The American superstar singer sends several messages to her ex, actor Joe Alwyn.
After six years together, Taylor Swift’s breakup with actor Joe Alwyn is back in the spotlight this Friday with the release of ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘. In this album, the American singer dissects the woes of their relationship and embarks on a therapeutic journey after the end of their dreamlike romance.
Throughout the 16 tracks of Swift’s eleventh studio album, which is breaking records in streams and ticket sales, direct references to her ex-partner are easy to find. Once again, her personal life serves as her favorite material for crafting songs and settling scores.
“This album reminded me why writing songs is something that really helps me in my life. I’ve never had an album where I needed to write songs more than I needed to on this one,” Swift publicly commented on the therapeutic effect of this highly anticipated work, which was leaked online in its entirety on Thursday.
Rumors about the possible thematic core of the album began swirling after Swift revealed the title at the last Grammy Awards ceremony, which bears a striking resemblance to an online chat her ex shared with actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, called ‘Tortured Man Club’.
Jabs at her previous relationship
That is also the title of one of the standout tracks, in which Swift retorts to her interlocutor with writerly airs (it’s worth noting that Alwyn co-wrote some of Swift’s songs in the past): “You’re not Dylan Thomas and I’m not Patti Smith”.
The reproaches continue in one of the potentially most radio-friendly tracks of this batch, ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’, in which the artist announces the moment she gives up on a relationship that isn’t flourishing: “I give up on building castles that he destroys“.
Until the end with ‘Clara Bow’, named after the silent film actress of the same name, heartbreak conceptually covers the entire album, and with it, melancholy becomes strong, but without desperation in her words or forms, rather acceptance, with room for irony and sarcasm in tracks like ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ or ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’.
Almost at the end, one of the few reliefs of accelerated and 80s-paced beats can be found in this ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, marked by the emotional density of the songs, co-produced by the author alongside her inseparable Jack Antonoff.
Amidst all this, glimpses of Swift from the “country” era occasionally emerge, like when she retrieves the ukulele and old melodic structures from back then, as seen in the dynamic and lengthy ‘But Daddy, I Love Him!’.
Taylor Swift Tour
With ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ now out, Swift will kick off the European leg of her ‘The Eras Tour’ in Paris on May 9, 10, 11, and 12. There will be around fifty performances until the final show on August 20 at Wembley Stadium in London, with stops such as May 19 and 20 at the renovated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
