A Tortured Poet’s Review: Analyzing The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
Taylor Swift, Photo credit: Los Angeles Times
By, Isabella Quintero
Almost two years since releasing her global record-breaking album Midnights, international singer/songwriter/performer Taylor Swift has swept the charts once again and stolen everyone’s attention with her brand-new double album that broke even her own records. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, a double album, has 31 songs filled with some of the most heartbreaking and vulnerable songs that Swift has ever released. In the wake of not one, but two public relationships crumbling into pieces with all eyes on her, the media has made endless theories about what and who these songs are really about.
As seen in her past albums, Swift has a recurring theme of writing largely for her fans. Of course, she writes for herself, but she also takes her fans and the records that her music could break into consideration. This album however, is different in the sense that it appears that she doesn’t care what anyone else wants to hear and is only writing for herself. She’s no longer holding back on name calling and dropping, the only names she didn’t reveal were the names of the theorized love stories she's breaking down in the songs.
It's fairly obvious that the level of fame that she’s reached hasn’t been healthy for her; in one of the new songs she even labels herself as a “functioning alcoholic”. Throughout the album she’s almost begging the public to see her as a person rather than a symbol that's idolized to the greatest extent for the public eye.
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology has many tracks that attempt to break down these artificial walls covering her real persona and personally, I have fallen in love with each and every single one of these songs. In order to really understand the way that I feel about them, I’m going to go song by song, give my overall thoughts, and my rating out of 5.
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology-
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology album cover
Photo credits: Spotify
Fortnight (feat. Post Malone):
Thoughts- The opening track really sets the fatalistic themes for the rest of the album. In it, Swift mentions two married neighbors having an affair over a fortnight, the story depicted being rumored to have factors referring to both Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, two of her past relationships. The lyric “I love you/ It’s ruining my life/ I touched you for only a fortnight” shows how difficult it was to love him because of the negative factors clouding the good of their relationship and even though she only ‘touched [him] for a fortnight’ it's still ruining her life from how much that relationship affected her.
Rating- 4/5
The Tortured Poets Department:
Thoughts- I went into this song with the utmost highest expectations because it’s the album title track but instead I was met with a pretty average song sonically and lyrically with an occasional cringy lyric, like the one about Charlie Puth that came out of nowhere. I love the way her voice sounds in this song with the very low register and then jumping to her higher notes and I like that despite the rumors of it being about Alwyn, the lyrics actually point more towards her relationship with Healy. I wouldn’t skip the song if it came on in the car but it's not my first pick when looking at the album as a whole. Regardless of that, I like the way that this song shows how Swift is really just writing whatever she feels and not caring if the public likes it or not anymore.
Rating- 3.5/5
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys:
Thoughts- I love the imagery she uses in this song, depicting herself as a toy that her significant other would only take off the shelf whenever he felt like it, and then break her when it got too real. The lyrics “Oh, here we go again./ The voices in his head/ Called the rain to end our days of wild” and “He saw forever so he smashed it up” insinuate that her partner, most likely Healy at the time, wasn’t able to commit fully to the relationship, leaving her whenever the relationship got more serious, claiming that she was ‘better off’ without him.
Rating- 5/5
Down Bad:
Thoughts- This song has such a fun beat but the lyrics Swift is singing are saying that she doesn’t think it's worth it if she can’t have ‘him’. The main lyric that stood out to me in this song was “How dare you think it's romantic/ Leaving me safe and stranded” that makes me believe that Healy left her after all of the scrutiny from the public on them and their relationship, claiming that she was better off, and safer away from his reputation. Despite what the public thought that they were just a fling, many of these songs insinuate that they were much more and the tragic breakup really tore apart at her.
