Decoding Taylor's Tortured Poets Department | Review + Analysis (Part 1)

Taylor Swift's 11th studio record the tortured poets department is finally here announced back in February when Swift won best pop vocal album for midnights tortured poets marks yet another era for Taylor unlike midnights whose Standard Version was all Jack antinoff This Record contains production from Aaron desar There are 16 tracks that total to use 65 minutes nearly exactly matching the original version of Red's length down to the seconds and like that record it contains two features this time post Malone and Florence in the machine Swift won on the record to call this a Lifeline album sonically it's very much cut from similar cloth to midnights which may be disappointing to a few listeners expecting a true Sonic shift I personally find it a refinement to the soundscape that she and Jack first conceived on some of the reputation and lover tracks one song that I felt really helped tease This Record surprisingly was Suburban legends from the 1989 TV Vault compared to midnights which was very glitter gel pen heavy This Record is a lyric first record while the melody and production are solid this is very much a thinking fans record that requires active listening in the way that Evermore did I'm going to talk about a few General thoughts before I dive into each track and give my initial score which is going to shock a few of you but first things first we were so wrong and that is great fans speculate that the record follows the iconic Kubler raw stages of grief which Swift did tip a hat to with her EPO music playlist listening to the record that is clearly not the plot a lot of speculation due to the imagery let people to believe that this record was going to be the proper breakup record regarding Joe alwin who was notoriously the subject of lover and reputation I even theorized that midnights was the breakup album I will say a few tracks do contextualize and possibly touch on that subject but this record's a more eclectic mix of ideas and Concepts I want to say if there's any emotion or stage of grief to really pin to this album this is Swift's angriest record to date it's very much a modern reputation and feel even if they don't sound remotely similar almost f that a reputation like sweater in some promo Clips is worn and if that TV comes out this year this is a wonderful companion piece my DET tortured poet still has very much the Hallmarks of a breakup record but she's breaking up with much more than just one man for one I think this record is a breakup from the expectations that she's met to just be a glitter pen Bop machine much of this record is downtempo contemplative and while there are some earworm jams in here anyone expecting another Karma should come into this knowing that that is not here I think the only track that's a stage I'm Ready Get Up and Dance Banger as I can do it with a broken heart and even reading those lyrics will make you think that anti-hero was her going easy on herself another thing Swift is breaking up from is this need to be very literal and Earnest this is a very tongue-and-cheek record that's self-aware Swift knows that she's the department chair she knows that we know the tropes and the structures that she uses songs like but daddy I love him and who's afraid of little old me are fully aware of their silly titles and subvert expectations even poking fun at wine moms do Ma and in another song she points out how her ex wore a Jehovah Witness suit there is an unserious looseness and honesty that I haven't seen much of from Swift throughout her career it's almost like a Lana Del Rees record in that she's unafraid to meander and use turn of phrases and odd lyrics who's afraid of little old me could have easily been a lad Del R feature but the biggest plot twist is how much of this record seems to be about brace yourselves for this Maddie Healey I was really shocked that there were brief Illusions to this unofficial situationship that she had with them last year I normally try to keep Taylor's personal life out of my reviews and analyses but I think much of the sarcastic lyrics and the jokes are pointed at him the title track in particular contains some pretty damning and insane lyrics including a Charlie poth Nam drop and calling him a tattooed golden retriever but the most damning track against him that's honestly a Dear John level brutal takedown to me has to be the smallest man who ever lived where she lyrically crucifies him more details on that later so here are my overall I think that this record is a sucker punch in many ways I did not expect it to sound or feel the way that it does it's a wonderful mix of quill and fountain pen songs for those of you out of the loop Swift has three primary styles of songwriting quill songs tend to feel oldfashioned in Period piece with some meticulous details the fountain pen songs are modern stories with a poetic twist and glitter gel pen well just fun I'm actually shocked how straightforward and candid the songs can be even if there's a Sheen of irony and resignation to them the album openly jokes about about death drugs casually drops F bombs drags some of her toxic fans and the happiest sounding song on this record is about how miserable she is Taylor Swift has never sounded more human and flawed than on here this is a candid snapshot of her life a big motif of this record is cages and escaping those whether it's a toxic situationship her own relationship with some of her fans who feel ownership to her life tortured poets is about escaping those cages freeing yourself from The Slammer at the time of this midnight recording my favorite songs so far have to be so long London but daddy I love him Florida guilty of sin love of my life I can do it with a broken heart and Clara B these tracks really stood out to me on my first listen before I go into each track I want to say as a former English major in college this is the