On February 4th, four months after her rerelease of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift announced her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD)—surprising listeners with yet another album to mark on their calendars. Given Swift’s fairly recent love affairs with Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy, and Travis Kelce, Swifties speculated on TTPD’s potential lore. I, for one, was ready for hilariously bad football references and digs at a certain Brit.

Swift hinted at what TTPD meant to her during an Eras tour concert in Melbourne: “[TTPD] was really a lifeline for me. It sort of reminded me why songwriting gets me through life. I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it onTortured Poets.”

The Tortured Poets Department immediately struck me as melancholic and impassioned, although not an innovative “look” for Swift. Whereas reputation and folklore stunned audiences with completely distinct styles, sounds, and even aesthetics, TTPD follows a similar path as Midnights: another culmination of Swift boasting her ability to switch from soft ballads to electro-pop without batting an eye. However, the polish and range of TTPD supersedes that of Midnights, reestablishing Swift as the well-rounded artist she is. 

The title track “The Tortured Poets Department” is nothing unique for Swift; it’s arguably a breakup song about Matty Healy, and the lyrics are on par with the caliber expected. The song’s initial tune instantly reminded me of “Mine,” from Speak Now, but replacing the country thrums were drum beats and a Super Mario video game soundtrack in the background. Was I a Tortured Poet listening to this? Yes, but not in a good way.  

“Fresh Out The Slammer” is a track fresh out the ‘folklorian’ woods. Huzzah for us folklore girls! The first hum of the guitar teases at a Lana-Del-Rey-esque lullaby (circa Born to Die), but as Swift’s suave vocals kick in, the tempo shifts, and you can’t help but cling to the rising beat. 

“Florida!!! (ft. Florence + The Machine),” is nothing short of an amazing vocal collaboration; however, with lyrics like “And my friends all smell like weed or little babies,” Swift tries too hard for an angsty, “bad girl” headbanger. I fear only Florence + The Machine’s sullen croons accomplished that. Until this track, TTPD’s lyrics have felt somewhat general but solid—perhaps “Florida!!!” would be better suited for the Anguished Druggie’s Department.

Thankfully, Swift finesses her lines in “Guilty as Sin?”: “I dream of cracking locks/Throwin’ my life to the wolves or the ocean rocks/Crashing into him tonight, he’s a paradox.” “Guilty as Sin?” perfectly fuses haunting imagery with catchy wordplay—a standout track amongst the rest of the album.

Although “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” could be a background track in a wild west movie (with accompanying tumbleweed), you might need to call the producers of the Wreck-It-Ralph franchise to include “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” in the next film installment. With techno effects and lyrics like “I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day,” we will most definitely be seeing TikTokers lip sync to this song on their birthdays. Alas, I will be the one depressed, not them.  

Swift wraps up her initial album in a “Clara Bow.” Yes, she promptly added 15 more songs in the extended The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, but “Clara Bow”—with its lyrics referencing celebrities Clara Bow, Stevie Nicks, and Swift herself—beautifully mirrors the pitfalls of superstardom and Swift’s relationship with her fame. 

Throughout TTPD, we see Swift revisit themes of old lovers and worldwide acclaim; but she forgoes an opportunity to stun listeners with a completely fresh album. It’s simply another testament to Swift’s poetic lyrics which—in all its nuance and emphasis—are cluttered in the rest of TTPD. 

Similarly, while the lyrics and themes of The Tortured Poets Department feel indisputably like Swift, the fingerprints of producer Jack Antonoff are undeniable. Antonoff also produced Midnights, and to my disappointment, he revives his classic bass/synth pulses and experimentational effects as seen in the—admittedly impressive—vocal riffs of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys.”  

In short I would call The Tortured Poets Department a (better) extension of Midnights. After a long discography of distinctly different albums, it seems that Taylor Swift has finally found her footing with an era she can call her own—whether or not it’s as mind blowing as one would hope.