Rating- 4/5
So Long, London:
Thoughts- As seen in every album Swift has put out, her track 5s are always her most vulnerable and heart wrenching, which this song proves to follow. This track is most likely a goodbye letter to her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, who’s relationship lasted over 6 years. This song, along with many others from albums like folklore, evermore, Midnights, and even Lover hint at many reasons why their relationship was failing for some time and eventually crumbled. Lyrics like “pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away” and “I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use” are very reflecting of how she felt as if the relationship had finally fallen apart after so long of holding tight to him. It references her song “You’re Losing Me” from the Midnights vault that expresses her desperation in the relationship that was no longer working. Another lyric, “Holding tight to your quiet resentment and/ My friends said it isn’t right to be scared/ Every day of a love affair/ Every breath feels like rarest air/ When you’re not sure if he wants to be there” show how much she tried to maintain the relationship despite how little he put in, how little he actually wanted her. Even though her friends warned her that the relationship had hit a point that wasn’t right, she didn’t want to let go.
Rating- 5/5
But Daddy I Love Him:
Thoughts- Just by listening to this song I can imagine her running across the beach with a long flowy dress, hair down, and feelings free out in the open. It really just shows how unbothered she’s become, choosing to love whoever she wants to despite the public scrutiny. This song is her telling her fans that this is her life, and she gets to choose how to live it. She needs to make the bad decisions to learn from. I love the way she addressed the public scrutiny by breaking the 4th wall and shocking everyone with her lyrics about having ‘his’ baby and then following it up with “No i’m not, but you should see your faces”, taunting the public for how much they judged her relationship. Throughout the song she claims that she knows the risk she’s taking but she chooses him and that's only for her to do which she shows in the lyric “I’ll tell you something about my good name/ It’s mine alone to disgrace/ I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing” After all the hatred spewed her way for this relationship in such a short time, this is her way of saying she doesn’t care what anyone says and that whatever she does with her life, especially in her romantic life, it will be her own choice, not anyone else’s.
Rating- 5/5
Fresh Out The Slammer:
Thoughts- This song in a way solidified fans’ theories of Healy being a large part of this album and Swift’s life in general. The lyrics display her being ‘fresh out the slammer’ which is most likely symbolizing getting out of a toxic relationship. Her relationship with Alwyn has been revealed by many of her newer lyrics to have been very rocky in later years and the public saw her get with Healy some months after the public breakup. Taylor Swift and Matty Healy have previously been rumored to be together all the way back from 2014, so it would make sense if she was saying that she’s going back to him after getting out of a toxic relationship that was draining her. The lyric “Swirled you into all of my poems” could indicate that she has previously written songs about Healy, as many fans have put it together that many of her and Healy’s songs have major similarities. Putting certain of their songs side by side can even sound like they’re having a conversation with each other.
Rating- 4/5
Florida!!! (Florence + The Machine):
Thoughts- I love the beat and the way Swift yells ‘Florida’ in this song, but I loved it even more when Florence’s verses began. I think her voice fits so well on this track and their voices together work magic. In theory, Florida in this song symbolizes something addicting that she needs to get back to, which could be a relationship, specifically a toxic one. Lyrics like “I need to forget so/ Take me to Florida/ I’ve got some regrets/ I’ll bury them in Florida” and “Love left me like this/ And I don’t want to exist/ So take me to Florida” could insinuate that she’s going back to a relationship that she knows isn’t as significant (a timeshare) after coming out of a serious relationship that left her so heartbroken she doesn’t want to remember it. What many fans have put together is that her and matty Healy had a situationship years ago when they used to be seen out together in 2014 and after getting out of her relationship with Joe Alwyn that was draining her, she went back to him because it was familiar and could’ve been a way for her to cope with someone she had history with.
Rating- 5/5
Guilty as Sin?:
Thoughts- This track has such a fun vibe with a slightly sad undertone as she’s reconsidering what she knows about her relationship, recalling things they never did but still feeling guilty. This is definitely the most scandalous song on the album as she experiences what she describes as ‘fatal fantasies’ about this person but defending herself from it because nothing ever actually happened. The lyrics “I keep recalling things we never did” and “Without ever touching his skin/ How can I be guilty as sin?” show her defensiveness towards the guilt that's put on her for this relationship, claiming that she never even touched him, despite how much she really wanted to. It could be in a literal or metaphorical sense but she’s defending herself from the guilt nevertheless.