literary nerds Taylor Swift record this record is chatty lyrically dance almost like a podcast set to instrumental at times it's insane how many words she's managed to push into each track I think there's a meta quality to to this she has so much to say too much to say that even her craft cannot carry all of these words I do think that it's most definitely intentional which will likely turn off fans of the glitter gel pen variety though I implore them to stay locked in this is a very rewarding listening but enough stalling this is what you came for here is the track by track breakdown fortnite with post Malone sets the tone for the record there's a laid-back synth heavy instrumental where Swift uses each verse to create atmosphere the first verse I was supposed to be set away but they forgot to come and get me almost feels like a direct sequel to hits difference this track has two very strong hooks the chorus itself which describes two people running to each other and her wanting to kill a wife watering flowers and a husband who's cheating on her very metaphorical very antithetical to Lavender Hayes and that bridge really does kill me and I love you it's ruining my life it's very striking in its own right my favorite line has to be all my mornings are Monday stuck in an endless February that's my favorite line because it's the most boring day on the least eventful month of the year fortnite captures a relationship that's almost like a Lial space that's doomed because of that feeling and that outro with posty it just sounds amazing it does set up a later track Florida while setting up some of the motifs of the record the title track is the real start of the sardonicism of this record its instrumental and Melody really did remind me of suburban Legends down to the sparkling syn the first verse sets up this counterintuitive relationship the verse that Nam drops Charlie poth and Compares Maddie to a tattooed golden retriever had made cackling each preor speaks to the insanity of who she's singing about from self- sabotage to them Awakening in dread Coming Undone yet she's the one who decodes him and CHS the Cyclone of a man the chorus really works for me the questions that she ask who's going to hold you like me nobody no bud she's like the gravity keeping this relationship together you're not Dylan Thomas I'm not Patty Smith this ain't Chelsea Hotel where Modern idiots she's using humor to get through to them and to survive this that middle section where she talks about how he told Lucy he'd often himself if she left and her telling Jack is insane to me I cannot believe she recorded that the section that breaks my heart is the part where he took off the middle finger ring and put it on her ring finger and how her heart exploded and how moments like that kept her in this mess it's so tragic in hindsight my boy only breaks his favorite toys leans heavily into metaphor she paints herself as a doll that has seen much better days she's been played with so hard even the Sant castles that he builds for her are made to be destroyed and there's this whole element being used up and Clinging On To The nost Al of the very first day she was open it's a very tragic song itself written antonov's production on this one with the marching drum serving as a BackBeat really helps ground the song The Bridge of once I fix me he's going to miss me is her reasserting herself yet at the end of the song she does admit to herself that she's better off leaving Behind These Broken parts and letting him move on to the next toy down bad was initially my least favorite track on first listen but I have come around on it it's definitely a sad Bop that's one of the more straightforward tracks on the record the yanfan production is very 80s I didn't catch it but she's comparing her relationship to an alien abduction stay with me on this the Cosmic Love the experiments to her lying naked in a field and the heaven struck line I might be stretching but it's such a weird imagery choice and the instrumental does add to that I think the line the encounters closer and closer backs my insane Theory wild conjecture aside the course itself has a really good flow to it it's repetitive it it's explicit but it carries the point so well I really love the line staring at the sky come back and pick me up it's a a very trippy song track five continues the tradition of crushing your heart to Pieces so long London channels and evokes you're on your own kid and the Archer this track is one most correlated to Joe to me it definitely feels like you're losing me the verses really underscore how hard she tried to keep a relationship together stop trying to make him laugh stop trying to drill the save speaks to how she had to stop giving because he wasn't taking it I like the sentiment of so long London you'll find someone they're still wishing up the best again the call back to your losing me is and I stop CPR after all it's No Use the line that really stabbed my heart was I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free the section where she talks about needing Clues and how she died at the altar waiting for the proof of love this is a brutal song Blue is the color that she associated with love for so long and as she recognizes that this man had sacrificed her to the god of his bluest days he succumbed to depression he can't get out of it but that doesn't mean she can't get her color back he overestimated her capacity to remain sad to self implode but she's graceful enough to know that he'll find someone who can do that for him she's just not going to do it anymore this is one of my favorites but daddy I love him is another standout to me it makes me wish that she had made a proper return to Country I think that this is the most analog sounding track this one could have not been electronic it's a shocking song that has a little bit of DNA with the song hours she really calls back to small town imagery to call out her