’, and ‘Who’s afraid of Little Old Me’ produces an image of Swift as a circus animal. These beastial descriptions adds emphasis to the innate pain of breakups, but also the intensity of her relationships. While the song suggests that ‘The Black Dog’ is a bar in London, the image of black dogs are also frequently used as a metaphorical representation of melancholy or depression. The more surface level reading of this image of a black dog also feels into death (and funeral) imagery, symbolising the death of a relationship, and the deep sadness and inevitable grief that comes with this.
Peter -
As someone who has written multiple theses on Peter Pan, I had high hopes for this track when I saw its title. Swift is a master at taking popular references and refreshing them, and this track proves it. Peter Pan is the perfect literary connection for the storytelling of this album, as it is a story riddled with anxieties of passing time - something that is a common thought in the breakdown of long term relationships. ‘Peter’ is the perfect blend between Swift’s trend of holding individuals accountable in her songwriting, but also intricate and detailed storytelling, with the bridge conjuring up a picturesque scene of Peter and Wendy (or Swift and this ex-partner) being apart, and Swift/Wendy eventually losing their patience. The passage of time is a common theme in Swift’s writing, and this is not surprising with her coming of age being immortalised in both her music and the media, but also then what it means for this time to pass. While on the subject matter of growing up (and the conflicting emotions of this), to me, ‘Peter’ is a different side to the same coin of ‘Nothing New’, a ‘Red’ vault track featuring Phoebe Bridgers, concerned with the industry’s attitude towards ageing female musicians.
The Tortured Poets Department -
The second song on the album, and title track, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the project, especially when paired with ‘Fortnight’. The song features literature references to Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and the Chelsea Hotel (a hotel that the writers frequented), which we would expect from Swift given the title and the promotional material released on the run-up to the album. However, this is then contrasted with the phrasing of ‘modern idiots’, Charlie Puth (ouch, sorry) and the empty gesture of moving one’s ring onto the wedding finger, to counteract the otherwise deep metaphorical imagery associated with literature, poetry and typewriters. Personally, I pair this track with ‘I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)’, both songs illuminate how it feels to be truly captivated by a new lover, but eventually this guise being dispelled and realising that you had gotten carried away from the excitement of romantic potential. I love this reminder that Swift can still get carried away by romantic gestures and the excitement of new love, as we have seen with her previous albums, and brings a real sense of drama to her storytelling - you can almost picture this relationship in a cinema screening.
The Manuscript -
After thirty new tracks, ‘The Manuscript’ is the perfect ending to this body of work - with the track’s title nodding to the album’s poetic and literary theme. Swift’s ability to move between storylines in this album (and her discography as a whole) is truly admirable, and along with this comes her skill in portraying both thorough, small details and a broad, wider picture. The ending of this song shares a similar tone to the ending of the ‘All Too Well’ short film, which also is concerned with traumatic previous relationships but acknowledging the silver living of the growth from said relationship. The final line of ‘But the story isn’t mine anymore’ is haunting as the album ends, but summarises Swift’s resonance with her audience. The track ties up the common threads of the entire double album, including the notes of ageing and coming of age that were discussed in relation to ‘Peter’, from wishing ‘she was thirty’ to only eating ‘kids' cereal.' This imagery adds to discussions on the passing time, but also with the vulnerability that comes with the breakdown of a relationship. Another line reads ‘Lookin’ backwards might be the only way to move forward’ showing the movement of the album, and argues for the comfort that it may give Swift to write about these experiences in her music - something that she has been criticised for in the past.
As with all of Swift’s albums, I feel like ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’ is going to have a long lasting affect on anyone who takes the two hours to sit down and listen to it in full. It highlights everything that fans adore Swift for, from her humble candidness to intricate storytelling, wrapped up with some really exciting and catchy new sounds. We can never bet on how long an album era will last, as seen from the movement from ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ back to ‘Midnights' on Swift’s social media platforms, but I do hope that we can remain in this Tortured Poets era for a nice while to allow us to really soak in all of the content that we have been given in this double album drop.
Written by Lilyemma, Blonde Vibrations co-founder.