Young Reporter, Scarlett Tynan-Morris, Comberton Village College
The Tortured Poets Department was announced as a surprise next album by Taylor Swift as she collected the first of her two Grammy awards in February and it was released just 11 weeks later on 19 April.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day with 300 million plays - overtaking two of her previous albums 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights which previously held the record. The album also became the first album to pass one billion Spotify streams in a single week. So what makes this already record-breaking album so controversial for fans?
After surprising her fans just two hours after the release of the album with a double album - the ‘anthology’, fans have 31 brand new songs- however a lot of Swifties are saying that a lot of the songs sound similar but others strongly disagree, saying that as they are all on the same album so they are simply songs with the same vibe.
Her most popular tracks so far are; I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, Fortnight and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? I Can Do It With a Broken Heart is about her struggles with having to perform whilst dealing with personal trauma and heartbreak- a lyric that represents this is ‘I cry a lot but I am so productive’. Fortnight, the only song so far with a music video, featuring Post Malone, is about reminiscing about a short- lived romance, and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? Is an upbeat tune about reclaiming power.
My favourite tracks are; The Black Dog, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? and So Long, London. The Black Dog is about a pub in London where someone goes to cheat on Taylor as she watches their location, even the restaurants owners want to know whether it’s Matty or Joe (it’s got to be Joe right?). They are even releasing merchandise for their pub - It just shows what being name dropped in a Taylor Swift song can do for a business!
So Long, London is a beautiful song about heartbreak and Taylor bidding farewell to a place she loved so much.
Overall I think this album is a great addition to Taylor’s discography, it’s got amazing songs It might be a new favourite of mine (Don’t worry, Lover, you can’t be replaced).
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