“The Tortured Poets Department” is the newest album by pop superstar, Taylor Swift. This album can be described as nothing short of a journey through the singer’s life recently. “The Tortured Poets Department” is filled with tear jerkers, yet it has a bold twist that Swift has strayed away from through the course of her career.
One of the most notable assets of “The Tortured Poets Department” is the different sound in the album from Swift’s previous works. This divergence from Swift’s previous sound is most notable in the tracks “Fortnight,” “The Tortured Poets Department,” “Down Bad,” “So Long, London,” “Florida!!!,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” and “imgonnagetyouback.” In many of these songs, there is a darker, stronger sound that leaves a mark on the listener. At the same time, the album manages to stay sonically cohesive and have a classic Taylor Swift twist.
This feature of the album can be seen immediately in the first track and the lead single, “Fortnight.” “Fortnight” is slow, yet bold. This song is a perfect introduction to “The Tortured Poets Department,” as it acts as the beginning of the slow burn to a heartbreaking album.
Along with the different sounds in this album, the lyrics on “The Tortured Poets Department” are more honest than those of previous albums. Saying that Swift did not hold back is a large understatement. This is most apparent in the tracks “So Long, London,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “The Manuscript.” These songs keep the listener invested, and they show off the best of Swift’s strongest asset: her lyrical abilities. Swift showed a different facade in her lyrical abilities, and it worked in her favor. “The Manuscript” shows Swift’s lyrical abilities well. Swift describes her songs as a manuscript that she looks back on her life with. She states that the “story isn’t mine anymore,” which shows how Swift has shown off her life publicly for years.
Although “The Tortured Poets Department” is a strong album overall, it does have one fatal flaw: its length. There are 31 songs on “The Tortured Poets Department,” but many felt unnecessary to the story that the album makes an attempt to convey. Many of these songs are on “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” The Anthology edition of the album was released as a surprise a couple hours after the release of the main album. This included 15 additional songs. However, many of those 15 songs were forgettable, and unlike the main album, in “The Anthology,” Swift failed to branch out and experiment with previous songs she had created.
Overall, “The Tortured Poets Department” is a strong piece of work. The album could have been shorter, but its sum, it is still a solid work of musical art.
