Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on Friday with fans eagerly predicting digs at her famous exes.
But in a somewhat hypocritical move, the singer, 34, appeared to take a hit at all the ‘gossips’ who have examined her past relationships – despite detailing her breakups from the likes of Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy on the double, 31 track record.
Taylor is known for her honest and clever lyrics often linking to the ends of her high-profile romances, with critics hailing the project her ‘most personal yet’ as she took a ‘sharp savage attack on her British exes.’
Many fans had predicted that The Tortured Poets Department would be the ultimate Joe/Taylor ‘breakup album’ as it’s been speculated the title itself was a direct dig at the British actor, who she dated from 2016 to early 2023.
Following the end of their relationship, she found herself in a whirlwind romance with 1975 frontman Matty — though neither ever directly confirmed — that started in April 2023 after they were seen kissing in NYC.
In a somewhat hypocritical move, Taylor Swift appeared to take a hit at all the ‘gossips’ who have examined her relationships – despite detailing her breakups on her new album
The double, 31 track record, The Tortured Poets Department, has been ‘most personal yet’ as she took a ‘sharp savage attack on her British exes’, Joe Alwyn (R) and Matt Healy (L)
But the fling ended as fast as it began after his ‘bad boy’ image and ‘racist’ remarks caused squeaky clean Taylor to face backlash.
On track 21, How Did It End? the song-writer appears to reference the speculation over her relationship with Joe as she details in the chorus:
‘Come one come all It’s happ’nin’ again / The empathetic hunger descends We’ll tell no-one / ‘Cept all of our friends / We must know How did it end?’
‘Didn’t you hear? / They called it all off / One gasp and then / How did it end?’
Accusing people of conducting their own ‘post-mortem’s’ in the opening sentence, Taylor also accuses people of being smug: ‘Soon they’ll go home to their husbands / ’cause they know they can trust him / Then feverishly calling their cousins.’
She later admits that while everyone is questioning, ‘How did it end?’ she doesn’t know herself: ‘But I still don’t know, how did it end?’
Taylor has since moved on with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — but it’s clear she still has a few bones to pick with the ‘worst men’ in her life.
The name of the album has long been speculated to be a jab at Joe, who previously revealed that he is part of a WhatsApp group chat with close pals Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called The Tortured Man Club.
But the titular track featured plenty of lyrics that allude to her time with Healy.
Many fans predicted the album would be the ultimate Joe/Taylor ‘breakup album’ as it’s been speculated the title itself was a direct dig at the actor, who she dated from 2016 to early 2023
On track 21, How Did It End? the song-writer appears to reference the speculation over her relationship with Joe as she details: ‘The empathetic hunger descends We’ll tell no-one / ‘Cept all of our friends / We must know How did it end?’
Accusing people of conducting their own ‘post-mortem’s’ she later admits that while everyone is questioning, ‘How did it end?’ she doesn’t know herself: ‘But I still don’t know’
Swift implies that Healy would be devastated if she left him and even appears to reference his close friend Lucy Dacus of the band boygenius.
She sings: ‘Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me/ But you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave’
‘And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen/ Everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be’
The song also features the lyric: ‘Like, ‘Who uses typewriters anyway?’
Back in 2019, Healy was clowned online when he confessed to GQ that he ‘really likes’ using a typewriter.
The heartbreaking track, So Long, London details Taylor’s raw heartache as she realises that her long-term relationship with the British actor could not be saved.
‘I stopped trying to make him laugh/ Stopped trying to drill the safe,’ she sings.
She then talks of bidding farewell to ‘the house in the Heath.’
The couple famously hunkered down together in a rural location in the UK back in 2017.
Having spent six years together, the singer talks about being ‘pissed off’ that her ex-boyfriend ‘let me give you all that youth for free.’
She also sings of feeling isolated in the relationship and that she felt as though she would ‘implode.’
‘Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years — I’ll never get that time back’
The song is 9 minutes and 28 seconds in length and Joe and Taylor were first confirmed to be dating on September 28, 2016.
As the album hit streaming platforms Thursday night, Swift published a lengthy statement on Instagram where she described it as ‘an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.’
She continued: ‘This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted.
‘This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.
The Bad Blood songstress – who recently teased a ‘timetable’ to her fans ahead of the LP’s release – initially announced the album while attending the 2024 Grammys earlier this year
‘And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry,’ concluded Swift, as she announced: ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is out now.’
Along with her thought provoking words, the lyricist shared a slideshow of gorgeous black-and-white portraits as part of the album’s artwork.
Taylor’s devout fanbase quickly flooded social media with their reactions – with many calling TTPD ‘the best album Taylor has made.’
Many admitted that they were ‘crying’ over the songs as they branded it a ‘masterpiece’ and praised her lyricism.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: TRACK-BY-TRACK
Fortnight
A tuneful duet with Post Malone and a song seemingly about a two-week fling. The slow, electronic rhythms set the early tone.
The Tortured Poets Department
Another shimmering melody, and lyrics which suggest that Taylor, modestly, doesn’t see herself at the top table of tortured poets: ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, and I’m not Patti Smith.’
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Written solely by Swift, this song’s dense electronic hum adds forceful notes. ‘Once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me,’ she vows.
Down Bad
‘Everything comes out teenage petulance,’ sings Taylor as she bitterly surveys the fallout from an old relationship.
So Long, London
The first track to be written with The National’s Aaron Dessner brings a change of pace, with a lovely, choral intro. ‘So long, London, you’ll find someone,’ sings Taylor.
This is her first new album since the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and, while she doesn’t mention Alwyn by name, speculation will be rife that tracks such as So Long, London are about him. Pictured together in 2019
But Daddy I Love Him
‘I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want,’ sings Swift, showing wry humour as she admits to falling for the bad boys. Produced, with real brightness, by Dessner.
Fresh Out The Slammer
Finger-picked acoustic guitar adds folky notes reminiscent of lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore.
Florida!!!
An album highlight, this theatrical duet with London singer Florence Welch is an uplifting song of escape – from small-town life and a bad romance.
Guilty As Sin?
A tale of unrequited love, and a superb slice of 1980s-style soft rock. It even mentions The Downtown Lights, a 1989 single by Scottish band The Blue Nile.
Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
Big drums, a dramatic arrangement, and more dry humour in another song penned solely by Swift. ‘You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,’ she snarls.
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
A moody, stripped-down number worthy of Lana Del Rey, who has also worked extensively with the song’s producer, Jack Antonoff.
The Alchemy: Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. Pictured at Coachella this week
Loml
‘You said I’m the love of your life,’ sings Taylor on this warm, resonant piano ballad. In a smart twist, the ‘loml’ ultimately becomes ‘the loss of my life’.
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
More 1980s influences on an electronic pop track that sees Taylor vowing to remain a trouper, despite any romantic strife.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
‘You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man,’ sings a disdainful Swift on a melodramatic ballad.
The Alchemy
Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. ‘When I touch down, call the amateurs and cut them from the team,’ she sings.
Clara Bow
It’s tempting to think Taylor sees something of herself in a closing track inspired by an American actress of the 1920s who lived her life in the Hollywood goldfish bowl.
