Taylor Swift loves to fill each album with clues and puzzles — “Easter eggs,” as she and her fans call them — for her die-hard followers to decode over the ensuing weeks, months and (let’s be honest) years. Already, her new heartbreak-steeped album “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” has led Swifties to attempt to connect the album’s lyrics to events in the singer’s personal life — a hunt for literalism that Swift does not exactly discourage. With its apparent nods to exes (Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy), current loves (Travis Kelce), enemies (Kim Kardashian) and other famous figures (Patti Smith, Dylan Thomas), making sense of the double album, if that’s what you’re into, might feel like a full-time job.
Well, we can get into it. In the hours after the 31-track album dropped, we combed the new songs for references, allusions, tributes and more. We tried to keep our speculation grounded; there’s a whole internet where fans can run wild with their theories. We also skipped some of Swift’s more obvious shout-outs, though we are confident her fans will find a lot to like on Patti Smith’s 1979 album “Wave.” Here’s what we hear on some of the standout tracks after a few first listens.
“I was supposed to be sent away/ But they forgot to come and get me/ I was a functioning alcoholic”: While “functioning alcoholic” might raise some eyebrows — and it’s never safe to assume every lyric should be taken as gospel, this being art — booze is a common theme for Swift, who started mentioning alcohol quite a bit on her 2017 album “Reputation.”
“You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist”: Puth, a pop singer who has had a decent amount of success — his 2015 track “See You Again” earned three Grammy nominations — is probably having a really interesting Friday.
“You told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave/ And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen”: Listeners assume she’s talking about Boygenius member Lucy Dacus as well as her close friend and producer, Jack Antonoff.
“A tattooed Golden Retriever”: Possibly Matty Healy, the 1975 singer to whom Swift was romantically linked last year.
All the hints leading up to “Tortured Poets” led fans to speculate that Swift would be singing about heartbreak, namely her breakup with Alwyn, a British actor. The two confirmed their split last April after six years of dating, and while Swift doesn’t go into detail on this track, it’s not hard to guess her inspiration for singing about London.
“The saboteurs protested too much/ … God save the most judgmental creeps/ Who say they want what’s best for me”: Possibly a message to some fans, who signed a virtual letter protesting Swift’s choice of boyfriend when she was dating Healy because of his “racist remarks” and “offensive jokes.”
“A timeshare in Destin”: The northwest Florida beach is known for its clear water and white-sand beaches. The connection to Taylor? No one knows, but the tourism board is probably happy for the shout out anyway. Just watch out for those timeshare scams.
“Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’/ I hadn’t heard it in a while”: An apparent Healy reference. He has said Scottish band the Blue Nile, purveyors of synthy sophistipop in the 1980s, is his favorite act and that the song “Downtown Lights” inspired some of his music.
“I’m always drunk on my own tears, isn’t that what they all said?”: Swift skewers the public perception of her as well as her complicated relationship with being one of the most famous people in the world. She also hints at the criticism that she likes to play the victim.
“As the crowd was chanting more!/ … I was hitting my marks”: There’s no direct reference to the ongoing Eras Tour in this song, but it’s not a huge leap to assume that Swift is talking about going out every night to perform in stadiums while dealing with a broken heart.
“Jehovah’s Witness suit”: Possibly a Healy burn (referring to his dressed-up concert outfits).
“Where’s the trophy? He just comes running over to me”: Although the timeline for Swift recording “Tortured Poets” isn’t 100 percent clear, fans have embraced this song as the “Travis Kelce song.” The singer and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end started “hanging out” around August of last year.
“You look like Taylor Swift/ In this light, we’re loving it/ You’ve got edge, she never did”: In another song about the pitfalls of fame, Swift highlights Clara Bow, a silent film star from the 1920s who was viciously scrutinized by the tabloids. Swift also gives a shout-out to Stevie Nicks, and ends the song referencing herself as she talks to a future star.
“And so I watch as you walk/ Into some bar called the Black Dog”: The Black Dog is a bar in London that now boasts “Home to tortured poets @taylorswift” in its Instagram bio.
“When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young to know this song/ That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming”: Like many millennials, Swift knows her pop-punk, including the Pennsylvania band. Also, Healy once sang a bit of The Starting Line’s “The Best of Me” at a show.
“Are you gonna marry, kiss or kill me/ It’s just a game, but really/ I’m bettin’ on all three for us two”: Back in 2016, a reporter asked Travis Kelce to play “Kill, Marry, Kiss” about Swift, Ariana Grande and Katy Perry. Kelce said (“unfortunately”) he would “kill” Grande, marry Perry and kiss Swift.
It’s not about Aimee Mann! The uppercase K-I-M tells you that this song is about Kim Kardashian, the ex-wife of Ye (formerly known as Kanye West). Do we need to rehash this? Ye made a crude reference to Swift in a song, Swift expressed her distaste for it, Kardashian leaked an edited version of a phone call between Swift and Ye in which Swift seemed to consent to the use of her name, there was social media criticism and a Ye video involving a naked likeness of Swift … you get it. It is probably not speculative to say that Taylor Swift does not like Kim Kardashian.
Happy listening!
