The Tortured Poets Department (A)

Ah the long awaited second edition to “The Clock”. Today’s post is THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. One of my top three favorite albums, though we know that every album speaks to an era of our lives as Swiftie’s. Haha. Okay, well I’ve honestly been putting this one off because I knew listening to the acoustics and all the other renditions and all that would put me in a some type of way place. I love the album and it makes me feel so many things but with my emotional state lately I was honestly scared. Still kind of am. But that’s why I’ve decided to break this one down into two different parts seeing as it is and was a secret double album (hence it being named A). Today’s part will be TTPD and the next instillment will be TTPD The Anthology and all of the extras.
Just a reminder all of this is my opinion and I’d love to hear yours in the comments! Keep it kind though.
Now without further a due, lets break it down.
Released April 19th, 2024, with 16 songs sitting at 1 hour and 15 minutes. I think the world wasn’t ready for this album, yet we so badly needed it. I know I personally was not ready for it. It shook the earth for me. Repetitively and I clung to it like a lifeline.
When we received the track list I knew I was going to love the song “Florida!!!” mostly because I’d always made jokes about never having a good song from my home state and then Taylor made us a banger. Totally worth it. And by that I mean she hit me with a brick. But I say that to say it will always be in my top three songs from this album for that reason. Also, the top three songs, oh god, this was such a hard thing, because I couldn’t find any lists where I wrote like my top three when the album came out, which is going to be a problem as we go through the older albums. So, I’ll just be listing my top three in general? And also, the rule will probably be fluid through especially once we get to the Vaults. Anyway, here’s the top three:

Florida!!! (Featuring Florence the Machine)
Guilty as sin.
Clara Bow

Song on repeat: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Favorite Lyric(s): “Fuck me up Florida”
This was and is one of the most relatable and funny lines through the whole album and while I relate to many different lines through the album, this line sticks with me. Gives me a cheeky laugh because I know she likely means something else but damn Florida really does know how to fuck people up!
The Song You Slept On: Who’s afraid of little old me?
It honestly took a good year of listening to this song, hearing it over and over and really letting the lyrics set in for me to truly understand this song. Like I knew it was a good song and I could see the female rage aspect of it but at the point of my life I was when the album first released I hadn’t truly met that aspect? Hopefully that makes sense but as I listened and listened, watching the clips of it being performed as well. I truly began to grasp the song and the feelings. I had slept so hard on that song and it was truly more of a masterpiece than I’d originally believed.
Song that made you cry: loml
The song is sad, beautiful and tragic. Listening back to it over again it takes me right back to that time in my life, which feels so many different types of complex emotions that I’m not sure how to put into words yet.

Full Tier List/Album Ranking:

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Guilty As Sin
loml
Florida!!!
The Tortured Poets Department
Fortnight
Down Bad
So long, London
Who’s afraid of little old me?
But daddy I love him
I can do it with a broken heart
The alchemy
Clara Bow
I can fix him (no, really I can)
Fresh out the slammer
The smallest man who ever lived.

Summary: This album came in a tumultuous time in my life and so many of the songs, they fit right into what I was going through as most of the albums typically do. I felt so seen, I clung to the album yet as that time in my life slowly closed, I slowly pulled away. Not because I don’t love the album but because it holds complex feelings. I dove back into other albums which held happier memories and clung to those. Though I am always going to be a Tortured Writer, My version. I remember the night she announced the album so clearly and how excited I was. How it gave me one thing to hold onto. Taylor Swift gives so many people hope. Which is something we need more of in the world. Her writing is impeccable and her talent unmatched. She truly is a legend. While I love so many other artists as well, Taylor Swift holds a title not many can, one life long. At least for me. And The Tortured Poets Department was just another chapter in that book.

Thank you so much for reading, comment your favorite song, or artist below. I hope to see you all very soon for The Anthology.