As many people may know, a new Taylor Swift album can mean many things. Staying up till midnight anticipating the release, hunting for easter eggs in the months up to the release, and guessing which song from the tracklist will be your favorite. As someone who did stay up till midnight on April 18th, to officially see the album drop, I waited with extreme anticipation and excitement. Once I was able to listen to the album I listened with wonder, the lyrics already grabbing me. I listened and as usual with a Taylor Swift album drop, I was swiftly (pun intended) toggling from Spotify to the lyric pages trying to absorb the music, and what Taylor was saying. When I went into Spotify the next day to listen to the album once more I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that a double album had come out at 2 am with fifteen additional songs. The total number of tracks is 31, for a total of 2 hours and 2 minutes, showing just how hard Taylor worked since dropping midnights a year and a half ago. 

I have been a fan of Taylor Swift since I can remember, singing “Welcome to New York” with friends of mine, or belting “We Are Never Getting Back Together” in the car. As I have gotten older, I have a new appreciation not only for her songwriting abilities but for her vocals and talent. As for a more in-depth review of the individual songs I would be remiss if I did not talk about the track titled the same as the album, the song “The Tortured Poets Department” as it perhaps lets people into her controversial relationship with Matty Healy, since she refers to him as the “tattooed golden retriever”. “Down Bad”, one of my favorite songs off of the album, is perhaps alluding to something that happened in the past in a previous relationship while having a catchy background. “thanK you aIMee” as many have suspected could be about Kim Kardashian since the two have had a lot of drama in the past, and as someone who enjoys connecting the dots myself, I won’t point out the connectors, but take a listen, and see if you spot the parallels besides the ‘K’, ‘I’, and ‘M’ is capitalized. However, the true meaning and subtext of the song can only truly be revealed by Taylor Swift herself. 

“But Daddy I Love Him” was perhaps one of the most well-written songs off of the album, having catchy lines of lyrics, while also being powerful. The line, “I’ll tell you something about my good name/ It’s mine alone to disgrace”, reminds me of something heard from ‘Evermore’ or ‘Folklore’. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” I loved because it alluded to Taylor performing on the Era’s Tour, while -you guessed it- having a broken heart. The lyrics, “All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, “More”/ I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks/ ‘Cause I can do it with a broken heart (one, two, three, four)” shows a glimpse into what was happening to her personally as she embarked upon the highly acclaimed ‘Eras Tour’ as she was dealing with the end of her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn. 

For my favorite song from the album I was tied between “So Long London” and “I Hate It Here”. So Long London painted a picture in my mind of the streets of London, foggy, while being picturesque, which strikes me as parallel to her relationship with Joe Alwyn who the song is supposedly about. I haven’t been able to get the catchy tune and vivid imagery of the song out of my mind since listening to it the first time. “I Hate It Here” drew me in by the lyrics, from Taylor singing “Now that I know what’s what/ I hate it here, so I will go to/ Secret Gardens in my mind” to the nostalgia of a childhood game. That’s what this album gave me- a sense of nostalgia while playing to my love of song lyrics that sound like poetry. I’d say it is worth a listen if you have a bit of time to dedicate to the lengthy album, and just let the calmness and the melody wash over you. 

Rating: ★★★★☆