Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…
Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #4: ‘thanK you aIMee’
Yesterday’s track, ‘Cassandra,’ was a darkly mysterious portrait of betrayal and redemption framed around the story of a mythological Greek priestess. Today’s song is a spritely diss track about Kim Kardashian.
That Taylor Swift can channel her trauma into such starkly different, but equally winning, art is a sign of her genius.
Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…
Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #3: ‘Cassandra’
Much of The Tortured Poets Department sounds like the malformed child of folklore and Midnights. ‘Cassandra,’ produced by Aaron Dessner, is a gorgeous exception — this one is pure folklore, with a haunting piano playing under a spooky tale of betrayal and anger.
I try not to go too far down the rabbit hole of references to Swift’s personal life, but this song feels to me very much about the Reputation period, when she was painted by many as a villain only to be exonerated later.
Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…
Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #2: ‘The Black Dog’
When I first heard this song, the opener of the second half of The Tortured Poets Department, I immediately thought it was better than most of the “official” album. So I’m giving it a prime spot in my Asylum edit.
The chorus of ‘The Black Dog’ owes a bit too much to the excellent ‘Betty,’ but I really like the turn it takes at the end with the “old habits die screaming” line, giving a jolt of energy to a batch of songs that are often quite sleepy.
The release of a highly anticipated album by a major artist is cause for celebration in these parts. And those album drops typically result in a countdown of my favorite tracks (as with Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter last month) or even a song-by-song dissection (as with Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd last year).
Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, has been a trickier prospect. For one thing, the album — after the surprise 2 a.m. drop of its unpublicized second half — features 31 tracks and runs for more than two hours. And while I’m not categorically opposed to turning a month and a half over to one album, I don’t relish the idea either.
The 27th most popular song of 2023 marks the third appearance of Taylor Swift on the year-end Hot 100, which is actually a pretty modest showing for an artist who had one of the most celebrated years in history (including becoming the first entertainer named as Time’s Person of the Year).
I’ve already featured ‘Karma’ on the blog (well, guest blogger Daniel did), but that was the album version. The version on this chart is the remix featuring Ice Spice, so I’m cleared to post it today.
Meet Me In Montauk 