Announced on Feb. 4 at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift’s eleventh album, “The Tortured Poets Department” was released on April 19. Within the day, the album reached over 300 million streams on Spotify, according to the Economic Times. As a fan of many years, I was counting down the days until the release of the album, and was beyond excited to listen to brand new music. 

The album begins with the first track, “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” that also has a music video that premiered that night. I was personally a little nervous about featuring Post Malone because his style of music is different from Swift, and I wasn’t sure how they were going to sound together. While Malone doesn’t have his own verse, I think that his voice perfectly fits the vibe of the song. The way that their voices blend together in the chorus sounds so harmonic and really sets the vibe for the rest of the album. The music video also sets the vibe for the album and all of the different elements and aspects of it. I especially liked the part where actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles act as doctors testing on Swift’s mind. 

Jumping ahead, “So Long, London” is the fifth track of the album. This song is definitely one of my favorites from the album not only because it sounds good, but also because of the deep lyrics. The intro of the song with the repeated “so long London” blew my mind on my first listen, and I am still obsessed with how heavenly and celestial this song sounds. My favorite set of lyrics from this song is definitely “you swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? I died on the altar waitin’ for the proof” because it really illustrates that desperate want for reassurance in a relationship, and how Swift felt like her relationship died without her feeling like she was truly loved. I just think that this song is such a perfect symbol for the vibe of the album, and is definitely one of the songs that stuck out the most to me.

“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” is the eighth track of the album, and also another one of my favorites. This song is about her life in the spotlight and criticizes all of the rumors and gossip that the media constantly holds above her head. I love how angry she sounds in this song and the way that she yells “who’s afraid of little old me?” I love how throughout the song she makes references to the circus, and how her life is constantly being scrutinized as if she’s being watched at a circus. 

Her 13th track, “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” sheds an entire new light on her experience touring around the country. The song reveals how she was putting on the show of her life while going through a break up at the same time. Her lyrics “all the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, ‘More’” and “the lights refract sequin stars off her silhouette every night” tell listeners that while her heart was breaking and she felt miserable, she was still putting a smile on her face, and performing for her fans. Swift’s break up with actor Joe Alwyn was made public after her concerts in Arlington, TX, which was where I went to see her in month. Knowing that all of this heartbreak was going on behind the scenes makes me look at my concert in a whole new way, and I definitely feel for her in that moment that I was having the best time, and she was suffering. 

In addition to the 16 track album, Swift made a surprise drop at 2 a.m. that same day with an additional 15 songs to the album called “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” This second part is known to be the slower and sadder part of the album, with more piano instrumentals, and producer Aaron Dessner featured on most of the songs. 

The 21st track of this album is called “How Did It End?”, which is one of the sadder songs of this album. I think that the lyrics of this song are so deep and really reveal Swift’s feelings as her relationship with Alwyn ended. The song has such a defeated and bleak tone to it with lyrics like “we hereby conduct this post-mortem” and “my beloved ghost and me sitting in a tree D-Y-I-N-G”. I feel like these lyrics are so powerful with their allusions to death and how it made her feel as her relationship ended.

The next track is “So High School,” which is one of the happier songs in this album. This song is rumored to be about her ongoing relationship with Travis Kelce, and describes how she feels young and happy with him. I think this song is a perfect addition to the album because it adds a subtle positive note to an album that otherwise would sound only? sad. 

Jumping ahead to the 27th track, “Cassandra” is one of the most underrated songs in this album. Swift uses the story of Cassandra of Troy from Greek mythology to tell her story about no one listening to her warnings. With this song, Swift tells us about the struggles of speaking out and having no one believe her. I love how this song reminds me of one of her previous albums “folklore,” and has that vibe of feeling crazy for knowing things first.

Overall, I am a huge fan of this album and I think that every song and lyric is so heartfelt and holds so much meaning. I have seen a lot of negative reviews about this album about how it’s boring and a lot of the songs sound similar. I feel like these criticisms are valid, but I also think that it really depends on the type of music that listeners enjoy, and if they like slower music with very powerful lyrics. If you are a fan of that type of music, then this album is definitely for you.

I give this album a 13/10 stars!