Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poet's Department - album discussion thread

[OldHabitsDieScreaming]

Hello Swifties! Thought I would start a thread to chat about TS11 or TTPD or whatever we're calling it 😁Don't know about you but the excitement is building for this old-enough-to-know-better Swiftie and I'll be taking the long way into work tomorrow so I can listen to it in Peace...(see what I did there?)

So this thread is for anyone who loves TS and wants to talk/think/muse/swoon over the newest output from the hardest-working woman in music!

Personally I'm intrigued and delighted that Aaron Dessner seems to have co-writing credits on several tracks - I'm a committed Folklore/Evermore fan and more in a similar vein will be very welcome!

(Oh, and while hopefully this doesn't need saying, please don't bother posting to say how shit/overrated/talentless you think TS is. This is a fan / appreciation thread about a specific piece of work and it would be lovely to keep it that way.)

So I've just listened to 'daddy I love him' for the millionth time and just realised she's basically singing about me and Dh except she says 'fuck it, it's over' (so now I love it more)

When we first got together my god people had something to say, age gap (I'm 13 years younger) and I lost a lot it 'friends' and some family didn't speak to me but we are all ok now except some people who I truly cut out when I knew he's what I wanted and loved

Some lines that stick out for me

'No I'm not coming to my senses, I know he's crazy but he's the one I want'

'I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down then listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning' - enough said

'I'll tell you something about my good name, it's mine alone to disgrace' - even if something went wrong I'd think well it's my life let me make my own mistakes

'Thinking they can change the beat of my heart when he touched me' - I just love this line, nothing could change the way I felt

'Scandal does funny things to pride but brings lovers closer' - Dh was worried it would all break me down but it brought us closer

'We came back when the heat died down, Went to my parents and they came around' - this is exactly what happened with us!

'I'm his lady, and oh my god you should see your faces' - seriously - people's faces was great when they realised we weren't splitting up

'And no you can't come to the wedding' - we actually didn't invite certain people to the wedding cos of their first judgements on us 🤣

This song is probably my favourite she's ever written now as it really means a lot to me! I wish it was out 2 years ago

@mlc0 it's not 'im his lady's it's "I'm having his baby" IE all the pregnancy rumours

My favourite line in that song is about her crazed fans and their tiktoks videos telling her to dump him "sanctimoniously performing solilquies I'll never see"

People said she should be put in a conservatorship? Wtf? Who was saying that? Why?

I dunno about your theory in general. The lyrics don't make much sense, do they?

She's says it at the end!

Sorry that was responding to @tabulahrasa and her fortnight theory!

@mlc0 AHH I missed that one.

Either way, if only Shakespeare or Carol Ann Duffys Onion was as fun to analyse as TS lyrics, I'm sure I would have enjoyed GCSE English more

remember with Fortnight that is is co-written by Post Malone, so his life experience will be scattered through it, for example he has openly spoken about problems with alcohol.

It's right at the end!

Also, same. I'd have enjoyed school much more 🤣 maybe they will in the future hahaha

Did he write the lyrics?

he is credited as a writer, but not a producer on that track

Yep, when she was with matty Healy, there were so many weird things being said about it/her

The lyrics are weird, which is why I went off on one 🤣🤣🤣

I’m probably wrong, it was just I was trying to make them make sense and quite a few of the songs are about that sort of stuff - so I was thinking, what if “the album where she most needed songwriting” wasn’t because of her love life but because she was releasing loads of music and doing a huge tour and yet again all anyone was talking about was her love life

Oh and yes, I’d assumed post Malone wrote some of it, i didn’t even look, because I can’t think of a track she’s done featuring someone where they don’t?

I’m not convinced I’m right btw, I was just pondering really… and my dogs couldn’t be less interested so thought I’d post it 😂

Hmm I mean, it could be? People were definitely talking about other stuff than her love life though - lots of talk about the tour and the re-records too. But then I didn't take a lot of notice of the MH stuff. I mean, I knew there were fans having meltdowns about it but I was just rolling my eyes so I probably missed loads.

