Let us go then, you and I/When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a tight end playing in the Super Bowl -- The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift, April 19

i really hate that she called this "a double album" bc as a single album it is very focused and excellent and as a double album it is a terrible endless listening experience (imo)

agree. She should have released the second half under a different name a week later.

i agree. "so high school" could have been on that first disc though. wonder why she didn't put it in with that stuff.

scott, are your kids Swifties?

but you told lucy you’d kill yourself if i ever leave
and i said that to jack about you so i felt seen
then Rhoda screamed and she asked me
"Where have all the rude boys gone?"

you can just buy the actual album as 2XLP or 1CD though. so, she does actually make it one separate thing as an object. (with bonus track "the manuscript")

“so high school” is really dope, taylor’s avril lavigne album would be killer

(looks like worldwide the bonus track is different for some unknown reason.)

i think my kids like Taylor but they don't really listen to her as far as i know. they get into pretty rarified spotify zones. they listen to lots of women though. i'm glad about that. the last time Cyrus was home he was raving about Patrice Rushen!

"taylor’s avril lavigne album would be killer"

yes, this!

"who's afraid of little old me" is officially my new anthem. gonna have a quilt made with the lyrics on it. hang it on the wall. so cool.

my favorite too

The verse melody recalls Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans.”

Breihan has a review up already:

https://www.stereogum.com/2260059/premature-evaluation-taylor-swift-the-tortured-poets-department/reviews/premature-evaluation/

he's completely wrong because this does the things it does so much better than her previous attempts at them, at least on the regular album

"loml" feels like a song I should actually like – it recalls the FolkMore piano pieces – but it just sits there.

very sedate for a Black Sab tribute but at least it mentioned funerals

i think breihan's review is gonna mirror the general reception of this, which makes sense, blah blah blah i'm too tired to even talk shit about tom breihan

let's just say as a taylor swift fan i feel like for the past few years i have been constantly trying to parse "taylor swift: the real, completely bugfuck insane person (compliment)" from "taylor swift: the corporation" and the sudden inflation of this into two hours feels like an impulse of the latter. now, suddenly, this album i was pleasantly surprised by is confusing and irritating to talk about. oh well i guess that's the way things are now

That last sentence should be a Taylor Swift song title.

Be great if she lurked here. In fact, which one of you IS her on here.

there are no bad taylor swift albums just bad taylor swift listeners

Seems like 90% of the Twitter talk is about "Thank You Aimee"

But songs like that are bait I guess

she should be legally barred from writing about kim kardashian

i'm just glad that i started that thread about listening to things you don't listen to and listened to a taylor album because i don't think i would have listened to this otherwise. and i'm glad i did. i dig it. "but daddy i love him" is my 2nd fave. that's a cool-ass song.

Are folks gonna say that "imgonnagetyouback" is "payback" to Olivia Rodrigo or something (as it uses the same conceit as "Get Him Back!")

Zoladz in NY Times

There is a sonic uniformity to much of “The Tortured Poets Department,” however — gauzy backdrops, gently thumping synths, drum machine rhythms that lock Swift into a clipped, chirping staccato — that suggests their partnership has become too comfortable and risks growing stale.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/arts/music/taylor-swift-album-tortured-poets-department-review.html

Seems like the relationship everyone has an opinion on is the one between Swift and Antonoff

all the complaints about the sonic uniformity are odd to me because it's pretty dynamic and there's a lot of variety in its approach. there is a bit of a midtempo plod issue but that's all

i had been saying antonoff as a collaborator was getting stale before this album but he's produced some of his best work with her this time - the title track is fantastic!

sometimes on a song like daddy i get that glimmer of pop country past. like shania or faith hill. in a good way. i like them both a bunch.

"down bad" is like the good version of something like "midnight rain," which is the closest i get to not giving a shit about a taylor swift song at all. never feel like she's singing over a loop on this album, but rather over songs that acquire more definition depending on where they are in the frame, like a camera trying to focus on a subject that won't stop moving

sometimes on a song like daddy i get that glimmer of pop country past. like shania or faith hill. in a good way. i like them both a bunch.

― scott seward, Friday, April 19, 2024 11:42 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this album could've sucked total ass and i still would've lost my mind over "but daddy i love him." speak now taylor swift lives

"down bad" is one of the lesser tracks here but it feels like an improvement over many similar songs on reputation and midnights

co-sign

damn, listening to Faith's Cry album right now and Taylor could totally cover "Free". forgot how nu-jack "Free" was. okay, i'm going on a Faith Hill bender. Seeya.

i feel like for the past few years i have been constantly trying to parse "taylor swift: the real, completely bugfuck insane person (compliment)" from "taylor swift: the corporation"

I like this, and same!

Screamin', "But Daddy, I love him
I'm having his baby"
No, I'm not, but you should see your faces

when this album leaked i immediately listened to "fresh out the slammer" bc it has just the worst title of all time, i dreaded whatever peppy construction antonoff and swift would drape around that theme and just needed to brace for the worst and expose myself to it immediately, and then it turned out to be a slow-burning smokey lana del rey thing, maybe swift's most convincing attempt yet at her version of a lana song??? her fake ldr stuff usually either has to grow on me or is actually very bad, it's just a very artificial pose for her because she is neither cool nor relaxed nor do i believe that she has smoked even one crumb of weed, but on this track she is just stacking beautiful melodies on top of each other like it's the most natural thing in the world

i immediately listened to "fresh out the slammer"...she is just stacking beautiful melodies on top of each other

a song about pogs

watching American Pie and and stacking Pogs.

She's back, in pog form

Thank you, Nelson

the tortured pogs department

Could’ve called it 1989 Midnights.

or 1,989 Mid Songs (according to these teens not me)

An odd thing to realise but it strikes me that her songwriting has never been more like Ani DiFranco (in non-political mode). You could easily slide “You Had Time” or “Untouchable Face” or “Independence Day” onto this album.

Tim, stop it.

I'm getting excited.

all the complaints about the sonic uniformity are odd to me because it's pretty dynamic and there's a lot of variety in its approach. there is a bit of a midtempo plod issue but that's all

― ufo, 19. april 2024 17:40 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

As someone who spent two and a half hours today registering who played what on this album, I can cosign this. There's autoharp, omnichord, vibraphone, trombone, 'high strung guitar', a symphony orchestra playing arrangements by Bryce Dessner, etc. It's insane how much stuff is on this album, compared to how boring and samey it sounds.

I think I'll have to listen to this while high, it just seemed very samey to me earlier today and I switched it off after six songs. Aesthetically nice, unmemorable songs though