On Monday, Amazon Music released a track-by-track commentary experience for Taylor Swift’s new album “The Tortured Poets Department.” Fans can now listen to the new album with commentary from Swift herself interspersed throughout the tracks, revealing the stories behind her lyrics.
Swift released “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, dropping a double album as a surprise.
The album became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day. The record is also the most-streamed album in its first week on globally on Amazon Music — it hit that record in only three days.
Now, fans can peer behind the veil and see a little more about how the songs came to be.
Swift discusses what is behind the lyrics of some of her new tracks, revealing her inspirations and the themes in her new tunes.
Swift discusses song her song “Clara Bow,” saying she “wrote (it) as a commentary on what I’ve seen in the industry that I’ve been in over time.”
“I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist,” she says.
“And then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way,’” she says. “And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you.”
Swift also talks about her song “Florida!!!,” which features Florence + The Machine.
In the commentary track, Swift says, “I’m always watching “Dateline.” People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida.”
Swift adds that Florida is the state she thinks of where people can create a new identity and attempt to blend in. She said that after a heartbreak, part of her wants to skip town and reinvent herself in the same way. For her, the idea of Florida was just a jumping off point.
She discusses the track “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” and the pressure that comes with fame and being in the public eye.
“What do we do to our writers and our artists and our creatives? We put them through hell,” Swift says.
“We watch what they create, then we judge it,” she says. “We love to watch artists in pain, often to the point where I think sometimes as a society we provoke that pain and we just watch what happens.”
The commentary is available to stream on Amazon Music.
Amazon Music customers can access the commentary tracks by asking Alexa, too. Fans can say, “Alexa, I’m a member of ‘The Tortured Poets Department,'” and she will help you find the commentary.
Fans can also head to the Amazon Music app to check out the tracks.
