French fans had to get up early: eagerly awaited by millions of
Swifties
, the name of her admirers, Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department", was put online at 6 a.m. (French time) on music streaming platforms. Two versions are available, the first of 16 tracks, the second, “The Anthology”, is a double album including 15 additional songs. And there is only Taylor Swift – who likes to tell her life story through her songs – to do that: the album is almost entirely devoted to her relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn, with whom she was in a relationship for 2016 to 2023, even if the two stars hid it.
The album's title refers to "The Tortured Man Club", the name of a discussion group shared by Alwyn and two other comedians, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott. For the record, it was after their breakup, and while Taylor Swift began her giant concert tour "The Eras Tour", "with a broken heart" as she states in one of the titles, that she wrote all 31 songs.
This before experiencing a brief sentimental episode – twice mentioned in the record – with Matty Healy, singer of the group The 1975, then recently finding love again with American footballer Travis Kelce. A boy apparently much less “tortured” and with whom she appears openly this time, and to whom a song is dedicated, “So High School”. A title also concerns Kanye West, with whom she had nasty fights, and Kim Kardashian, “thanK you aIMee”, which forms the anagram “KIM” in capital letters.
So, what are your first impressions after listening to this new album from the world's best-selling star? Obviously, being a record about a breakup and regrets, it is not joy or fantasies that dominate. Rather dark, this opus contains a very dominant number of ballads, which risks disconcerting fans, some already expressing their mixed reaction on social networks.
" Florida !!! » will make people talk
Many of the tracks have eloquent titles: “How Did It End?” » (“How did it end?”), “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”, “Down Bad”. Or “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”, and so on…
The singer evokes, from one to the other, her post-breakup depression (“The Black Dog”), the fact of no longer feeling at home in the city of her
British
boyfriend
(“So Long, London”, and “Florida!!!”, for feeling cheated (“Fortnight”). In the song which gives its title to the album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, she says, full of references and lucid, to Alwyn who thinks he is a poet: “You are not Dylan Thomas, I am not Patti Smith, this isn't the Chelsea Hotel, we're just modern idiots!
As for the instrumentation, the form sticks to the substance: a lot of piano-voice, or guitar-voice, a few slow synths or languorous electro touches. Hence the disappointment to be expected from fans for this record at a level below the previous “Evermore” and “Midnights”: refined productions, desperate lyrics, it is not the perky or combative Taylor Swift, except on “So High School” dedicated to her new lover, where we find the star of happy days.
But we can't do it again: a phenomenal hit maker, the singer couldn't help but sprinkle this sad album with potential hits, including "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys", the very lively anthem "But Daddy I Love Him”, and the first single available, “Fortnight”, a duet with rapper Post Malone.
And then, there is the unexpected nugget, the song which, whatever happens, will get people talking and will remain as the unclassifiable peak of this record: “Florida!!! », a stunning duet with Florence + The Machine. A monster of composition full of ruptures, the very rock title, bass drum, cymbals and keyboards in front, distills a tribute to the first date of the “Eras Tour” after his breakup with Alwyn.
“The Tortured Poets Department - The Anthology” is available since Friday morning. DR
We feel the influence of Florence Welch and Isabella Summers as much as the touch of Taylor Swift, and the three artists break all the codes, all the rhythms, shaking up the listener by making them go through all the states. A very great song, which is already a lot…
Editor's note:
3.5/5
“The Tortured Poets Department – The Anthology”,
by Taylor Swift, album and double album available for streaming and in physical versions (CD and vinyl).