Tag Archives: The Tortured Poets Department

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Song of the Day #5,830: ‘Fortnight’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing my countdown of 2024 notable album releases by women…

The Ladies of 2024
#6 – Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department

I spent 12 days last month walking through my preferred version of this album, so I won’t go too deep into the official release now.

Swift is a talented enough songwriter and performer to guarantee anything she releases will be at least good and often great. And Tortured Poets has plenty of great moments. The problem is that this is truly a case of “less is more.”

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Song of the Day #5,795: ‘Robin’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…

Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #12: ‘Robin’

Even at a heavily abridged 12 songs, Asylum has been a tumultuous journey through the whirlwind of Taylor Swift’s romantic and professional life. I thought it was fitting to end this maelstrom with a lullaby.

‘Robin’ is aimed at a child who is innocently unaware of the “cruel and the mean” world awaiting him, and while it was written for Aaron Dessner’s son, I can’t help but feel it is also aimed at a younger version of Taylor herself.

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Song of the Day #5,794: ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…

Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #11: ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’

As we near the close of my Taylor Swift album, I wanted to include something lacking from most of The Tortured Poets Department — a bop.

‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ is at once the saddest and most upbeat song on the album. Swift confesses to living through the most triumphant span of her career — the Eras Tour — while suffering personal turmoil.

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Song of the Day #5,793: ‘Clara Bow’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…

Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #10: ‘Clara Bow’

The back half of my revised album is focused on Swift’s feelings about her career. While yesterday’s track was a biting and sarcastic shot at her critics, this one is a much more somber take on life in the spotlight.

The first two thirds of ‘Clara Bow’ finds Swift recalling her own reception, with comparisons to “It Girls” of the past (including the original It girl, the silent film actress who gives the song its name). The final lines allude to a new crop of stars being compared to Swift herself.

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Song of the Day #5,792: ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing the tracklist of my version of Taylor Swift’s latest album…

Taylor Swift’s Asylum
Track #9: ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’

Swift is angry on much of The Tortured Poets Department — at her exes, at her fans, at her rivals, at the media and the music industry. My Asylum tracklist includes a few of those songs, and none more bracing and compelling than today’s SOTD.

‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’ finds Swift embracing the villain label slapped on her by the haters. If you paint me as the big bad wolf, she argues, don’t be surprised when I bite.

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