Taylor Swift released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on Friday, April 19 – a reflection of what Swift calls a “fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.” 

“The Tortured Poets Department,” or “TTPD,” is a concept album that looks into the mind of the “tortured poet” as they go through the five stages of grieving a relationship that ended.

“This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post on April 19. “Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.”

Swift produced the record with regular collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. It features Antonoff’s famous synth-pop style of “1989” and “Midnights” and Dessner’s somber folk style of “Folklore” and “Evermore.” However, Swift does not seem to expand her horizons, genre wise, with this album, leaving some songs feeling stale. 

Swift announced “TTPD” after winning her 13th Grammy award in February, and since then, there had been little information released about the album other than its title and the track names. However, it is Swift’s first album since breaking off her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn, so fans wondered if the album would be about him.

There was no single released between the announcement in February and the release of the album in April, so fans were curious about what the album would sound like. As a fan of “Folklore” and “Evermore,” I hoped that “TTPD” would sound similar. Some of the tracks satisfy my folk music needs, but the synth-pop tracks are where the album loses me a little bit. 

Swift announced that the first track, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, would be the first single of the album. Post Malone almost gets the same treatment as Lana Del Rey got in the “Midnights” track “Snow On The Beach,” in which she only had one line and background vocals. However, Post Malone gets background vocals and the outro of the song.

Swift and Post Malone’s voices mesh well together as they sing, “I love you, it’s ruining my life/I touched you for only a fortnight/I touched you, but I touched you,” meaning that although the relationship may have been short lived, at least they got to be together. 

The title track, presumed to be about Swift’s brief fling with The 1975’s Matty Healy, has received criticism for its “cringey” lyrics, “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist/I scratch your head, you fall asleep/Like a tattooed golden retriever.” 

There are 14 more songs to cover on “TTPD,” but I thought I would talk about the ones that stood out to me after listening this weekend. I feel like this album may be like “Midnights,” which I had to listen to multiple times to fully appreciate. 

“Down Bad” is one of the most fun synth-pop songs of the album, as Swift describes her heartbreak from someone who love bombed her, “Now I’m down bad, cryin’ at the gym/Everything comes out teenage petulance.” 

“So Long, London” is track five of the album, which is usually the saddest track of Swift’s albums. For example, “Dear John” from “Speak Now” or “All Too Well” from “Red.” It is rumored to be about Alwyn, as she has a song about him titled “London Boy'' on her album “Lover.” 

In “So Long, London,” Swift has given up on trying to save the relationship, “I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe.” This lyric is one of many examples of how Swift likes to parallel lyrics in her songs. In the song “Mirrorball” from “Folklore,” Swift wrote, “I’m still trying everything to get you laughing at me,” but now she has accepted that this relationship should end. 

“But Daddy I Love Him” is one of my favorites because it sounds like a song straight out of Swift’s 2008 country album “Fearless.” In the song, she talks about the idea of her fans forming a parasocial relationship with her and thinking they have the right to her personal life. She cleverly sings, “I’m havin’ his baby/No I’m not but you should see your faces,” to shock them. 

Swift also mocks rumors about herself in the suspenseful track “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” It feels like it could be a vault track for her next re-recording, “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” as she screams, “Who’s afraid of little old me?/You should be.”

“Clara Bow” is the final track of the standard “The Tortured Poets Department” album. It is a reference to the famous 1920s actress Clara Bow. Swift talks about the sacrifices you have to make for fame, “Take the glory, give everything/Promise to be dazzling.” 

“Clara Bow” is about the idea that each “it girl” will be replaced, as Swift references Stevie Nicks’ fame in ‘75, and then herself at the end. She realizes that one day she will be replaced with someone new, continuing the pattern, “You look like Taylor Swift/In this light, we’re lovin’ it/You’ve got edge, she never did/The future’s bright, dazzling.”

At 2 a.m. on April 19, Swift surprised her fans with a secret double album, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” This added 15 more songs to “TTPD,” making it a 31-track record. 

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