Rating- 5/5
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?:
Thoughts- I love the witchy undertone to this song, kind of like how she does with willow on evermore but so much darker. In this track she's asking “who’s afraid of little old me?” and then following that up with “you should be''. The lyric “Is it a wonder I broke?/ Let’s hear one more joke” makes fans believe that this song is either about Joe Alwyn or Jo Koy, the host of the 2024 Golden Globes who made some really bad “jokes” about Swift. Despite the other very real possibility that she wrote this about Scooter Braun, the lack of annunciation of the word “joke” making it sound more like Joe sways the fans to the former. Regardless of her muse, Swift is very obviously angry at the way she has been perceived by the public in this song. The lyric “I was tame, I was gentle/ Til the circus life made me mean'' calls out the music industry and how being in the spotlight can tear you apart from the public scrutiny that comes with it. This line addresses the comments people have made over the years about how she used to be a sweet agreeable girl who turned mean but she’s just learned to defend herself from scrutiny, and she has grown into herself and her boundaries.
Rating- 5/5
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can):
Thoughts- Swift’s relationship with Matty Healy was very harshly scrutinized publicly mainly because of his many recent controversies that caused an excessive amount of criticism on him and then on their relationship. In this song she’s kind of talking to the fans saying ‘don’t worry I can fix him’. The lyrics “The jokes that he told across the bar/ Were revolting and far too loud/ They shake their heads/ Saying, ‘God help her’ when I/ Tell ‘em he’s my man” make it clear that she knew about how the public felt about him and their relationship. Her low register throughout the song gives a spooky feel which I think fits well with the way she’s telling the public to back off of her relationship. She knew that he could say some insensitive things every now and then but claimed that she could fix him. Then she ends the song with the lyric “I can fix him/ No, really, I can/ WOAH- maybe I can’t” contradicting her other lines as the realization hits that maybe she couldn’t fix him after all.
Rating- 5/5
loml:
Thoughts- Such a pretty melody with such a bittersweet message. This song is the aftermath of a breakup from a relationship so strong and significant that she feels she could so easily just waltz back into those familiar steps. It expresses the feeling of almost having it all, but that chance getting taken away from a tragic fallout. The lyric “Talking rings and talking cradles/ I wish I could un-recall/ How we almost had it all” insinuates the seriousness of the relationship and that they had discussed marriage and children but were never able to follow through with those plans. Lyrics like “Should’ve let it stay buried/ Oh what a valiant roar/ What a bland goodbye/ The coward claimed he was a lion/ I'm combing through the braids of lies'' and “You said i’m the love of your life” switching into “You’re the loss of my life” show the differences in their feelings in the relationship. While she was the love of his life, he was the loss of hers as he walked away from the relationship in cowardice.
Rating- 5/5
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart:
Thoughts- This track follows Taylor Swift and Jack Antanoff’s infamous masterpieces of the most tragic, vulnerable lyrics with a catchy, danceable beat to back it up. Swift and Alwyn’s break up at the very beginning of the Eras Tour left Swift to fake it ‘till she made it, and according to this song she definitely did. The way that she’s speaking to the fans listening to the song and telling them that she was actually miserable every night performing for them is in a way guilt-tripping but also saying that she would perform through anything for them. The affirmations she makes to herself throughout the song like “I’m a real tough kid/ I can handle my shit” and “Lights, camera, bitch smile/ Even when you want to die'' are reflective of what she’d likely said to herself before performing every night that she felt this heartbroken after her breakup with Joe Alwyn. I also love the way she says that she knows she’s good because she can do it with a broken heart, and no one even knows. I think the way she adds those little comments in, along with the overall vibe of the song, is very glitter gel pen of her.
Rating- 5/5
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived:
Thoughts- Despite not even being track 5, this song is so vulnerable and heart crushing, having one of the craziest, most jaw-dropping bridges I've ever encountered in my life. These lyrics absolutely obliterated Matty Healy in every single possible way, calling him out for his drug addiction, his ugly outfits, and for ruining her sparkling summer. On top of everything she also made fun of his height, saying “You didn’t measure up to any measure of a man” and calling him the smallest man who ever lived. In the bridge she’s asking question after question as if she’s desperately trying to figure out what happened to make him switch up, like asking if he was a “sleeper cell spy”. Swift says in one lyric, “I would’ve died for your sins/ Instead I just died inside” and “You kicked out the stage lights/ But you’re still performing”, expressing her devotion to the relationship despite all of his very public faults, but instead getting left with nothing but lies.
