The Tortured Poets DepartmentSo let’s talk about the music. Swift’s two go-to co-writers are producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, each with their own distinctive sound. The Antonoff tracks here are by-the-numbers – his synth-pop is so immediately recognisable that it’s wearing on predictable.Dessner, who’s also a member of indie rock band The National and came on board Team Swift for her pandemic albums, has a softer, often piano-led palette that brings out more emotional nuance.
The twinkling title track references a “tattooed golden retriever” and name-drops two friends in one of the worst lyrics on the album which hints at, and seemingly glorifies, a toxic relationship. If that’s the shot,is the chaser, a classic Dessner-sounding song that’s full of pure Swiftian venom.But Daddy I Love Him
directly calls out her parasocial fans: “I’ll tell you something about my good name: it’s mine alone to disgrace / I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing / God save the most judgmental creeps who say they want what’s best for me, sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see.” Ouch.
These verbose lyrics are common across the album, largely at the expense of memorable hooks. These songs feel more like streams of consciousness or exorcisms, often with all the depth of an angsty teenager writing Tumblr poetry. In an accompanying written feature, Swift describes her “temporary insanity” from a “mutual manic phase”, which might go some way to explaining some of her choices here.will be divisive.