'The Tortured Poet's Department' and the Current State of Taylor Swift's Career.
The pop star demonstrates that she might be lost in the haze of popularity in newest album.
"I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it's an art/You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart." Those are the lyrics in the chorus of 'I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,' the thirteenth track on Taylor Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poet's Department. The tune is the most upbeat on the record, as it details how she pushes herself to hold up to that mega popstar image even when she's dealing with challenging emotions. Telling this story through the lens of starting her hit Eras Tour while breaking up with longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, the song captivated me on first listen, sticking with me the most out of all thirty-one songs, as it revealed a lot about the state of Taylor Swift's music career and is quality at this point in time.
Throughout 'I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,' Swift conveys how she has to preserve this image of always being cheerful to show the world that she is ok and is there solely for the joys of music and to appease her loyal fanbase. Yet, can she do it all with a broken heart? Underneath the brisk beat is a sense of disconnection from Swift and her artistry. It is a straightforward pop song, but it expresses so much. Firstly, Swift needs to realize that just because she has the songs to make an album does not necessarily mean she needs to put one out. Sarcastically declaring that you are depressed but so productive does not make putting out thirty-one songs all at once seem like this cleverly personal idea.
I understand that music is a therapeutic way to heal Swift's soul, and I respect that. Writing out my feelings has often helped me feel better, but I do not want to share all those bits of information with the world unless it feels right. Swift is drowning in the pool of her influence and power, less focused on the quality of her work, and instead just throwing together a record that sounds like the same stuff she's been putting out the past few years, which brings me to my second point realized while listening to the thirteenth track: Taylor Swift needs to stop working with producer Jack Antonoff.
'I Can Do It With A Broken Heart' is quite similar to Lorde's 'Supercut' from her 2017 album Melodrama, with both tunes produced by Antonoff. People, including myself, are starting to realize that he is constructing duplicates of sounds for different artists and calling it a day. He is setting up Swift badly by offering her the same tired synth-pop sound; it is exhausting to hear. Do not get me wrong; it is not just Antonoff's fault. Swift has not vocally challenged herself in a very long time, and her wordplay is starting to get the best of her, linking words and concepts together that lack the punch to remain memorable. Words do not mean anything if you do not put genuine sentimental consideration into your thought process.
'So High School,' my favorite track on The Tortured Poet's Department, takes everything that bothers me about this new album and throws it out the window. The track is a much-needed breath of fresh air in this lengthy melancholic journey, bringing a soft pop-rock sound that cinematically captures that prom season, spring romance feeling you see in all the high school rom-coms set in senior year. Swift is not trying to be overly intellectual and instead brings some corny yet gorgeously amusing lyrics like "I'm watchin' American Pie with you on a Saturday night" and "Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto." We already have beautifully thought-provoking lyricism on folklore and evermore, so she should not keep feeling pressured to deliver songs with such fatty word usage to a synth-pop beat, whether the song is happy or sad.
Look, I will always be intrigued by a new Taylor Swift album, and I obviously will support her music still. There are a handful of solid songs on this record that I will stream repeatedly. Yet, being a fan of an artist also means that you get to call out their misses, and The Tortured Poet's Department is a massive misstep for Swift in her career. I was not a huge fan of Midnights, and this album just felt like it was trying to be the more depressed version of it. Yes, it makes sense because Midnights has that pre-breakup record vibe, but neither reflects the quality Swift has shown throughout her career. I look back at albums like Speak Now and Red and marvel at how visceral Swift's music was back then. She arose stories that felt so naturally real. I hope Swift realizes where her artistry stands at the moment so she can release her last two re-recordings, wrap up The Eras Tour, and reset to the greatness she once had in the sense of quality, not commercially.