Rating- 5/5
The Alchemy:
Thoughts- This song being placed as the second to last song on the first part of this album is so fitting because it's placed after all of her tragic breakup songs and it’s the first official Travic Kelce song in her discography. Since they started publicly dating around September of 2023 their relationship has gotten much more serious, and is now so graciously met with mentions on her new album. Her mixture of poetic wording and football references on this track is so funny to me with the phrases ‘touch down”, “warm the benches”, and “winning streak” all being in the same song. My favorite lyric in the whole song is “Where’s the trophy?/ He just comes running over to me” because throughout the song she gives very clear details that, if you watched the videos that went viral of her at his games, it's so easy to picture exactly what’s happening in her mind when listening to these lyrics.
Rating- 5/5
Clara Bow:
Thoughts- I think that whether Swift is comparing herself to both Clara Bow and Stevie Nicks or she’s comparing Stevie to Clara and then herself to Stevie, It's a very clever way to get her point across by mentioning such monumental figures in the industry. She’s basically saying that it's a once in a million chance to be “picked like a rose” and get to be a star but once you are it only lasts as long as it takes another star to be picked and cherished by the public. Once you reach a certain age in the industry you’re often seen as washed up or just too old to produce good music or tours and it's been a theme in some of taylors past songs like Nothing New from her album Red’s vault while she also works even harder in order to prove this theory wrong.
Rating- 5/5
The Black Dog:
Thoughts- The aftermath of a breakup entails watching the other person eventually move on while feeling like it's killing you to watch them fall in love with someone else and forget everything about you, which Taylor describes so perfectly in this song. She shows her process of accepting the fact that they’re not each other’s persons anymore but still feeling bitter about how he doesn’t miss her like she misses him. She’s not only bitter about the breakup, but the relationship in general. The lyrics “And I may never open up the way I did for you” and “Six weeks of breathing clean air/ I still miss the smoke” show her difficulties with accepting the fact that she will have to live without him, not believing that she can love someone like she loved him.
Rating- 5/5
imgonnagetyouback:
Thoughts- I love the duality of the term ‘i’m gonna get you back’ because the way she uses it in this song is both getting him back in a relationship, but also getting him back in a revenge sort of way. Her saying “Honey, I can tell when somebody still wants me, come clean” and then leading into the lyrics “Whether i’m gonna be your wife or/ Gonna smash up your bike/ I haven’t decided yet/ But im gonna get you back” reveals the rockinness of the relationship but also shows her willingness to take him back because despite how bad the relationship got, she’s still not over him. Her willingness to forgive and forget is shown by the lyric “Bygones will be bygones eras/ Fading into gray” most likely indicating that they should forget all of the nasty history and start anew.
Rating- 5/5
The Albatross:
Thoughts- The feel of this song is kind of spooky which fits well with lyrics which describe her being compared to an albatross arriving to destroy someone. Throughout the song she shows the way that she’s typically been perceived as by the media, being a vulture going for men and destroying them in songs once the relationship ends. The lyric “Lock me up in towers/ But i’d visit in your dreams/ And they tried to warn you about me” conveys the reputation she gained by being a female singer/songwriter who wrote about relationships that ended badly, people urging men to stay away from relationships with women like her in the industry but the lyric “Wise men once read fake news/ And they believed him” also shows that most of what was said was fake. Rumors spread like wildfire and people believe them, forming bad, untrue reputations that affect people in this industry like Swift.
Rating- 4/5
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus:
Thoughts- The softness and sadness from the melody and lyrics of this song really pull the message together. She describes the feelings of watching each other move on after a breakup, but still thinking about the ‘what ifs’. She appears bitter that her ex saw her out with somebody new and just watched it happen. The lyrics “If you want to break my cold, cold heart/ Just say, ‘ loved you the way that you were’” might reveal her tendency to change for him in order to feel loved, but fearing that he loved her the way she was before. Her saying “You needed me but you needed drugs more/ And I couldn’t watch it happen” indicated that she tried holding on as much as she could but the relationship would not work if he chose drugs over her. She exudes a sense of youthful confusion throughout the song with questions of what to do and if he truly loved her.
