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Godmother of punk responds to mention on Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ as pop titan smashes Spotify records on day of album release
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Taylor Swift has released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, and fans are busy unpacking everything from lyrics to her “Fortnight” music video.
The pop titan’s latest record, announced earlier this year when she won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album (Midnights), was released overnight on Friday 19 April and has already broken two Spotify records.
In a five-star review of the album, The Independent’s critic Helen Brown praised the “playful narratives” and “hooks like anchors”.
Fans have been surprised that many songs on the album seem to take aim at Swift’s ex Matty Healy, whom she briefly dated last year, instead of Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years, whom she was reported to have parted ways with around April 2023.
Patti Smith has responded after she was namechecked on the title track, writing: “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Thank you Taylor.”
Taylor Swift has enlisted Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, the stars of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, for her new music video.
The classic movie was released the year Swift was born, and seems to have inspired the title for her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.
In the video for “Fortnight”, Swift wakes up in a white gown. She’s chained to a bed in an asylum, before she is cut down and goes to the mirror, wiping her face to reveal tattoos.
Now wearing a black gown, she walks into an office-like room filled with typewriters, finding rapper Post Malone, with whom she sings on the track. The duo embrace on a lone highway and are caught in a tornado of loose paper.
She is then operated on by Hawke and Charles as scientists wearing lab coats embroidered with their Dead Poets Society names, as a machine measuring her brain waves spells out a lyric from the song: “I love you, it’s ruining my life.”
Video dropped as Swift’s 11th record ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ became the most-streamed album on Spotify in a single day
Jon Bon Jovi says he’s “grateful to this day” to Taylor Swift for encouraging Prince William to join them onstage for a rendition of his signature 1986 hit, “Livin’ on a Prayer”.
The unlikely trio performed the song at the Centrepoint Gala Dinner at Kensington Palace on 26 November 2013, and footage of the moment has regularly gone viral ever since.
Exclusive: Bon Jovi tells ‘The Independent’ that Swift ‘literally grabbed him by the arm and ran up on stage’
On “Guilty as Sin?” Swift sings about “fatal fantasies” for someone in her past who sends her the 1989 song “The Downtown Lights” by Scottish band The Blue Nile.
Healy has mentioned before that The Blue Nile is his “favourite band of all time” and that The 1975’s song “Love It If We Made It” was inspired by “The Downtown Lights.”
Fans also wrote an open letter in April urging Swift to “reflect on the impact of your own and your associates’ behavior”.
On “But Daddy I Love Him,” Swift seems to address this criticism of her romance with Healy.
She sings: “I’d rather burn my whole life down/ Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin’ and moanin’/ I’ll tell you something ‘bout my good name/ It’s mine along with all the disgrace/ I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing.”
Swift continues in the same vein, on “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” singing: “The jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud/They shake their heads, saying, ‘God help her’ when I tell ‘em he’s my man/But your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a fingerI can fix him, no really I can.”
She appears to accuse Healy of ghosting her on “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”, singing: “Was any of it true?/ Gazing at me starry-eyed/ In your Jehovah’s Witness suit/ Who the f*** was that guy?/ You tried to buy some pills/ From a friend of friends of mine/ They just ghosted you/ Now you know what it feels like.”
She later sings: “And I don’t even want you back I just want to know/ If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal/ And I don’t miss what we had but could someone give/ A message to the smallest man who ever lived.”
Healy has been wearing black suits with a black tie and white shirt while touring with The 1975.
Taylor Swift fans are convinced that the musician alludes to her years-long feud with Kim Kardashian on new album The Tortured Poets Department, as she seemingly makes several references to the reality star in her song “thanK you aIMee”.
The pop star released her 11th studio albumat midnight ET on Friday 19 April. Only a few hours later, she announced a surprise “2am version” that extended the record to a further 15 songs.
The first sign that the album’s 24th track from her new album might be a reference to Kardashian is the capitalisation of the letters K, I and M to spell out her first name.
There are other clues. It appears that Swift could be making a reference to Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter North West dancing to her 2014 single “Shake It Off” on TikTok. “Shake It Off” is about ignoring “haters”.
Read more:
Several signs point towards Kardashian being the topic of song ‘thanK you aIMee’
Fleetwood Mac star has praised Swift’s songwriting talents in the past
With its playful narratives and hooks like anchors, Swift’s 11th studio album is a terrific reminder of her storytelling powers, Helen Brown writes:
With its playful narratives and hooks like anchors, Swift’s 11th studio album is a terrific reminder of her storytelling powers
Taylor Swift fans were left reeling after it became apparent that her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, seems to spend more time reflecting on her short-lived romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy than it does her former boyfriend of six years, actor Joe Alwyn.
The pop titan released her 11th studio album at midnight ET on Friday 19 April. Only a few hours later, she announced that a surprise “2am version” extended the record to a further 15 songs.
One of the tracks on the first part of the album is “The Alchemy”, which appears to be the first song Swift has released about her boyfriend Travis Kelce, tight-end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The song has plenty of references to American football, including the lines: “So when I touch down/ Call the amateurs and cut ‘em from the team/ Ditch the clowns, get the crown/ Baby, I’m the one to beat.”
She also seems to refer to her British ex-boyfriends, singing: “These blokes warm the benches/ We’ve been on a winning streak.”
Full story:
Pop singer is known to delve into themes of love and heartbreak with her songwriting
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Taylor Swift in artwork for ‘The Black Dog edition’ of her 11th studio album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
Beth Garrabrant
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