TAYLOR SWIFT - THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
TAYLOR SWIFT -
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
ALBUM REVIEW
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Taylor Swift’s 11th album “The Tortured Poets Department” presents something of an open goal. She reigns as the biggest star in the world with record-breaking tours and Super Bowl appearances making her ever-present in the public consciousness. As such this album rides a wave that means it will have immense amounts of public attention by virtue of this star-power. The immediate question to this is, can the music hold up to such scrutiny?
Even before release, it seemed clear that Taylor was not seeking to present this album in the same way as the shiny pop of “Midnights”. A monochromatic colour scheme gave a peak into a record that would be more at home in reserved arrangements and somber tones.
Opener “Fortnight” immediately shows this, and provides perhaps the strongest song on the album as it embodies the album’s ethos. Swift’s vocals are an echo of Jack Antanoff alumni Lana Del Rey. The track is an impressive blend of dark themes on adultery into a palatable single.
Downer dance beats from “Down Bad” give another standout track that delivers one of the best choruses on the album. Lamenting lost love, but in a much more grounded context than the narrative of “Fortnight”.
One of the greatest strengths of the album is the multi-faceted approach it takes to describing love and loss. It provides impressive variety across its lengthy runtime, exhaustively exploring forlorn romantic angles while also treading along several fatalist threads such as isolation.
Interesting subject matter continues on such tracks as “But Daddy I Love Him” which seems to voice peeved feelings on how fans feel that they have a vote in Swift’s choice of partner. Humorous lyrics build a rich and detailed story that recaptures some of the storybook feelings of her earlier albums such as “Fearless” and “Speak Now”.
A tone shift from “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” is much needed in the latter half of the album and sees Swift as she describes the show of being the biggest star on the planet while clearing the debris of heartbreak.
The core album itself delivers a strong selection of tracks, but with a lack of sonic diversity meaning that it can be hard to focus on the best parts on initial listens. However, this release was almost immediately buoyed by ”The Anthology” which added 15 additional tracks which seek to rectify this somewhat.
The homogenous nature of the first edition of the album is immediately disrupted by “The Black Dog” as a cacophonous crashing on the track serves to awaken the listener. This is followed up by the jangly guitars of “So High School” which briefly shows the untapped potential for a more indie rock-tinged Swift album.
The wistful track “Peter” recites an almost sliding doors like tale of a partner that refuses to be there when you need them through the lens of Peter Pan. The production elevates the song as echoing piano soundtracks the tale.
“The Tortured Poets Department” Doesn’t deliver an album full of summer-ready pop anthems, nor does it intend to. The album delivers a new sound for Taylor, but perhaps too much of it and there is a prevalent feeling that the album could have been leaner, and would have benefited greatly from it. From occasional lyrical lines that don’t scan to the length of the track list, the record has some rough edges that detract from the overall experience.
Perhaps the unedited nature is an attempt to present this work in its raw form, however, this fails to come together on the album as the production saps a lot of the emotional weight of these aspects. As it stands, the album presents some fantastic tracks that will no doubt stand the test of time (fortnight, down bad, etc) but several songs struggle to find their identity when stacked up alongside the rest of the album.
At its best, the album delivers new and interesting perspectives on love and loss, but it sometimes struggles from too much of a good thing.