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.)

Thanks for the nugget! This is the thing with so many tracks (and so little time to properly listen). It'll take me years to pick up on this kind of stuff.

I was just reading something about increasing album lengths in recent years actually, and someone described it as akin to spread betting.

Basically you dump enough tracks on there and a percentage of the listeners will stream at least some of them, increasing your profits via Spotify etc, the likelihood of being able to claim 'most streamed album' accolades etc.

Whereas a shorter album would need every track to be a belter to get the same traction (that would be preferable to me tbh but it seems to be trending the other way).

Yeah I actually feel a bit anxious about how much there is to work through 😳

I also go through stages with the albums - it's not that I go off the ones that are instant hits to me at first, but that others evolve and I love them all the more for their hidden beauty! With Evermore, two of my favourites are now Long Story Short and Right Where You Left Me. But it's not that I've gone off Tis the Damn Season, for example, but others step out of the shadows over time and really shine.

I keep going back to loml... It's so sad but beautifully painted. I have no wish to break up with my DP, but if I did this I would go straight to this song!

I actually disagree with everyone saying it's too long etc. When you listen back to her unreleased tracks on older albums you can see she was being censored by people above her - the angrier and more cynical songs didn't get released. Let's be honest, she's at the point where she could release an hour of her making fart noises and still make millions off the back off it. Why not just do what she wants?!

Prince was like this as an artist and it was one of the reasons he had that whole weird dispute with his record label.

Well yes of course she can do whatever she wants, but I just think it all sounds pretty samey and sort of mashes into one long sort of...dreary background music.

I have listened to it all now and can't name a track or been wowed by any line. I love Folklore and Evermore and played them on repeat for about a year, and at this point I still think they're by far the stronger pieces of work.

You never know though - a lot of her stuff does work its way into your soul over time.

She can release whatever she wants. But equally, I can have an opinion on what she releases. If I think a piece of work is samey and bloated, why should I back off and not share my opinion on that? The reason I love Taylor is her music and I’m allowed to have negative opinions as well as positive ones.

You never know though - a lot of her stuff does work its way into your soul over time.

I think this is the crux for me, and her huge talent as a songwriter. I find that songs I thought I wasn't too fussed about end up pulling me up short with their beauty and brilliance months later. So in the end the quantity 'dumped' in one go becomes irrelevant.

When I listen to the From The Vault tracks I typically think there’s a reason why they weren’t picked in the first place, and that’s because they are weaker than the album tracks (with exceptions to that rule). Taylor is brilliant, but not infallible, and having people tell her no, or editing her work, or pushing to be better… improves the end product. And I think that’s one of the differences in the Jack and Aaron tracks.

Ahem….

Surprised at the absolute seriousness people take this. Work through it, digest it, stressed, anxious, process it etc all being terms people are using.

for me it’s an album from a singer songwriter I enjoy. I like this new work, some songs stood out from others, as they do for every artist. some of her songs I enjoy, some I don’t.

it shouldn’t be work or stressful listening to an album.

Yeah it's all a bit much for some people 😂

Her PR strategy is absolutely on point though. I've had to stay off Instagram today because I can't take any more breathless sobbing actual adults in my feed going on about it.

I'm enjoying the convo on this thread though.

When I first listened to it at 6am I didn't really digest it properly - now that I've listening to it over and over i absolutely love it! I was thinking this morning 'there's no way she's put out an album I don't love' but wow it's so good honestly, lyrically - amazing!

I've only listened to it once (with the exception of Down Bad, and Guilty as Sin) and I'm hoping that I end up feeling the same as you. I like a handful of them but am not blown away.

But I think I felt like this after midnights was released, and I love it now

I'm loving it! There's a lot of humour and a lot of playfulness and the whole 2nd half sounds like Folklevermore which I love!

Thanks for sharing this, really interesting, makes sense but it hadn’t occurred to me. I think she just likes putting out alot but this will very likely be an additional motive. She loves awards and accolades - why she does so many album variants despite consistent fan negative response - because it helps her break records quicker. Like, babe, you’re going to go platinum anyway, maybe don’t screw over fans to get there.

I definitely take your point. I can't speak for others but for me it's almost a 'good' stress in the sense I'm an absolute perfectionist and enjoy doing things 'properly', so there's almost an urge to do it all quickly and know as much as possible!

I do need to relax though 😆

At the end of the first listen of all of it I felt a bit overwhelmed as there's just so much to take in and so many lyrics.

However I've started a second listen and I'm enjoying now, I think some of her best writing is on here even if some of melodies are similar to previous songs.

I also forget how funny she can be, a lot of it is poking fun at herself and I'm a fan of but daddy I love him poking fun at anyone who tries to intervene with her and thinking she cares.

The final statement she added to the physical copies was interesting- also the original caption of the release. Basically saying, this is how I felt, it's done and over now and it's case closed.

I also enjoyed The Manuscript finishing it off- there's a famous quote somewhere that basically says the second you release your art/poems/stories, it's not yours anymore it belongs to the people who interpret it and she says in the last line it's not mine anymore.

I feel like The Anthology songs are stronger than the main album's but maybe that's because I'm a Folklore/Evermore fan and always prefer Aaron Dessner's production.

I’ve loved what I’ve listened to so far but I’m with a toddler so can’t listen properly, this evening my AirPods are going in and I’ll listen start to finish.

It does pain me how much of this album is about Matty Healy. I know there’s rumours of them getting together since the 1989 era and now I’m looking back on her back catalogue wondering how many others are Matty songs. I saw someone say The 1 was about him a year or so ago and now I’m thinking that really is the case! I’m glad there’s not much about Joe though, as he’s so private, I just wasn’t expecting a Matty album!

I've just put it on shuffle to listen again and I do think I prefer the songs on the second half overall. Peter is definitely a favourite

Cardigan was definitely about him and links to Peter on this album.

Wow! “The smell of smoke would hang around this long” that line certainly fits with him! I’d just never considered him as the muse for that one! Anyway it makes me want to re listen to older tracks with the added context of TTPD

Cardigan was definitely about him

Was it? I thought it was one of the teenage live triangle ones with Betty and August? Isn't it from Betty's perspective?
Or was it sort of about him as well?

I’ve seen rumours of Joe, Taylor and Matty being the love triangle in that saga….

Am beginning to think Betty, James and August are Joe, Taylor and Matty!

I’ve relistened to cardigan with MH in mind and it makes sense to me!