On April 19th Taylor Swift, possibly the largest artist in the world currently, released a new album, titled “the tortured poets department”, and as a huge fan myself, i was up at 5 for its release. 

 

The album has gained an enormous variety of reviews, some glowingly positive, and others outstandingly negative, but despite many personal views i have on the album, i think anyone has to agree that it is lyrically and musically wonderful. As an album it may not be as ready to consume, or as relatable as many of her other albums, such as “1989”, which is a pop album widely considered to be one of her best, or “midnights” which was a charts-topping success story, but it is undoubtably a hugely popular album, reaching over 300 million streams on only the first day of its release. 

 

I think one of the reasons it may not be thought of as such a success as her previous work may be down to that outside of her existing fan base, many of the songs are much harder to resonate with, and most people are looking for more upbeat glossy music, instead of the raw emotional lyricism of the album.  Despite this, while most of the tracks are more lyrical and emotional, there are still a few more high energy, relatable songs, that are also incredible and popular! Another common criticism is that while the music and lyrics are wonderful, the production is not up to scratch with what it usually is, with people commenting on social media platforms that Jack Antonoff, Swift’s music producer has let her down. Personally, i would disagree with this, as i believe the production makes the music wonderfully raw and passionate, and the songs need to be more personal than polished to add to the emotion of the album.

 

Additionally, the album has taken social media platforms by a storm, songs like “So High School”, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” going viral on TikTok, only increasing the albums popularity. For me, after listening to the album on repeat since its release, i have no bad words to say about it, and I personally disagree with much of the criticism, (although as a fan I may be slightly biased) but off all the songs on the album (including the “Anthology” version), my favourites are “Florida!!!(feat. Florence + The Machine)” and “How Did It End?”!