Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department – Album Review (2024)

Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department

Republic Records

All Formats Available

Released 19th April 2024

Taylor Swift has come back with a new original album. Even more, this work contains sixteen normal-length songs. The Tortured Poets Department is a brilliant culmination of how far the singer has come in her life, as well as an almost spiritual sequel to Midnights, production-wise.

Taylor Swift is really at her peak now. Thanks to the Eras Tour and various Taylor’s Versions, one could say she is at her height of popularity. Her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, reveals a wealth of humanness and sheer genius in its huge scope, held together by gut wrenching lyrics, making it clearer why she’s so famous.

Opener Fortnight makes clear that this album is one of words and romance. It is a song about shared yet broken love, that draws you in and leaves you hooked by its hypnotic beauty. It is a song that shows off the continued best qualities of this album and has some of the most beautiful and moving vocals, paired with great production and utterly profound lyrics.

One of the album’s main strengths is the stream of consciousness-like attitude that takes precedence over nearly every track; each evoking a sense of realism and a captivating narrative with numerous hooks, almost daydream-like lyrics, and atmosphere. It is a work that feels like an opener to a specific part of Swift’s mind, and it never lets that go. Additionally, while previous albums, such as Midnights, featured intriguing lyrics, there was at times a sense of artificiality in her songwriting. Here, that mask seems gone. What makes this all come together so well is the thread holding it all together so beautifully; Swift’s romantic life, and where love and life take her. It has never felt so apparent.

The production is excellent, highlights being My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, together accomplishing two of the album’s main topics; one discussing the nature of her lovers, and the other dealing largely with her love life versus public persona, or, in other words, the weight on her shoulders. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys manages to blend the catchiness of past Swift with her newer, more introspective style. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart best evokes the most human side of Swift in the most obvious yet clever way, simply by being clear about what Swift is. Human.

While the production bears a strong resemblance to the album Midnights, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it simply works on its own. An artist does not have to constantly evolve their art style to make better art; there is another way of simply perfecting their craft. Here, The Tortured Poets Department feels more like a continuation of Midnights in its production, but it takes the things holding Midnights production back and patches them up.

If I had to pick a standout here, it would be Florida!!!, featuring Florence + The Machine. What makes this track shine are its themes and power. It’s catchy enough on its own, but Florence Welch’s haunting and beautiful vocals and the fanciful and striking songwriting give Florida!!! a personality that stands out starkly for the rest for its sheer wildness, and how well that wildness connects to everything this album is doing.

The Tortured Poet’s Department’s poetry reveals beauty in its excess, each track unravelling simplicity and unrestrained detail. The excess here works well because it helps to make it all the more impactful. For example, the line in the track The Tortured Poets Department which references Charlie Puth is not only effective but also quite brilliant, because it evokes a sense of reflection. It is the event’s fine detail that gives the song so much value and brilliance. Swift seems to actually be recalling a moment, filling it with lines of beautiful poetry and snappy observations to create a sense of realism, as if we are entering her mind.

The Tortured Poets Department is a strong push for creative freedom that demonstrates a multitude of ideas Swift has at her disposal. The album evokes an alluring quality that takes it to the next level: mundane yet dramatic and brilliant all at the same time. It is, in my opinion, perhaps her best work yet.

Taylor Swift can be found here – Instagram | Tik Tok | Website

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More writing by Christopher Patterson available in his archive here