Rating- 5/5
How Did It End?:
Thoughts- This song has such a beautiful melody with the piano throughout the whole song and her voice staying soft with airy backing vocals. This is one of the most poetic songs of the entire double album, her lyrics complex but simple at the same time. While it is track 21 in the double album, it's also track 5 in the separate The Anthology part of the album, making it one of her most vulnerable. She’s basically shaming the public for only ever wanting to know every detail of her private relationships. She’s introducing the post mortem of her ex, the public being eager to learn the details of exactly what happened for it to end. The lyric “Come one, come all/ It’s happening again/ The empathetic hunger descends” that she repeats through the song reveals the feeling of annoyance and desperation she gets when a relationship ends in the public eye and she is drowning with questions of how it ended from fans, media, and even people in her personal life. The use of the term empathetic hunger shows how she feels about the fans showing empathy for her situation but in reality just wanting to know the details of her relationship.
Rating-5/5
So High School:
Thoughts- This song feels very early 2000s which is very fitting as it's about her relationship with Travis Kelce and the feeling of high school young love. His second mention on the album, this song references things the public has seen the two do, like the game of ‘kiss, marry, kill’ an interviewer prompted Kelce to play some years back, him holding car doors for her, and her going to cheer him on at his football games. The lyrics “The brink of a wrinkle in time/ Bittersweet sixteen suddenly” and “cause I feel so high school every time I look at you” show how this new relationship makes her feel giddy and young, as if she’s in highschool dating one of the players on the football team.
Rating- 5/5
I Hate It Here:
Thoughts- This song conveys her feelings of wanting to hide away from reality, and instead creating fantasies in her mind where she can go whenever she gets sick of the real world. She reveals secret gardens and lunar valleys in her mind that she goes to that most likely reference the folklore and evermore folk stories she wrote for the albums during quarantine when she was going through a difficult time in her relationship, and the Midnights album in which she goes through things that have kept her up at night in her past. The way that she weaved her own life into the folk stories that she formed into two albums helped her cope with her situation by writing about it but letting the public think every bit of it was fiction. In short, this song is about being sick of reality so she hides in her secret gardens and lunar valleys which are her songwriting in order to find comfort within the real world.
Rating- 4.5/5
thanK you aIMee:
Thoughts- This song is one of the funniest out of all of the songs because she’s really just trashing Kim Kardashian the entire time, whose name is capitalized in the song’s title. After Kim K’s deception with Kanye West towards Swift in 2016, they have never been on good terms which is shown by certain songs off of many of Taylor’s albums, specifically Reputation. In this song Taylor is both dissing Kim and thanking her at the same time. The lyrics “I wrote a thousand songs that you find uncool/ I built a legacy that you can’t undo/ But when I count the scars/ There’s a moment of truth/ That there wouldn’t be this/ If there hadn’t been you” reveal swift’s resentment and pettiness that she’s felt throughout this whole situation but also show how grateful she is to have gotten to the other side of it better and stronger, with more art to make and release for her fans, those of which seem to include Kim’s daughter North.
Rating- 4/5
I Look in Peoples Windows:
Thoughts- I love this song because it's so light and hopeful but tragic at the same time. I love the ethereal sounds of the backing vocals while she sings about how she tries to see her ex’s face everywhere she goes, even going as far to look in people's windows to find him makes the track so full of despair. In a way it feels ghostly as she describes the curiosity of what he’s doing with his life, being afflicted with the feeling of not knowing, and not being okay with the fact that he no longer knows her the way he used to, and vice versa.
Rating- 5/5
The Prophecy:
Thoughts- I’d say that this is one of her most vulnerable songs to date as she’s saying that she feels like there's this prophecy keeping her from finding true love. She’s begging the sky to change the prophecy and free her from the heartbreak. By singing the lyrics “A greater woman wouldn’t beg/ But I looked to the sky and said/ Please/ I’ve been on my knees/ Change the prophecy/ Don’t want money/ Just someone who wants my company/ Let it once be me” she’s forgetting her pride and begging the prophecy to be changed, to change the outcome of her relationships so she can simply be loved. She references fables and famous tragic tales like Eve being bitten and embodies the feeling of loneliness and the simple desire to be loved. Her lyric “A greater woman has faith/ But even statues crumble if they’re made to way/ I'm so afraid I sealed my fate/ No sign of soulmates” reveals how she craves authentic, true love and is worried she’s ruined her chances for it.
