Taylor Swift has released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, and fans are busy unpacking everything from lyrics to her “Fortnight” music video.
The pop titan’s latest record, announced earlier this year when she won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album (Midnights), was released overnight on Friday 19 April and has already broken two Spotify records.
In a five-star review of the album, The Independent’s critic Helen Brown praised the “playful narratives” and “hooks like anchors”.
Fans have been surprised that many songs on the album seem to take aim at Swift’s ex Matty Healy, whom she briefly dated last year, instead of Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years, whom she was reported to have parted ways with around April 2023.
Patti Smith has responded after she was namechecked on the title track, writing: “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Thank you Taylor.”
Follow live updates for reactions, reviews and revelations from the album so far.
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With its playful narratives and hooks like anchors, Swift’s 11th studio album is a terrific reminder of her storytelling powers, Helen Brown writes:
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The song has plenty of references to American football, including the lines: “So when I touch down/ Call the amateurs and cut ‘em from the team/ Ditch the clowns, get the crown/ Baby, I’m the one to beat.”
She also seems to refer to her British ex-boyfriends, singing: “These blokes warm the benches/ We’ve been on a winning streak.”
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How Taylor Swift takes aim at ex Matty Healy on The Tortured Poets Department
News of Swift and Alwyn’s breakup was first reported in April 2023. A month later, the first rumours of Swift dating Healy emerged, after they were first linked back in 2014.
Here are the songs where Swift seems to address her relationship with Healy:
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Taylor Swift ‘thanks’ Kim Kardashian on Tortured Poets song
The pop star released her 11th studio albumat midnight ET on Friday 19 April. Only a few hours later, she announced a surprise “2am version” that extended the record to a further 15 songs.
The first sign that the album’s 24th track from her new album might be a reference to Kardashian is the capitalisation of the letters K, I and M to spell out her first name.
There are other clues. It appears that Swift could be making a reference to Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter North West dancing to her 2014 single “Shake It Off” on TikTok. “Shake It Off” is about ignoring “haters”.
She also mentions “Aimee” stomping over her grave, possibly nodding to the one she crawls out of in her music video for “Look What You Made Me Do”, from her 2017 album Reputation. This was widely interpreted as a “revenge album” after Swift was “cancelled” in 2016, after her feud with Kardashian errupted.
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