Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released her new album “The Tortured Poets Department” on April 19. 

The album consists of 16 tracks. Each song has a melancholy tone that contrasts Swift’s usually brash and instrument-heavy works. Some of the tracks were more akin to Lana Del Rey songs.

In fact, if you had told me that some of them were Del Rey songs, I would have believed you for about ten seconds before realizing it is actually Travis Kelce’s girlfriend.

This leads me to something I should disclose. I am not a Swiftie. This is the first time I have ever listened to a Taylor Swift album. I think that Swift is an extremely talented artist and I enjoy her songs, but I don’t listen to her often. 

Because of this, I went into The Tortured Poets Department completely blind with zero expectations. I was left pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the album, and I even added a song to one of my playlists.

The first track on the project is called “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” and it got me very excited to hear the other 15 songs.

First and foremost, I did not expect to hear Post Malone of all people on a Taylor Swift album, yet it worked well since Post Malone added to the song’s extremely melancholic tone.

The song starts off slow, with the lyrics touching on some pretty dark topics such as alcoholism and break-ups. The track begins to speed up as Post Malone slowly gets involved. 

Posty finally gets to be part of the chorus in the last 45 seconds.

For context, a fortnight is a period of time lasting two weeks. There were also several references to February and Florida, with the latter appearing again as a song title later in the album. Due to the fact that I am not a living Taylor Swift encyclopedia, I could not figure out why Florida is important to her.

Fortnight ended up being my favorite song from the album. I liked this song enough to add it to my playlist. May the Swifties of the world rejoice.

The next song on the album is the namesake of the album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” This song sounded far more like the Taylor Swift I was accustomed to.

Although it is not as much of a pop song as “Cruel Summer” or “Bad Blood,” it is as close as this project gets to having one.

What I liked the most about this song is the lyrics, especially the first few lines. The song made me realize just how talented of a lyricist Swift is. 

The song does a great job building off of Fortnight, which may be a bad thing, because I believe the best songs on an album should be spread out across the track listing. 

Although I did not add this song to my playlist, this is your prototypical Taylor Swift song where she talks about love, and I expect most people to remember this song going forward.

The next song, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” was also a traditional Swift song. This track earned the “Michael Neenan’s Favorite Line From The Album” award for the lyric “I’m queen of sand castles he destroys.”

Don’t ask me why this was my favorite line, I just thought it was a cool lyric.

The middle of the album served as a collection of songs made to fill out an album. Tracks like “Fresh Out The Slammer” and “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)” lacked the interesting lyrics and melancholic composition that made the first three songs so catchy.

While listening to “Down Bad,” I did not expect to hear Swift say f*ck in a song. As someone who remembers her country days with hits like “Mean,” this caught me off guard.

I was also caught off guard by “So Long, London” because I thought I was listening to Lana Del Rey until I realized. This is because the unique way Swift sang was extremely similar to the way Del Rey vocalizes her lyrics.

The last song on the album is called “Clara Bow.” I’m glad the album ended on a high note, this was my favorite track from the second half of the project.

What stuck out to me the most from this song were the final lines where Swift inserts her name into the chorus.

After listening to the album in its entirety, I now understand why Taylor Swift is so massively popular. Even in the songs that I thought were forgettable, the lyrics and composition are still better than most artists’ best work.

I love the album’s melancholic feel, and it’s a nice change of pace compared to Swift’s work from the 2010s, which tended to be more energetic.

Although it’s not an album that I would’ve stopped what I was doing to listen to, it’s a solid starting point for anyone thinking about getting into Swift’s music.

“The Tortured Poets Department” gets the Michael Neenan Seal of Approval (for what it’s worth).

Good luck to all the Swifties who have to say that Swift was in her “The Tortured Poets Department Era” in 2024.

At 2 a.m. on April 19, Swift released “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” as a surprise consisting of 15 additional tracks. This album review covers the initial release of tracks 1-16.

I very nearly subjected myself to the two-hour-long anthology version before realizing it was not the main release. Do not be like me.

Micheal Neenan is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].