Talkin’ ’Bout My Reputation
As on Reputation, Swift addresses her own public perception on Tortured Poets—understandable, given all the media attention she’s received in the past year. On the late album barnstormer “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” Swift sings about becoming callous in the face of speculation about her private life (“I was tame, I was gentle/Til the circus life made me mean”). On “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” she contrasts the cheery demeanor she adopts for fans on the Eras Tour with the abject sadness she feels post-breakup. In a moment that recalls the most memorable scene of Katy Perry’s Part of Me documentary—in which Perry finds out her husband has filed for divorce, bawls her eyes out, then resets to a cold smile as she rises to the stage—Swift cheerily exclaims “I’m miserable!/And nobody even knows!”
A Brief Inquiry Into Past Relationships
The Tortured Poets Department is sure to provide near-endless fodder for fans and rubberneckers hoping to glean insight into Swift’s personal life. Her lyrics are often assumed to be about real-life boyfriends, and many of the songs on this record seem to reference Healy (she refers to one partner as a “tattooed golden retriever” on the title track) and Alwyn, seemingly the subject of “So Long, London.” “The Alchemy,” which is heavy on football references, nods to her relationship with Kelce, with Swift singing about being “on a winning streak” with a new love. And it’s not just romantic relationships Swift addresses: The Anthology track “thanK you aIMee,” with its unsubtle title stylization, is widely rumored to be about longtime Swift nemesis Kim Kardashian.
Stuck Behind Bars
Allusions to prisons, asylums, and general ill mental health abound on Tortured Poets: On the album’s title track, she sings, “Everyone we know understands/Why it’s meant to be/’Cause we’re… crazy,” while on “But Daddy I Love Him,” she tells a disapproving father, “I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want.” “Fresh Out the Slammer” casts a maudlin relationship as a prison—Swift’s new crush is the first person she’s calling when she gets out—while she tells the titular character on “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”: “You deserve prison, but you won’t get time.” On “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” the most vicious track here, she references gallows and likens her childhood to an “asylum,” and opening track “Fortnight” features the line, “I was supposed to be sent away/But they forgot to come and get me.” These references, a shade darker than the turns of phrase Swift is usually drawn to, seem to be in service of the album’s “tortured” vibe.
Taylor + the Machine
One of the highlights of Tortured Poets is “Florida!!!,” a collaboration with stalwart British pop musician Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine. Swift may have been dinged for relegating Lana Del Rey to backing vocalist status on Midnights’ “Snow on the Beach” (which Del Rey later said was her own choice), but there’s no way the same will happen with “Florida!!!”—Welch gets two full verses here, and later trades lines with Swift. Featuring a doomy aesthetic and huge, window-rattling drums, it feels more like a Welch track that Swift accidentally wandered into. Which is no knock: It’s the loudest, most theatrical moment on an album that otherwise trades punchy showstoppers for quieter, more meditative moods.
