Mixologist

Happy Taylor Weekend to all who celebrate!

It feels weird to try and sum up Taylor’s past discography and road to super-stardom. With 11 studio albums full of chart-topping songs, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t aware of what she’s been up to. Not to mention her ravenous fanbase who’s had a lot to talk about this week.

“The Tortured Poets Department” is the newest era in Taylor’s musical journey, bringing with it over two dozen new tracks for fans to dig into (I’ll just be covering the main album today, didn’t think I’d have time to go over the bonus tracks as well). This round of songs keeps the synth-heavy sounds of Midnights while coming in hot with lyrics Swifties will be analyzing for years.

While not as overtly catchy as “Midnights” in my opinion, this record does have some standouts. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” brings in an infectious chorus that will be stuck in my head for a while. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” (long titles I know) will KILL live, with it’s chantable pre-chorus and driving synth beat on the hook. “Guilty as Sin?” feels like a callback to Taylor’s country days with both her voice and the backing guitar having a bit of twang.

Despite these highlights though, there’s two aspects of this album that kept me from falling in love with it: the production and the lyrics.

Jack Antonoff’s trademark sound is all over each track on this album, and after a while it starts to get old. By the back half of the album I could hardly tell when a song ended and a new one started. Everything is pretty similar across the board, from the drum machine to the synths. It feels like the duo has done all they can do with this sound and need to start branching out a bit. Songs like “So Long, London” feel like sort of go on forever, and while I have no doubt the lyrics are what people will be listening for, that isn’t enough to keep me hooked.

Speaking of the lyrics, I realize I’m not the target audience nor an expert on Taylor’s lore. I look forward to seeing all the crackpot conspiracies about who each song is about and how today’s alignment of the planets plus the number 12 means that “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” will drop next month or whatever. But as for the words I’m hearing on this album, some of them just feel a little odd. Nowhere do I get this feeling more than from the title track “The Tortured Poets Department.” The odd phrasing of the verses, the line about Charlie Puth, and the melodramatic “no-fucking-body” make me feel like we’re writing for high school teens here.

Which, hey, maybe we are. I love a lot of Taylor’s music, and I can’t deny the impact she’s had on the music industry and honestly the world. I also like this album. Each song in isolation definitely has things to love, and I’m sure I’ll learn more of the meaning behind each one as the weeks go on. Until then, though, I think I’ll stick to some of her other Eras.