Taylor Swift dropped her brand new double album “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, Apr. 19 at midnight EST announced at the 2024 Grammy’s.
“I think that the album needs more than one listen to be fully appreciated,” stated Senior QUEST student Natalia Ramos about the album. “When I first listened to it I felt that a lot of the songs had a similar sound to some of her previous albums, but the lyrics are what leave the most impact with this album. I feel that the album is her saddest and has the most allusions in it.”
In less than half a day, the album became the most streamed album in a day on Spotify according to their Instagram post. Trending songs among Swifties are “Fortnight (ft. Post Malone),” “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” and “So Long, London,” along with my personal favorite “But Daddy I Love Him.”
Overall the album was absolutely amazing and I think it’s her best album yet. Swift uses lyrics and phrases that dive deep into the trauma of her previous relationship with Joe Alwyn. It’s now confirmed through her lyrics that the album expresses all of Swift’s pent-up emotions about the breakup, and almost all the songs on the album are about it. Her trauma dump went further into her emotions than we’ve ever seen, which is what made the album so meaningful.
At the Eras Tour in Sydney, Swift states, “I needed to make it, it was a lifeline for me.”
Once the album dropped, it had Swifties all around the world amazed and drowning in their own tears from the heart-wrenching breakup album. I absolutely loved the album, it’s definitely my new favorite and my new obsession.
Swifties were even more amazed when Swift released a double album at 2 am (11 pm PST) called “The Anthology,” consisting of 15 more tracks from the tortured mind of Taylor Swift.
“The mythological and Victorian references in the second half of the album tie the tragic and poetic elements of the album together,” Ramos states regarding the surprise double album.
Lyrics such as “stole my tortured heart, left all these broken parts” (My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys) and “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see” (But Daddy I Love Him) really show what she’s capable of through her lyrics. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is an example of how she’s capable of overcoming her breakup with Joe and still being there for her fans through the Eras Tour while masking her hurt and depression. This song presents that through its upbeat sound but deep and emotional lyrics.
Since the release, many of the tracks have been trending on TikTok such as “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “Down Bad,” “So High School,” “So Long, London,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and “Florida!!!” Many trending audios and trends have branched off of these songs.
Other significant songs are “So Long, London” where Swiftie’s previous speculations were correct regarding the strong ties to her relationship with Alwyn. One of the tracks in the double album is titled “thanK you aIMee,” the capitalized letter spelling out “KIM” referring to Kim Kardashian, whom Swift had previous problems with in 2017 with Kanye West. The song mentions how Kim used to blame her in 2017 and how the experience has helped Swift grow as a person.
Her recent success has skyrocketed with her new album and has been trending all around the world. Taylor Swift is such an incredible woman and an Amazon songwriter, her album was absolutely astounding and breathtaking.
Kennedy Smith • May 23, 2024 at 1:21 pm
This article explains pop star Taylor Swift’s successes with her new album that came out on April 19th called, “The Tortured Poets Department.” This article mentions multiple songs that have seemed to be big hits whether it be at Swift’s world tour, “The Eras Tour” or on social media apps such as tik tok.
Varley expresses that she enjoys this album as she says that she thinks this is her best album yet. I agree with Varley, although I don’t think that this album is my absolute favorite, I think that the songs are very well written and executed tremendously. She explains that this album was made as a result of Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyns break up. There are several songs on the album that are extremely emotional and express feelings of brokeness from the breakup. Along with some sad songs, there are also very upbeat songs about Swift’s new boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Songs about him include “So High School” and my favorite song, “But Daddy I Love Him.” Taylor Swift is known not only for her outstanding music but also for dropping little easter eggs or hints in her social media posts, songs, concerts, outfits, and more. One really controversial easter egg in this album was in the song, “thanK you aIMee.” Varley explains in her article that the capital letters in the song title spell out Kim, as in Kim Kardashian who Taylor Swift has had problems with in the past.
Taylor Swift is a very talented singer who has definitely made her mark all throughout her journey but especially with this new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Varley does a great job expressing her feelings about the album in which I agree that it has great songs.
Isabella Alcala • May 22, 2024 at 10:43 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On May 10th, 2024, Rose Varley wrote an article titled “Taylor Swift’s New Album “The Tortured Poets Department” ”. Varley starts her article by telling her audience the date she had dropped the album Friday, April.19. Then Varley immediately uses outsid sources of Millikan students’ opinions on the new album. All the quotes are positive feedback from listening to the album. I agree with one of the students that stated this album is one of the best but also more sadder albums. I truly agree it does leave an impact after listening to the lyrics.
I clicked on this article because I am a swiftie myself but also enjoy reading other peoples opinions on the article aswell. Out of the list Varley had given of the trendiest songs in the album, I enjoy the song “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” the most. As I relate to that song the most and is one of the songs that is more positive.
I agree with the statement Varley had included in her article that the album had shocked Taylors fans across the world when she dropped not one but two albums in the same night. That was shocking enough to the fans but the lyrics in her songs stated Varley had confirmed and explained how Taylor and ex-boyfriend Joe Awlyn broke up. Varley also did an amazing job in the article by explaining the meaning of each title of some of the songs on the new album. This helped the reader understand how each song Taylor writes has a bigger meaning behind it. Varley also included songs from the album that are trending on social media platforms that the audience may have heard. This article was written so well and was able to give information on Taylor Swift’s new album to people who may not have known about it.
Laurissa Avina • May 21, 2024 at 11:15 am
On May 10, 2024, Rose Varley wrote an article titled “Taylor Swift’s New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’”. Varley’s article was a well written and informative opinion piece that allows anyone to follow it with ease Throughout the article we can see Varley’s bias towards Swift’s music by using phrases such as “her album was absolutely astounding and breathtaking” and “it’s definitely my new favorite and my new obsession” to describe her love for the album. I noticed that the other opinion that Varley got from a senior QUEST student was an opinion that was very popular across social media platforms. I also think that Varley explaining the rumored lore behind the album was an important detail to include in order for the lyrics to make sense. The explanation of the songs “thanK you aIMee” and “So Long, London” was a good callback to prior events that readers may be able to understand more because of the popular headlines that the breakup and Kim-Kanye drama was in their respective time periods. Overall, I think Varley’s article was a very good opinion piece that shared some of my same opinions as well. Besides the opinion aspect, Varley did a good job at explaining the backgrounds and the astounding impact of this album on her listeners.
Memphis Nafarrate • May 20, 2024 at 11:01 am
The opinion piece both informs the reader about Taylor Swift’s new album as well as emphasizes the writer’s opinions on it. Varley informs the reader by explaining the album’s backstory, providing statistics on its success, and quoting Swift’s words to allow the reader to fully understand what the album is about and why it was made.
Moreover, Varley inserts her stance as a biased writer by praising Swift throughout her article and mentioning some of her favorite songs on the album. She even includes the opinions of other fans by providing quotes from an interview with a fellow Millikan student. Varley’s stance on Taylor Swift is made clear all throughout her writing; however, it is especially emphasized in the final sentence when she refers to Swift’s work as “astounding and breathtaking.”
Despite being an opinion article, Varley does a great job explaining “The Tortured Poets Department” to those who may not be as familiar with Taylor Swift’s life and work. The piece does a fantastic job of informing and entertaining from a biased perspective.