Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 11th studio album (not counting re-records), “The Tortured Poets Department” (TTPD), was released on April 19 to the delight of Swifties everywhere. This included a 2 a.m. surprise drop of 15 additional album tracks, confirming the double album theory that Swift had been hinting at in the months leading up to the release.
These 31 tracks make up the “Tortured Poets Department Anthology.”
TTPD is breaking records left and right, becoming the first album to blow past 300 million global Spotify streams in a single day. On April 23rd, Republic Records shared on X that it reached 1 billion streams in four days, making it the fastest album to reach that milestone.
The Anthology has a handful of upbeat anthems to dance to, including “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” a song that could have been pulled directly from the “Barbie” soundtrack.
Songs like “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “Fresh Out the Slammer” have country and western vibes.
The album is very personal, intimate and brutally honest. Even the bops mentioned above have some devastating lyrics, including, “I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday / I cry a lot, but I am so productive / It’s an art.”
Whether backed by Jack Antonoff’s signature synth sound or Aaron Dessner’s evermore-esque production, Swift’s storytelling and searingly sharp lyrics are the standout stars. The lyrics are dense, dark, and layered, making it nearly impossible to catch every reference or meaning on the first or second listen.
I have been buried in the album for a week, dutifully memorizing songs, wading through all the metaphors, and listening to fans’ theories online so I can fully comprehend the album.
Some themes easily picked up on the first listen are religious references woven throughout. While there are obvious connections in “Guilty As Sin?,” other songs like “The Prophecy” find Swift questioning a higher power, and whether her life is predestined to go a certain way. She calls out to the sky wondering if she is destined to be alone forever–“And it was written /I got cursed like Eve got bitten /Oh, was it punishment?”
There are moments in TTPD that spoke directly to me as a woman who grew up in the church. In that setting, many of us have experienced times when we felt we were being held to a higher standard because of some aspect of our identity, and told to conform to fit the status quo.
Some of Swift’s best songs are angry, bitter, sarcastic and dramatic. These qualities are found in several songs on TTPD, including the epic track 6, “But Daddy, I Love Him.”
Here we find Swift calling out “judgemental creeps” and “saboteurs” that perform “sanctimonious soliloquies.” This song is for anyone who has ever felt burned, ostracized, judged or misunderstood by church folk:
“Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best / Clutching their pearls, sighing ‘What a mess’ / I just learned these people try and save you / cause they hate you”
This reminds me of the saying, “There’s no hate like Christian love.” Whatever criticism Swift was experiencing when writing this song must have felt similar to the judgment we have all probably experienced in church settings.
Her anger in “But Daddy, I Love Him” is so palpable. She holds nothing back in the bridge:
“I’ll tell you something right now / I’d rather burn my whole life down / Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning /…I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing”
These call-outs seem to be going over the heads of those who need to hear it most. Many Christian influencers on Instagram and TikTok are going viral for calling TTPD demonic and blasphemous for “attacking Christians” and “mocking God.”
Cue the eye rolls.
A viral post from a popular creator swirled around Instagram Reels, telling Christians that “Swift doesn’t need to be on your playlist. She needs to be on your prayer list” because “children of God don’t need to listen to these lyrics.” I was surprised so many people agreed.
They were obviously not paying attention when Swift sang, “You ain’t gotta pray for me.”
As someone who goes to church, was raised in the church and is around Christians all the time, I will say that these biblical references help me connect to the songs more, not less. The topic is so familiar. The album is literally titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” There are going to be literary, biblical and mythological influences in her lyrics.
This brings me to “Cassandra,” which harkens to The Illiad and King Priam of Troy’s daughter. Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy from the god Apollo. But after rejecting Apollo’s sexual advances, she is cursed so that whenever she receives a vision, no one believes her warnings. Sound familiar?
“When it’s ‘Burn the bitch,’ they’re shrieking / When the truth comes out, it’s quiet”
That line reminds me so much of the sexual abuse scandals prevalent in our religious institutions. The song could be interpreted a million ways, and I doubt that is what Swift is actually talking about. But, when I hear these lyrics, it is difficult for me not to think about all of the terrible things we have seen occur with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Catholic Church : “The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line / They all said nothin’ / Blood’s thick, but nothin’ like a payroll”
Swift is not attacking God, and her music is not sacrilegious. She is simply holding a mirror up to the hypocrites and sanctimonious, holier-than-thou types in the hopes of inspiring some self-reflection.
Based on what I have seen online, I don’t know if it is working. The point is going right over their heads.
Holding these two seemingly unrelated songs, “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Cassandra” together next to each other can offer an insight into where the conservative, evangelical priorities lie. It is easier to look for the faults of others than look within ourselves and the institutions that we support and participate in.
I invite you to listen to the album. With 31 songs in the Anthology, there is sure to be a song or two that connects with your story and perspective.
Creative coordinator for publishing and marketing at Good Faith Media. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Missouri Southern State University and her Associate of Arts degree from Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Missouri. Chisholm was an Ernest C. Hynds Jr. intern with GFM for the summer of 2021.