fans who are a little too parasocial the imagery of too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above in the precourse really stood out to me this song's definitely a response to the fandom's reaction to her dating Maddie her comparing her fans to Elders at a town hall is insane to me my stand out line has to be the Vipers dressed in empath's clothing it feels very reputation coded the line about judgmental creeps who say they want the best for her while performing soliloquies they'll never see or about the wine mobs holding out Duma you are dust she just killed you in real time even the chorus where she says daddy I love him I'm having his baby no I'm not but you should see your faces this one's out for blood it's very funny I'm glad that she got to have her paint the town red moment in the most swiftian way fresh at the Slimmer has a cool Cowboy sound to it the Productions got a little nice Western touch to it it sonically reminded me of cowboy like me despite having no tangible similarities just The Vibes I think it extends the but daddy I love him story line she has done the time for the crime her friends warned her to not do it but she's going to do whatever to see him it's not an initial standout to me but I admire her ambition in song making and World building Florida with Florence and the Machine really hooked me on first listen the chorus with the crashing drums and Florence's voice herself really gives this record some variety up until the song the album felt a little too cohesive on my end Florence gets her own substantial verse where she really dedicates herself to the track with her gorgeous voice lines like all my friends spell like weed or little babies that captures living in Florida so well the back and forth Exchange in the bridge between the two is beautiful little did you know your home's just a town your gueston really captures that futility of everyday life and it's that futility of everyday life that allows these narrators to romanticize a hopeless place like Destin Florida I'm from Florida and it is not a drug unless you're visiting guilty of sin resembles some of her songw writing from red to me she does her classic begin and end a song with the opening couplet trick on this one I really love the religious imagery what if I roll the stone away they're going to crucify me anyway what if the way you hold me is actually holy I Choose You and Me religiously there's more down bad energy in this one than and down bad and it's crazy how the chorus points out that they haven't really done anything yet in the context of the song but the very thought of wanting this to happen is enough to make her feel guilty it's really giving tortured poet in the sense that she's waxing poetry about something imaginary that she wants so bad but cannot have who's afraid of little old me has some of her most emotive and best vocals to date she saw you guys saying that she is not a vocalist you can really feel the tangible anger in her voice especially compared to the re-records that she's been doing recently which feel a little distant she went into that recording booth with fresh ink stains on her arms the answer of well you should be is the most confident and bold that Taylor Swift has sounded this entire record this is one of the other self-d tracks The Who's Who of who's that is just such a wild lyric it's so shady I just really love that chor it just really works for me so I leap from The Gallows and I levitate down your street it continues this witch Motif that she really started early in her career Swift is so self-aware here the lines about suing you if you step on her lawn or how she puts narcotics into all her songs and that's why we sing along she knows her power over us and our power over her as the general public no longer terrorizes her I think that this is my personal favorite so far so many standout lines maybe a career high for me if there's any track to listen to save this one I can fix him no really I can it's the short little experimental Western sounding track that again makes me wish that this record had taken a more analog country strip back Direction I'd really love an acoustic album again this instrument really felt like Say Yes To Heaven by Lena Del re at moments the chorus is really funny cuz it hearkens back to hours yet again people shaking her head at her choices Lord knows how she can fix them until at the very end where she realizes maybe she can't but the way she casually and abruptly ends the song admitting she can't is really funny Taylor Swift knows how to weaponize apathy ll in my honest opinion could have easily been track five of this record I think that this one's on par with champagne problems for a tear jerker she really sets up the story the stakes I felt a glow like this never before and never since then singing about one kiss to getting married still alive killing time at the cemetery it really feels like white horse but from a very adult perspective LL comes from the fact that he keeps on saying that she was the love of his life a million times but a con man sells a fool a get love quick scheme I really love the Illusions to the fact that Joe is an actor in The copile couplet about plot twist and dynamites this man talked about rings and cradles this coward who claimed as a lion that part is just so visually Rich he burned down their Field of Dreams and she realized that he's not the love of her life he'll forever be the loss of her life so LL takes on a brand new meaning both a death and a loss that she'll feel until that happens it's one of the most tragic beautiful songs on this entire record I can do the broken heart is a standout for me it's like if Mastermind and boled had a very depressed child together she talks about how she thinks everyone thinks that she's having the time of her life on the aore despite the fact that her breakup happened because she's tough lights camera smile even if you want to