Musically, there’s a successful mix of electropop from its predecessor, pop from “1989” and the singer-songwriter style of the albums “Folklore” and “Everlast”. “Already a classic” is the verdict of the American “Rolling Stone”. There is already an encore.
“life anchor”
This time there were no releases in advance, only now was the single “Fortnight”, a collaboration with Post Malone, released. With Florence & the Machine, Swift recorded the track “Florida!!!” (fired by drums and synth sounds). The 14-time Grammy winner and most streamed global artist of 2023 is said to have worked for two years on “The Tortured Poets Department”, which she described as her “lifeline” that reminded her why songwriting is so important to her is important.
In fact, the songs represent great storytelling. “This album has a depth and maturity that makes its competitors look a little pale in comparison,” says the British daily newspaper “Guardian”. The paper’s critic cites a nice example of this, the song “So Long, London”: “So Long, London”, which starts “with a fast four-quarter house beat” but “which builds to a climax “never really occurs and reflects the arc of the doomed relationship he describes”.
16 Songs
On the surface, the pop queen’s 16-track eleventh studio work seems like a relaxed and gentle listening experience, says CNN in an online review, “but if you pay attention to the lyrics – as most Swifties do very carefully – you’ll find it chaotic and complicated “stream of consciousness in which Swift works through waves of heartbreak, longing, anger and self-reflection”.
Lovesickness is the big topic, writes the dpa. Musically, the 34-year-old, who has once more worked closely with the US musician Jack Antonoff, is breaking new ground: the album is “determined by melancholic, keyboard-heavy retro soft pop”.
Two hours following Swift released the first version of the new album with 16 songs that night, there was a surprise: the musician released another version with the addition of “The Anthology” and another 15 tracks. Swift wrote that “The Tortured Poets Department” was a double album.
Speaking regarding the songs’ themes, Swift wrote on Instagram on Friday: “This author believes strongly that our tears become sacred in the form of ink on a page. When we have spoken our saddest story, we can free ourselves from it. And then All that remains is tortured poetry.”
“Fistfight with a knife”
Even before publication, fans had suspected that Swift might be referring to her ex-partner Joe Alwyn in the lyrics, with whom she was together for a few years until 2023. On Friday, some also brought up British musician Matty Healy, who Swift was rumored to have briefly dated in 2023.
The industry publication “Variety” summarized: “Whatever criticisms anyone might make of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ – not enough bangers? Too personal? – edgelessness shouldn’t be one of them. In the most exciting songs on this album, it’s as if she had Brought a knife to a fist fight.” And in reference to a classic Bob Dylan breakup album: “There is blood on the track, good blood.”
