Release Day: The Tortured Poets Department

I realize there is a lot of controversy surrounding Miss Taylor Allison Swift, many of you may
have negative opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and all opinions should be respected (even if I don't like it). However, today I am going to talk about my opinion!

I am a major Swiftie, I have been since I was a little girl. Her music is one of the things that brought my dad and I together when I was younger. On the way to every soccer practice he would let me end the drive with one Taylor Swift song. After a while, the whole drive became Taylor Swift songs because my dad was now a full-blown Swiftie and that was something special that we could always bond over.

As I got older, nothing changed. Every album release day was like a holiday to me. When I was younger, the lyrics didn't really resonate with me all that much. I was just a little girl singing along to her favorite artist with no idea what she was really saying. As I have grown up and learned to pay attention to what I'm listening to and really focus on the lyrics, I became an even bigger fan.

My best friends and I attended her concert in Cincinnati last summer and I have to say it was probably the best night of my life. There's not even a good word to describe it besides WOAH. Some of you may not understand the level of amazing that this was, so let me put it into perspective for you. Imagine you have spent your whole life idolizing a professional football player. You follow all of their stats and watch every game they play. You love this player so much that you stay loyal to them even if they switch teams, have a bad game, or get injured. It doesn't matter because you love this athlete, you're inspired by all of the hard work that they've put in to get to where they are now. You're inspired by all of the hate and adversity that they've received from other players, from haters everywhere. Now imagine that you get the opportunity to go and listen to this person tell you how they did it. You get the chance to hear their whole story. I'm guessing you'd be extremely excited about that opportunity and I'm guessing that you'd be pretty upset if you were so passionate about this person but people went around making fun of you or telling you they they're a bad player, that they don't even work hard. Taylor Swift said it best herself, "haters gonna hate," but before you go around bashing this woman, think about what I said. Again, we can all have our own opinions. I might not like your favorite athlete that you are obsessed with, and maybe you don't vibe with Taylor's music. Let's not tear each other down because of the things we're passionate about, just let people be inspired by the people they love. Keep your opinions to yourself.

Well, that was not the point of this blog at all. That was going to be a quick introduction sentence, but then I kept writing... oops! Rant over now. Onto the good stuff. 

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

In case you haven't heard, Miss Swift just released a brand new album with 31 tracks!!!! That
is her longest album to date. This woman just released 31 new songs while in the middle of the biggest world tour in history. Talk about being a bad a**!!! 

There are a lot of mixed feelings about this album because it is a much different vibe from the things she's written in the past. This album is for HER! People can hate on the style of it all they want, but this album is the closure that she needs to move on from a very dark chapter in her life. I think that this album is targeted to a very specific audience of Swifties. I've talked to a lot of my friends who like her music but who are not enjoying this album very much. The common theme has been that they don't understand it, her lyrics don't make sense to them. That is why I think this album is very specified. This album was written during the last two years of her relationship of six years with Joe Alwynn. Yes you heard that correctly, part of this album was written DURING her relationship. That relationship ended in the summer of 2023 when Joe was a gross man and cheated on her. Taylor was in the middle of her tour when this happened and she fell into a very dark place. One of her songs represents this very well with the lyrics "lights, camera, and smile even when you wanna die," and this just makes me stop and think about how strong she is. She lost the love of her life in the middle of her world tour and had to keep going like nothing happened. Not many other people could do that. After this breakup, Taylor ran into old friend Matt Healy and boy was I disappointed in her when this happened. Again though, when your favorite player has a bad game, are you going to turn on them and start hating? NO! She was in a bad place and made a bad decision, no one is perfect and that goes for her too. If you don't know anything about Matt, i'll let you do that research on your own but lets just say that he is not someone you want to be around. This short fling ended with Taylor in an even worse place than she started. 

This new album is her closure. It's real. It's depressing. It's vulnerable. It is exactly what she needed to move on from this last decade in her life. When talking to my friends about it, many of them don't know all of the details about the stories behind this album. One of my friends said it best, she said "I have liked all of Taylor's music, but I just don't understand this one. Thinking about it, I guess if you don't know her story or the lore behind it all then it just doesn't make sense". I love the way she put that because instead of just bashing it and saying the album is awful, she's acknowledging the fact that maybe this is just an album that she can't quite understand and that's ok. Theres nothing wrong with that and it's not a bad album, maybe it's just not meant for you. Personally, I sobbed the first time I listened to it because I GET IT, it is meant for the fans like me. 

For an album with 31 tracks, it's hard to rank all of them. I have listened to it on repeat for the past week and I still can't rank all of them. After all of this, I have come up with a pretty solid top 5. If you haven't listened to the album yet, or you listened and dismissed it as a bad one right away, I recommend giving these songs a listen. If you still don't understand it then that's ok, but let the rest of us bask in it's glory without tearing it down. Please and thank you :)

TTPD TOP 5 RANKING

1. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
   
   
2. Flordia!!!
3. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
4. Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?
5. Down Bad