I do think a lot of the songs are about more than one thing. There are layers and layers. So maybe Fortnight is referring to lots of incidents. Although who is the wife who sends flowers who she wants to kill? Whose wife is she? I feel like it's possibly just made up.

https://variety.com/2024/music/news/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-meaning-fortnight-clara-bow-florida-1235977904/amp/

There’s commentary on Amazon music apparently

I wonder if TS makes boyfriends sign an NDA? I'd love to hear Matty Healy's side of the story!

I believe she makes everyone sign an NDA. She has to. She's said before that she'll never go to a therapist because who could she trust? (Also, who the hell would understand her? Her problems are fairly unique!) I guess that boyfriends have to sign various NDAs but I doubt that they extend to what they're allowed to say about their own emotions. I imagine it's more that they can't talk about her houses or her schedule or her songwriting or anything that compromises her security. But MH can write songs about her if he wants to - and I bet he will. I assume he already has. Caroline is apparently about TS.

I'd love to know what they have to agree to even to just go on a date with her. I expect their families and friends have to sign NDAs too. She does not want anyone selling their story to the papers - and to be fair, this doesn't seem to have happened. So presumably she's got it on lockdown and it wouldn't be worth going to the papers with your "My mate dated Taylor Swift" story because her legal team would be all over it.

Travis seems to talk about her a lot in public but he's so media savvy, he knows how to say a lot without giving anything away.

Very few people seem to have anything bad to say about her. Either there's nothing bad to say or they're not willing to risk it. Or maybe a bit of both.

I think Thankyouaime is more likely to be about Kanye than Kim. She said she removed identifying features as to who it was about and he said he made her famous based on the award ceremony stuff. His child sang Shake it Off which was written before all the “snake” stuff with Kim.

@MintyFurball the title of the track is literally spelt "thanK you aIMee" it literally spells out Kim.

She has said that alot of the album is about the 'celebrity' and artistic experience, putting them up on a pedestal and prodding them till they fall. And the general pressure artistic, writers, producers, actors are under for their job. Which would be fitting with the SAG protests earlier in the year. As well as the impact of her more 'enthisiastic' fans who stalk her, think they know her better than she does, camp out in her garden etc

yes, I know it does. That’s one of the reasons I think it’s about Kanye.

the capitalisation is a very intentional decision, I don't think she would have reignited the beef with Kim just to be a red herring when someone else was the real target. That being said if the song is about anyone other than Kim I would be most inclined to think it is Karlie. To be honest, while I like the song, I really wish she hadn't stylised the title like that, it's just petty and immature rather than clever and witty she didn't need to do it. It feels especially jarring when only 3 tracks earlier there's a stunning mature song about the pain of going through a breakup knowing you are the subject of gossip and whispers.

on a different note @TheTorturedPoetsDept Matty has said he is quite pleased with how he has come off and it could have been much worse. That might be him leaning into his persona, or things were really dark because TSMWEL hardly paints him as a prince.

I keep replaying the last 3 songs atm. She does astutely capture how so many women are left feeling after break-ups. The whole deceit, confusion and overall sense it was all just a waste of time. They aren't catchy for me yet, but I love the poetry of them.

I mean I get it, same child after all, lol

I kind of feel like though, it’s either Kim… or someone we literally wouldn’t think of it as being

Just because I feel like spelling Kim out in the title as changing the name from Kanye isn’t really changing it enough?

like it’s either really obvious or really really not and Kanye would be kind of obvious but not enough, does that make sense? 😂

“Matty has said he is quite pleased with how he has come off and it could have been much worse. That might be him leaning into his persona, or things were really dark because TSMWEL hardly paints him as a prince.”

To be fair, she’s known him a long time, she probably knows actual dirt about him that she could have written about, where it’s mostly just - her being hurt, how shitty it is having your private life out there etc.

I think she was bouncing around her eras in more ways than just musical style in this album - the “yah boo, my mum wished you dead” of Thankyouaimee” isn’t exactly the standard line of a songwriter in her mid 30s but absolutely would have featured on her earlier albums.

I actually didn't get to the last 2 tracks! The 3 I keep replaying are lol, I can do it with a broken heart (actually made me lol in the car first time! So true!) and The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.