Taylor Swift solidified her impact on the music industry in the 2008 award season when her second album “Fearless” became the most awarded album in country music history.
She solidified her spot in pop culture history at the 2009 VMAs when Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video.
“The Tortured Poets Department” is the perfect example of Taylor Swift’s continuous impact on pop culture and her genius.
With every album Swift releases, she breaks records. The Tortured Poets Department was no different — and for good reason. With this album, Swift achieved the most-streamed song in a single day and the most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify, among other accomplishments.
Swift is in her own universe, breaking many of her own records.
Swift started her career as a country artist. After immense success, she made a successful transition into pop music. Over the years, she has dabbled in the indie sound, folk, alternative music, rock and arguably rap and musical theater.
In “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift seamlessly blends the genres she has explored throughout her career. This makes the album cohesive to the point where people question whether each song is too similar.
With Swift releasing 31 songs on “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” the repetitive sound and lack of mainstream bops can turn away listeners.
However, every song perfectly encapsulates the fact that these albums are a glimpse into Swift’s mental state these past few years.
The best way to describe the album is exactly how Swift described it: her manuscript. It is a personal literary story.
The album is arguably not for the public. Like a manuscript, it was written for her and includes her raw emotions. That is the beauty of the album — aside from her lyricism and metaphors.
Swift described her upbringing in the industry as an asylum and let listeners know the pain she has gone through recently. Instead of reflecting on the album‘s deeper themes, many listeners focused on who songs could be about.
This response reflects the narrative Swift has spoken against. Swift has faced rampant sexism in the music industry, where her success was left often unacknowledged.
Swift released 31 songs while embarking on an unrivaled world tour, navigating press about her social life and working to finish republishing her first six albums.
Each song was meticulously crafted by Swift with only the help of a select few. She alluded to past lyrics she wrote. She added metaphors to encompass her emotions. She used humor to challenge the audience and write her emotions in a new perspective. And she carefully used expletives to express the anger and hurt that she has felt.
The album is a reflection of the songwriter she wants to be and grew into. It is a reflection of how the pain of being in the public eye impacted her development as well as her recent relationships. And, for once, Swift deliberately showed the audience her personal faults through her lyrics.
