(Erica Shi | Student Life)

After winning her 13th Grammy at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift announced the release of her 11th studio album titled “The Tortured Poets Department” (“TTPD”). The internet immediately blew up, with fans reacting shocked and overjoyed at the news after expecting the artist to drop “Reputation (Taylor’s Version).” The surprises, however, did not stop there. At 2 a.m. on April 19, just two hours after the release of the album, Taylor Swift announced that there was more music to come:

“It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️,” the artist announced on Instagram.

After months of Swift’s easter eggs and fans’ speculation, many of TikTok’s sleuthing Swifties were delighted to know that (for once) their theories were correct. The additional 15 songs, however, cause the full album to clock in at a whopping two hours and two minutes (again with the twos!), notably double the length of Swift’s seventh album “Lover,” which runs one hour and one minute.

The first addition of “TTPD” which includes the first 16 songs opens on a rather slow note. Upon first listen, I was quite disappointed with the opening few tracks. The production of the first three songs — “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone),” “The Tortured Poets Department,” and “My Boy Only Breaks his Favorite Toys” — is quite reminiscent of Swift’s previous album “Midnights.” Synth-ful, boomy, and laidback, the lyrics and musicality of these three songs are not exactly what the opening of this album needed. Though Post Malone’s vocals blend seamlessly with Swift in the first track (which is, unfortunately, not about the video game), somebody needs to warn Jack Antonoff (the producer of the first three tracks) that his arpeggiator synth usage is getting out of hand.

The album, however, miraculously trends upward as the other producer, Aaron Dessner, makes his appearance. “But Daddy I Love Him,” the sixth track which is produced by both Dessner and Antonoff, is beautiful, light, and cathartic. Filled with soaring strings and a plucky guitar, the track evokes feelings of freedom and youthfulness. Thematically, the song touches on the importance of ignoring negative outer voices to pursue the love that Swift desires. The singer boldly declares, “I’ll tell you somethin’ ’bout my good name/It’s mine alone to disgrace/I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing.”

Much of “The Tortured Poets Department” focuses on a breakup (or breakups) that the singer has recently endured. The 10th track, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” is dangerously filled with venom and rage. While the singer ominously screams, “‘Who’s afraid of little old me?’/You should be,” the production has a dark, saloon-like feel that is exceptionally satisfying. This song is the quintessential angry Taylor Swift, an elevated and more furious version of “mad woman” from the singer’s eighth album “Folklore.”

“Loml,” the 12th track, is perhaps one of Swift’s best sad songs. Backed by a gentle piano melody, the singer’s lyrics are heartbreakingly beautiful as she reflects on a past relationship. The transition from the song’s first verse which states, “You low-down boy, you stand-up guy/You holy ghost, you told me I’m the love of your life/You said I’m the love of your life/About a million times,” into the last verse which concedes, “You’re the loss of my life,” is absolutely gut-wrenching.

Some honorable mentions from the first half of “The Tortured Poets Department” include the epically produced “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + the Machine),” and the remarkably honest yet upbeat “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” in which Swift quips (relatably), “I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day/I’m so obsessed with him, but he avoids me like the plague.”

The second part of “The Tortured Poets Department,” which is mainly produced by Dessner, features more acoustic production and complex lyrics that are reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s time in the folky woods of her previous albums “Folklore” and “Evermore.”

“The Black Dog,” the 17th track, is an introspective and starkly honest reflection on the heartbreak that follows a rough breakup. With a gorgeous build filled with rhythmic drums and a dazzling piano line, the bridge of this song is the true star. “Now I wanna sell my house/And set fire to all my clothes/And hire a priest to come and exorcize my demons/Even if I die screaming/And I hope you hear it,” Swift laments.

The album’s 22nd song, “So High School,” is a fun and gleeful track that sonically echoes Swift’s album “Fearless.” Lyrically, the song likely reflects on the youthful, teenage-esque love she has now found with Travis Kelce. With some not-so-subtle nods to football — “Truth, dare, spin bottles/You know how to ball, I know Aristotle” — this song is an absolute blast. And what’s more, the guitar line in the second verse sounds remarkably similar to Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” era track, “Hits Different,” revealing that while her previous break-up may have “hit different,” this new love is her redeeming force.

“thanK you aIMee,” the 24th song, is a song that is evocative of her more country days and one that many have speculated is about Kim Kardashian (the capitalized letters in the title spell out the celebrity’s name). The song is both a diss track and a thank you letter, as Swift admits, “All that time you were throwin’ punches, it was all for nothin’…/Screamed, ‘Thank you, Aimee’ to the night sky and the stars are stunnin’/’Cause I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”

The rest of the songs in the latter half of the album reveal how Swift’s true poetic nature. In “The Albatross,” Swift cries, “And when that sky rains fire on you/And you’re persona non grata/I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too.” In the touching “How Did It End?,” the singer eloquently declares, “He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsmen/Our maladies were such/We could not cure them.” In “Peter,” a track that references the story of Peter Pan, she croons, “The goddess of timing/Once found us beguiling/She said she was trying/Peter, was she lying?” 

Though “The Tortured Poets Department” has had a mixed reception and does begin on a rocky note, Swift’s lyricism and Dessner’s masterful production are ultimately the album’s saving grace. And for someone who has been on tour for the last year and simultaneously released two updated versions of past albums, it is absolutely amazing that Swift (somehow) found the time and motivation to put together a brand-new 31-track album. To put it in her own words, “try and come for my job!”