Abbey Milwicz

Like the vast majority of 23-year-old girls, I have long been awaiting Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department. Although my only real qualification enabling me to comment on T-Swizz is being a young woman myself who has fallen in and out of love, I have some takes on the new album.

Producer Jack Antonoff is “holding Taylor back”, fans argue

Do I think the music is bad sonically? Not at all. Do I think it lacks variation? Absolutely.

However, I’m not necessarily mad at this. Because some of the songs are so lyrically gut wrenching, I think the relatively simple production balances well.

Jack Antonoff is getting a lot of hate online from Swifties for “holding Taylor back” because the first 16 songs on the album seem to blend together sonically. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the hate that he is receiving. I think his production and the consistency in sound actually highlight the lyrics – this doesn’t distract from the depth of emotion that she is displaying.

My criticism is directed more towards Swift and the quantity of the songs that she chose to include – produced by Antonoff – which brings me to my next point.

Too many songs risks causing emotional fatigue

While I adore Swift and admire her songwriting abilities, we already know that she’s capable of mass-producing songs, which makes the sheer of volume of tracks less impressive. In my view, the true mark of a great writer is concision. I would have been more impressed with Swift if she was able to express the breadth of emotions experienced in heartbreak (and grief of any sort) in a shorter, more polished album.

Aside from it being a testament to her talent, 31 songs is emotionally overwhelming for many listeners. Especially with an artist like Taylor Swift, whose lyrics hold such weight and deal with often heavy subject matter, being able to emotionally pace yourself through the album is a challenge. Pacing is part of the art in production, as is piecing together a cohesive body of work like an album – I’m afraid it’s a weakness of the anthology.

There is also the argument that the number of songs might alienate potential new listeners, but Swift’s fanbase is already so expansive that this likely was not a big concern for her. Swifties will gladly listen to all 31 songs and still beg for more. But why not break it up a bit?

One reason they may have chosen to do this could be the Folklore versus Evermore phenomenon – Evermore didn’t quite measure up to Folklore in popularity. As a marketing strategy, it would make sense to ride the hype of The Tortured Poets Department with one large drop rather than two sister albums. It’s possible that Midnights (3am Edition) was a test run for the double drop, which was successful.

Superficial love songs or simple by necessity

For a long time, I was a Lover girlie through and through. I deeply admired Swift for her ability to flawlessly articulate love and its associated complexities in a very accessible way. We grew up with her, and fell in and out of love alongside her. However, while The Tortured Poets Department is mostly a heartbreak album, the few love songs like ‘So High School’ and ‘But Daddy I Love Him’ feel quite superficial and empty.

Fearless already mastered the love-struck teenager trope – much better than ‘So High School’, though I can still appreciate the nostalgic sentiment of feeling young and in love again (which she wasn’t able to express in Fearless, due to her actually being young and in love).

In ‘But Daddy I Love Him’, the one qualifier that she uses to defend her emotional connection is literally “but daddy I love him”. My initial reaction to this song was that there was a lack of depth in the bond she describes, but honestly, I sort of love the simplicity of the statement. Do you need more justification than “but I love him”? Is the statement that she’s trying to make that sometimes love can and should be that simple?

A more dynamic Taylor: dissecting Swift’s use of pop culture references

A few friends of mine strongly dislike the Charlie Puth reference in the title track. I personally don’t hate it, and here’s why.

One of the reasons that Taylor Swift’s fanbase is so expansive is because she is accessible and relatable. Any hot take she proposes in or about the pop culture realm (eg, Charlie Puth) removes her from the pedestal. She becomes a peer, reinforcing the narrative that she is just like us. We don’t have to agree with these opinions to believe this – in fact, I could argue that it is better for us to disagree with her because this makes her more human.

References to crying at the gym in ‘Down Bad’ are likely true to her experience, but do you know who else has cried at the gym? Me. Most of my friends. The entire internet. Her truths, however unpoetic, are genuine and relatable.

In ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’, Swift describes putting on a show (dually the Eras Tour and a presentable front for others) in a very Gen-Z accessible manner – mentioning things like being avoided like the plague and crying while being productive – to very upbeat, energising music.

These songs balance the album with her deeply poetic ballads and create a more dynamic individual. She doesn’t have to choose one Taylor over the other – she can have trashy pop culture opinions and feel deeply at the same time. One of the reasons why we love Taylor Swift is because we are all living her life, and pop culture references reinforce this concept.

The duality of pop icon and melancholy poet are delineated quite clearly in The Tortured Poets Department. Songs such as ‘So Long, London’, ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me’ and ‘loml’ bare Swift’s soul in a raw, intimate way that ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’, ‘So High School’ and ‘But Daddy I Love Him’ counter in a more pop-superficial approach.

A celebration and critique

If the goal was to create a cohesive body of work that represents a unified perspective, the duality of pop-mainstream and journal-entry Taylor Swift may present a weakness in the album. However, if the purpose was to present a whole human battling all faces of heartbreak and societal pressures, perhaps the variety is necessary.

I would have preferred a shorter, slightly more unified album, but this of course comes down to personal preference.

All of this being said, I am still deeply obsessed with the album. Did it wreck me? It sure did. At the end of the day, I think genius has struck again, and very few artists can compete with Taylor Swift’s songwriting mastery.