Rating- 5/5
Cassandra:
Thoughts- This song references the call she received from Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in 2016 which they edited and essentially blew up her reputation and career after the public turned on her, calling her a liar and “canceling” her. It describes the extreme hatred shown by the media when words are twisted and how it can ruin lives for no reason. Her repetition of the words “do you believe me now” show that the media was in the wrong, believing that she was lying but then eventually were proven wrong by the original version of the video that was leaked.
Rating- 5/5
Peter:
Thoughts- Swift compares her relationship in this song to Peter Pan and Wendy, expressing her desperation for him to come back but eventually giving up on him. She conveys their lack of right timing in their relationship being the reason it all fell apart. Her lyrics “Said you were gonna grow up, Then you were gonna come find me” reveal that they took a break in order to grow apart and then come together eventually, but the entire bridge instead shows that he didn’t come back, getting “Lost to the lost boys chapter of [his] life, and leaving her to leave the window she sat by waiting for him, giving up on him.
Rating- 5/5
The Bolter:
Thoughts- In this song Swift describes a girl, most likely herself, with major commitment issues who bolts every time a relationship gets serious or difficult. The lyrics “But it always ends up with a town car speeding” and “That's when she sees the littlest leaks/ Down in the floorboards/ And she just knows/ She must bolt.” indicates that after every single relationship, she bolts at a certain point when the relationship gets complicated. While the fact that she bolts in a relationship is seen as negative, she also says that “as she was leaving/ It felt like breathing” showing her relief when leaving these relationships that just didn’t feel right..
Rating- 5/5
Robin:
Thoughts- The very childlike feeling of looking ridiculous but having the best time while playing with dinosaurs and being covered in mud is described. The imagery in the description of the dragonflies above his bed, his favorite spot on the swing set, and how he will bounce back from cruelty just like on his trampoline is so beautiful and delicate describing the pure innocence of being a kid. This song could be a callback to her song Never Grow Up on her album Speak Now but written from a new perspective which many fans have predicted could be Taylor’s friend and co-producer Aaron Desner’s son Robin. Just like Never Grow Up, this song is full of affirmations and sweet comments about the era of being a child and growing up to be the best they can be.
Rating- 4/5
The Manuscript:
Thoughts- This song shows her relationship with her music in a broader sense. She makes her songs out to be like souvenirs that she keeps as if they were a journal, or like she has said before, her diary. She says throughout that every “Now and then she re-reads the manuscript/ Of the entire torrid affair” which could be her going through her songs that she’s written about things that happen in her life, especially recently with the rerelease of her first 6 albums. The lyrics “One last souvenir from my trip to your shores” and “Now and then I re-read the manuscript/ But the story isn't mine anymore” shows how she has given her songs, her souvenirs from her life, over to the fans. Her songs are no longer just hers, but now they belong to the fans as well as they form her lyrics to fit within their own lives too. It’s also a form of her saying that she’s moved on from these songs and the events that she’s written about, handing them over for someone else to form their own feelings around them.
Rating- 4/5
The listening process of this album was an emotional rollercoaster for me but it’s safe to say that I'm still obsessed with it even a month after the release. Having that time to really let it sit with me so I could process every word in each of the 31 songs helped me gather my thoughts about the overall themes throughout the album and how I felt about each one of them. Even though I wouldn’t necessarily consider all of the tracks perfect, I do believe that they’re perfect in the sense of this album and very sensibly placed in the order that they are.
If you read all of my jumbled thoughts and made it to the end, here’s a link if you’d like to listen for yourself to form your own opinions on this album, and maybe even take a detour through some of her old music which I also find beautifully written and enjoyable: https://open.spotify.com/album/5H7ixXZfsNMGbIE5OBSpcb?si=uSn8GBxkSL6y7L80ye6x1Q
