TTwo clichés often used to describe a new movie by a big star are: long-awaited and long-awaited. Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album can only be described as long awaited. It’s only been 18 months since her last album, Midnights, a blip in the pop superstar’s release schedule. She also released three more hours of music in the interim, in the form of bonus track-filled re-recordings of 2010’s Speak Now and 2014’s 1989. But The Tortured Poets Department is certainly hotly anticipated. The intensity of Swift’s work is one of the reasons behind her current status as not just pop’s biggest star, but a figure so dominant in pop culture that historical comparisons are difficult to make. . We live in a world where she supports her candidates. is seen as a potential deciding factor in the US presidential election, with Singapore’s prime minister embroiled in a spat with Thailand’s prime minister over exclusive rights to the Southeast Asia leg of Swift’s Elas tour.
Countless other factors contributed to her rise to omnipresence: her keen understanding of today’s changed media landscape and her desire for a collective experience in a music world obsessed with personal experiences. Of course, this includes her music, which becomes hazy when compared to the media. noise. That’s a shame. Because, as The Tortured Poets Department highlights, Swift is a truly accomplished songwriter, melodically gifted, thoughtful, resourceful, and in an age of pop risk aversion. This is because he is a person who doesn’t mind taking risks.
The latter point is underscored by the fact that this album clearly isn’t designed to be the kind of all-conquering victory lap you’d expect from an artist in Swift’s position. Co-produced by Jack Antonoff and The National’s Aaron Dessner, the sound differentiates between the glossy ’80s-influenced pop rock of 1989 and the low-key late-night pop rock of 1989. This softens the neon color of the former. The simple, pulsating synth basslines and delicate electronics of Fortnite and Down Bad vaguely evoke College’s A Real Hero, the downbeat highlight of 2011’s Drive soundtrack. Reminds me. It occasionally nods to Swift’s Nashville past. The trembling slide guitar of “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” the fiddle buried deep in the mix of “But Daddy I Love Him.” There are a lot of beautiful songs, but they don’t bother with flashy bangers, instead settling for a desolate and melancholic mood. The guest appearances are impressively low-key considering the staff. Post Malone, the man who released the album Beer Bongs & Bentleys, isn’t an artist known for his sensitivity, but he barely caused any trouble for two weeks while in Florida!!! Even Florence Welch , I had to reduce it a little.
The latter contains one of the album’s few big choruses, driven by drum beats and synth blasts. Often, Swift deals with subtle details or songs that don’t go as expected. The rhythm of Fresh Out the Slammer unexpectedly morphs into a heartbeat-like pulse midway through. So Long, London sets up its stall with a well-paced four-on-four house beat, but it builds toward a climax that never really comes, and the fate depicted in this piece. It reflects the arc of the relationship.
Now let’s talk about the lyrics. Less messy and more conversational than Midnight’s, they return Swift to what you might call her safe haven and leave her famous ex-lover on no uncertain terms. yeah. So Long London seems to celebrate the end of her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn, but the album mostly puts her short-lived ex-lover on the firing line. Tattoos may be unpopular with fans, whimsical, and have a cool head in what they say in public Think about it, the person who’s giving life to many of these songs is clearly from 1975 Matty Healy, with whom Swift had a short-lived relationship last year. But if you’ve been here before, you can’t help but be impressed by Swift’s efficiency and resourcefulness. “Oh, here we go again, the voice in his head,” begins My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, one of his many films. Whether it’s her eye-rolling lines or her ability to turn a celebrity boyfriend into a relatable archetype: someone a little like the poser in the title track or “The Smallest Man Who Ever” Everyone knows or has lived there.
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Anyone who thinks the world is losing its mind right now when it comes to Taylor Swift thinks so too, or at least she’s very uncomfortable with the despicable commands of celebrity. You may pay attention to the periodic suggestion that. She variously compares her fame to a mental hospital, a circus, a gallows, and a lock she dreams of breaking. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” seems to be a glowing review of her record-breaking Elas tour, and sings, “In her glorious heyday/When the light refracted sequined stars from her silhouette “I’m letting you do it,” but then she darkly adds, “I don’t mind lying.” And she admits that she was devastated during the first run. She ends the song crying, “I’m so miserable!” in a mocking tone. And no one knows! Clearly, she reserves the album’s most straightforwardly anthemic songs for lyrics that attack chatter about who you should date and how you should behave. ” he protests, but Daddy loves him. “All the wine moms are still trying, but fuck it.”
If you want to hit a hole, “The Tortured Poets Department” has too long of a shadow. The synth brilliance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” is less interesting than the lyrics it supports. She argues that this is an unintended consequence of creating a songwriting style that fundamentally invites speculation about her personal life, protesting against her fans who try to control her personal life. You could also do that. That said, these lyrics translate as well as a pen portrait of her ex-lover. The central conceit of “But Daddy I Love Him” (“But I’m having his baby! / No, I’m not – but you should see your face!”) is really funny, and their weary, exasperated tone is both believable and moving. There are obviously risks in criticizing elements of her own fanbase, but Swift gets away with it, even if her attacks are justified.
She can do that because she is an extraordinarily talented writer. There’s a depth and maturity to this album that makes its competitors seem a little faded by comparison. It’s clear that the monocultural ubiquity she’s achieved isn’t all that healthy in terms of anything other than her bank balance – Tortured Poets Division seems to agree – but if a single artist had to dominate pop music, they could have made worse choices.
