In the days following the release of The Tortured Poets Departmentthe latest album from Taylor SwiftI came across a presentation Explains the artist’s relationship with 1975 frontman Matty Healy. It’s over a hundred pages long and isn’t the only presentation, video or article of its kind. Fans are clamoring for an explanation of what’s going on TTPD, an album that appeals more aggressively to Swift’s fanbase than anything she’s ever released. For many, it is a confusing, repulsive experience that requires a deep dive to understand. How Dark soulsit’s about the Tradition.
For longtime Swift fans, this might not sound like anything new. she is had long had a flair for the dramatic. Since 2008 Fearless, Swift has used tricks like hiding messages in her CD lyric books. As her career skyrocketed to its highest point ever, Swift developed her love for Deception and mystery. Hidden tracks, hints about new albums and more are par for the course for Swift. It’s something her fan base, the Swifties, loves. It turns music fandom into a game that gets you involved not just when new albums and singles are released, but every time Swift does something, because if you’re not careful, you could miss the next big clue. “I taught them to be like that,” Swift said of her fans in a 2019 interview with Weekly entertainment.
It’s very similar to how Dark soulsand other games from developer FromSoftware approach their storytelling. Dark souls has a story, fans will enthusiastically point out, you just have to know where to look. These are usually item descriptions. There are entire worlds of stories and characters in FromSoftware’s titles, but most of it is never told to you directly. You have to hunt it. The superficial level of the game is usually just based on mood. While this is a simplification, it is a powerful way to summarize the approach Dark souls approaches his storytelling. But if Swift has been doing this for over a decade, what’s so special about it? The Tortured Poets Department?
One of Swift’s greatest strengths as an artist has always been her ability to tell a story through music. Be it in early albums or in the genres she has dabbled in, from pop to country and everything in between, Swift is a storyteller. It’s part of what makes tracks like “Love Story” (by Fearless) so popular and later helped her to fame. This ability is most evident in 2020’s sister albums folklore And Always. While the albums still retain some of her more autobiographical songwriting, in most cases they feature Swift breaking out of her own perspective. folklore In particular, it is more of a concept album with a through line in several songs about a Love triangle at different stages. This reignites her penchant for emotional tracks that explore falling in and out of love, as well as heartbreak. It is Swift who creates a world and a narrative. Instead of putting her emotions directly into songs, she can incorporate them into a story through a new lens.
The Tortured Poets DepartmentIn contrast, the author’s intention is missing. That’s not to say the album doesn’t make sense, it’s just musically and narratively messier. Instead of the grandiose breakup album fans expected about his long-time friend Joe Alwyn TTPD In fact, the album is much more about her crush on 1975 frontman Matty Healy and her fans’ reaction to it. For those who don’t know, Healy and Swift Their relationship began in May 2023. When the couple first got together, Swifties disapproved. Healy had been in trouble for a number of years Controversies around perceived racist behavior. The couple separated in June 2023. TTPD is largely a chronicle of Swift’s strong feelings for Healy, for better or worse. The track “But Daddy I Love Him” is about Swift’s anger at fans who mocked her choice of partner as inappropriate despite her love for him.
Swift is often viewed pejoratively as a musician who simply makes music about her relationships, and many of her best songs clearly reference her experiences with past lovers. But if it’s true that TTPD is another relationship-oriented album from Swift, the relationship she’s processing here is the one she has with her fan base. This conflict between Swift and her fans is central TTPD. It’s an album about what it means to “make it” thanks to your fan base, only for that fan base to become the judge, jury, and executioner of your love, your life, and your music career. It’s understandable why fans who have so much invested in the fandom would be turned off by this.
To get back to the souls Metaphor: Audiences often don’t know how to deal with art that needs to be treated on their own terms, when these terms imply being aggressive towards the audience itself. While souls Games have flourished since then Demon souls first released in 2009, it has a reputation for chewing up players unwilling to play “git gud.” If you’ve only played games that involve fulfillment Player satisfaction and meet all your needs, Dark souls I’ll give you my ass. It’s a lesson in humility. That’s how it is The Tortured Poets Department. It’s an album that asks fans to consider that her parasocial relationship with Swift may not be to her advantage. The album’s final track, “Clara Bow,” reckons with this devil’s bargain Swift made with her fans to become famous.
This conflict also has Swift’s twist TTPD into a musically inconsistent album that (in its anthology form) comprises 31 tracks, with only a few songs feeling like epic ballads or radio-ready hits. “Maybe this sucks, maybe it’s not what you think I should do, what are you going to do about it?” Swift seems to ask. Particularly blatant tracks like “Florida!!!” are related to the infamous Poison swamps many FromSoftware games. It’s an incredibly risky yet confident statement from Swift that makes me realize TTPD in a more positive light. As Giovanni Colantonio continues to write Medium“It’s possibly the most hostile mainstream pop record we’ll ever see from an artist at this level of public attention.” But this boldness also lacks musical cohesion, and the album falls flat in a deafening way, leaving both Swift and their fans have to rely on traditions as a crutch.
The Tortured Poets Department leaves fans wanting more, and after so many years of hidden messages, the only way to satisfy that urge is to delve into the lore. It has turned TTPD to the top of the Fandom culture by Swifties. Just as much, if not more, time can be spent reading the album and looking at explanations of the album than actually listening to it in the hopes of uncovering more secrets, just as many FromSoft fans will spend time reading it to look at VaatiVidya Explainer about the latest souls Play or read the 107-page fan-made book Tradition Bible for Bloodborne.
But where souls While fans try to uncover and ponder the meaning, Swifties seem to be looking for something beyond the obvious surface meaning The Tortured Poets Department. Its prickly challenge to fans makes it a hard pill to swallow. Instead, the focus is on tradition. Because the lore flows more smoothly.
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