Taylor Swift announced her new album The Tortured Poets Department on February 4th during her speech when she won best pop vocal album at the Grammys. The album has 16 songs on it with an additional 15 on the deluxe version The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. The album is potentially about her ex Joe Alwyn who dated Swift for 6 years before they broke up in April 2023. The lyrics to the songs clearly state that this is a break up album. Taylor had two people featured on this album; Post Malone on Fortnight and Florence + The Machine on Florida!!!
The album is labeled as a pop synth album and is similar to 1989 and Midnights. One of the tracks on this album, The Alchemy could possibly be about her current boyfriend Travis Kelce. Swift and Kelce have been dating since around September 2023. The lyrics to The Alchemy have some references that it could be about Kelce. “Touchdown! Call the amateurs and cut ‘em from the team / Ditch the clowns, get the crown baby / I’m the one to beat / Cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me / Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?” “Shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads / Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanted cause they said there was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league / Where’s the trophy?” The last line could be pointing towards when The Chiefs won the superbowl. These references could very well be referring to Kelce and Swift’s relationship.
The Tortured Poets Department is Swift’s 11th studio album not including 4 of her re-recordings. During the Grammys Taylor said she had been working on this album since around the time Midnights came out in October 2022. Taylor is releasing the first music video for Fortnight ft Post Malone. It will be released April 19th at 8pm ET.
The Tortured Poets Department is very similar to Folklore, with similar synths. The songs are well written and are all very good. All of the tracks on this album have a deep meaning. If you like her albums Evermore, Folklore, Midnights and Red you will like this one as well.
