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Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department (Universal)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Verdict: Dawn of a new Era
From 2012's brash Red through to 2022's more subtle Midnights, Taylor Swift has a penchant for single-word album titles. Over those ten years, the American superstar has also given us 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore and Evermore. The fact that her latest comes with a more protracted handle suggests that something is afoot in the Swiftieverse.
There's certainly a sense that she's pulling out all the stops on The Tortured Poets Department. Even for someone with a track record of lengthy, value-for-money albums, it's a mammoth undertaking. Its 16 songs stretch out across 66 tireless minutes, with bonus tracks take the running time to over 74 minutes. It's essentially a double album. It's also an immersive, cinematic affair that often feels more like an old Hollywood film script than a straightforward pop record.
The good news for Swifties is that the 34-year-old's astonishing work ethic hasn't led to a dip in songwriting quality. Including four re-recordings, this is her ninth LP in five years, and it's well up to the standard of the older albums she's currently revisiting on The Eras Tour, a career-spanning show which hits UK stadiums this June.
The Tortured Poets Department is an immersive, cinematic affair that often feels more like an old Hollywood film script than a straightforward pop record
The LP is well up to the standard of the older albums she's currently revisiting on The Eras Tour, a career-spanning show which hits UK stadiums this June
Written on the US leg of that tour, it isn't a major departure musically. Two of her regular collaborators, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, are the main co-writers, and many of her lyrically-rich songs are built around shimmering electronics and inarguably great tunes. There are two duets – one with soft-voiced US star Post Malone, one with UK singer Florence Welch – and passing hints of folk music.
Before we even get to the songs, the mood is set by an LP sleeve that features a written introduction by Taylor, who signs herself off as The Chairman Of The Tortured Poets Department. There's also a poem, 'for T and me', by Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.
It's a far cry from Swift's early days in Nashville: a flair for storytelling and the odd spot of vocal phrasing aside, there are few traces of her country roots here. While the rest of the pop world, from Beyoncé to Lana Del Rey, is hitching a ride on the country hay-wagon, Taylor is once again heading in a different direction.
The lyrical mood is one of tarnished romance, with clever internal rhymes and skilfully-scripted melodrama by the bucketload. The album opens with Fortnight, an electronic ballad in which Taylor, accompanied by Post Malone, suggests she's on the verge of a breakdown. 'I was supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me,' she warns. 'I was a functioning alcoholic until nobody noticed my new aesthetic.'
Even as her record-breaking tour rolls on towards its final show in December, a new Era is already under way
Fans who pore over her lyrics will have plenty to entertain them. This is her first new album since the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and, while she doesn't mention Alwyn by name, speculation will be rife that tracks such as So Long, London – which contains a reference to 'the house by The Heath' – are about him.
The odd misstep is inevitable. Down Bad feels like one sad, electronic ballad too many. But, just as you fear the album might be losing momentum, up pops another classic in the making such as Florida!!! – sung with Welch – or Guilty As Sin?
'I'm so depressed, I act as if it's my birthday every day,' she sings on I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
Whatever comes her way, the show must go on. So, even as her record-breaking tour rolls on towards its final show in December, a new Era is already under way.