Taylor Swift continued her tradition of name-dropping in her emotional lyrics with the midnight release of her newest album “The Tortured Poets Department”—and the 2 a.m. release of 15 surprise songs—using the stories of celebrities from early Hollywood stars to 1970s rockers and famous poets to convey meaning in her latest tracks.
Taylor Swift performs with Stevie Nicks, right, at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on … [+]
Charlie Puth: The star who raise to fame as a teenager in the early 2010s for his viral YouTube song covers was trending in the early hours of Friday morning after Swift mentioned him by name in the album’s title track: “You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” The name drop seems to be a reference to her and 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s mutual appreciation of Puth, and the reference stirred up a discussion online over what exactly the lyric meant.
The Blue Nile: In the opening line to “Guilty As Sin,” Swift sings “Drowning in the Blue Nile/He sent me Downtown Lights/ I hadn’t heard it in a while.” The lyrics seem to be a reference to the Scottish band “The Blue Nile”—of which her ex Healy is a known fan, according to the BBC—and their 1989 hit “Downtown Lights,” which Healy has said was an inspiration for his own music.
Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith: Swift dropped references to two celebrated poets in a single line on the title track with “You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith/This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, we’re modern idiots.” Thomas is a Welsh writer most famous for his poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and Smith is a celebrated punk rocker who rose to fame in the 1970s. The lyric also mentions New York’s famous Chelsea Hotel, known for its connection to artists like Thomas, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
Clara Bow: Fans have known a song about early Hollywood actress Clara Bow would be included on the new record since the track list for the album first dropped on Feb. 5. Bow was a silent film star and the “original ‘it-girl’” (named so for starring in a film titled “It” in 1927), and Swift’s song in her honor chronicles the fickle nature of stardom: “You look like Clara Bow in this light, remarkable all your life/did you know you’d be picked like a rose?”
Stevie Nicks: The Fleetwood Mac star is mentioned in the song “Clara Bow” with the lyric “You look like Stevie Nicks in ‘75, the hair and lips/Crowd goes wild at her fingertips, half moonshine, a full eclipse.” Nicks has praised Swift in the past for her vulnerability and honesty in songwriting and wrote a poem for the younger star that is featured as the written prologue for “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Taylor Swift: At the end of “Clara Bow,” Swift references herself: “You look like Taylor Swift in this light, we’re loving it/You’ve got edge she never did, the future’s bright, dazzling.” The song, which references iconic stars replacing those who came before them, suggests Swift, too, will soon be replaced by a fresher face.
Lucy and Jack: With no last names given, fans have been left to speculate on who is referenced in the lyric: “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.” Fans have come to the conclusion “Jack” is in reference to her good friend and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff but who “Lucy” could be has led to more debate. The prevailing theory is that it’s a reference to Lucy Dacus of Boygenius, whose fellow band member Phoebe Bridgers has performed with both Swift and Healy.
Charlie Puth performs on June 5, 2022 in Mountain View, California.
Hollywood film star Clara Bow in 1928.
Studio portrait of Patti Smith in October 1976.
Swift announced she would release “The Tortured Poets Department” album in February after winning a Grammy Award for best pop vocal album for the “Midnights” record, which took her tally for Grammys to 13. She released the tracklist for the album that night and, in the weeks leading up to the release, launched a full-on media promotion blitz that included buy-in from Apple Music, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram and iHeartRadio. A pop-up in Los Angeles featuring a poetry library had fans waiting in hours-long lines to get a glimpse into “the world of TTPD,” and a YouTube QR code placed in Chicago attracted large crowds of Swifties looking to decode the message. “The Tortured Poets Department” released at midnight on Friday and, at 2 a.m. ET, a surprise additional 15 songs were dropped. The album chronicles Swift’s breakup with British actor Joe Alwyn, who she dated for six years, her short-lived and much-criticized relationship with Matty Healy and her current relationship with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce.
“The Tortured Poets Department” broke records before it was even released. It became the most pre-saved album countdown in the history of Spotify, the service said Thursday.
7. Songs from “The Tortured Poets Department” held the first seven spots on Apple Music’s top songs chart as of 11 a.m. Friday. “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone), the album’s first single, was in the No. 1 spot. The only songs on the top 10 list not from Swift’s new album were “Too Sweet” by Hozier, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey and “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone. In total, 15 “TTPD” songs were in Apple Music’s top 20 as of 11 a.m.