die is hilarious but then you get lines like breaking down I hit the floor all the pieces of me shattered while the crowd was cheering this is very autobiographical because she had to do this on the Aeros store I know for a fact that I'm 100% going to use I'm so depressed I act like it's my birthday every day as an Instagram caption the line I'm so obsessed with them but he avoids me like the plague I think she's been reading my attacks and all Workaholics will get the I cry a lot but I'm so productive it's an art Taylor Swift is a work she keeps on turning out these albums and doing this worldwide tour her closing out with I'm so miserable and no one even knows tried to come for my job reminds us though that even though the pain is real she can laugh at it now but also try to come for her job I don't think anyone can the smallest man who ever lived is her modern deer John this is a brutal song where she rips apart a man with a Jehovah's Witness suit who tries to buy drugs off her friends she does not want him back she does not miss him he treated her like an also ran the bridge and the outro contain some of her harshest most postmortem lines Why did he do all of that she would have died for his sins he deserved prison but he'll never get time anyone who's ever dated a trashy old guy will get the you said normal girls are boring but you were gone by morning I'll be honest if someone wrote this about me I'd never show my face in public ever again you are D ratty hey the Alchemy is probably the only track that didn't really work for me even with multiple listens melodically it's very pleasant but it almost feels like an AI version of how Taylor Swift would write it has a lot of the Swift and Hallmarks the usage of the touchdown metaphors and how the chemistry is so good it feels like Alchemy that's a very solid base for a song I just felt like this one needs some time to cook for me that one line about him joking about how it's heroin but with an e is really clever to me the bridge makes it obvious who the song is about and it's a very sweet sentiment I really love that line whereas the trophy he just comes running over to me line it really reminded me of that one quote that she talked about in Miss Americana where she had reached the top of the mountain and to have someone who has reached that mountain be the person that she loves and Cheo her there's something very poetic and beautiful about that but when sandwich in between a Savage takedown and the closer this song does get lost in the shuffle the final track clabo gives Swift a break from tumultuous feelings to meditate on her Legacy as an artist she starts a song singing about Clara Bo the original it girl of the silent film era of the 1920s arguably the first movie Starlet whoever existed I mean she even survived the switch to talkis the switch from Silent to talking films she admires how she never thought that she'd see the lights of Brooklyn like claraa Bo did and then she shifts to Stevie Nicks in 1975 the superstar that she was she knows no one in her small town would ever imagine her meeting those suits in La the way that Stevie Nicks did the chorus is about the Trap of people calling you the real thing I feel like she acknowledges the cage that is being called the new God that everyone's worshiping the bridges word play calling Beauty a beast that demands more and how it's hell on Earth to be Heavenly I think that speaks to how people perceive femininity and her status as a pop icon she ends the song saying one day someone will tell a budding superstar that they're just like Taylor Swift but with the it factor that she was missing I think that it's a pretty daming closer warning that just because you leave a cage doesn't mean that someone else won't take your place Swift has Always sung about feeling the need of being replaced but now she's warning her replacement that it's not exactly what you want it feels like a direct sequel to my favorite red deep cut the lucky one Taylor Swift is fully acknowledging that she is the lucky one she truly is who she was singing about she got to have the Rose Garden and then she got to return to Madison Square and here comes the score time as a record tortured poets has to be one of her most arresting and lyrically interesting pieces in years I think that it's an improvement over midnights in many regards even if it doesn't have the upbeat variety that record had do I believe this is her fifth aot y trophy who knows that is irrelevant I think we'll cross that bridge when we get there I have to give the standard version of the album album a solid 8.8 out of 10 rating this is a grower of a record for ts12 though I would prefer a more fresh production but I understand why this was a Lifeline record I feel like most of the growth here was lyrically and not production wise and that's WRA thank you so much for tuning into my very quick snapshot of a review I did not go as in- depth as I wanted to I really just wanted to get my thoughts out there because I love you guys and I love my comment section and I wanted to hear all of your thoughts let me know what your favorite tracks were how you felt about it I really want to take the time to cover the bonus tracks on their own and give them their own video doing The Fearless video made me realize how important a standard edition is so to do this review just on the standard means a bunch to me I want to give a quick shout out to my members thank you so much for supporting my channel I also want to shout out my subscribers thank you guys for sticking with me we are almost to 20K get your friends to subscribe hit that notification Bell this is not the last video about tortured poets I have more words to say I just need to find the word and I hope to see you next video

Channel: Eljohn Macaranas

Views: 48,885

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Id: uO0fFvLSK6U

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024