I previously wrote about how I thought The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift was too long and boring. I had claimed that only about half of her songs were good and the other half were plain boring; I said that if she removed the boring half, it would be a great album. However, after about a year of marinating with the album, I have come to love it. 

I now appreciate the fact that she released 30 songs. The Tortured Poets Department is very thought daughter energy, and releasing 30 songs with impeccable lyrics fits into the theme of the album well. This is an anomaly in the music industry and I applaud her for the efforts and deep thought she put into it. This album seems to act sort of as a brain dump from the past five years of her life. Although I understand why I would think the amount of songs was excessive, I have come to appreciate the new dimension she added to her discography. It puts a spin on the classic idea of what an album is. 

TTPD is also wildly different from her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl. Contrary to popular opinion, I also enjoyed The Life of a Showgirl. My biggest criticism of the album is the lyrics. Because Taylor is known for her impeccable lyricism, this album was a disappointment in that department. However, I still enjoyed the album because it was entertaining, fun, and emphasized her happiness rather than her usual deep and thoughtful composition. Despite this common opinion of the lack of intelligence, I still believe that the lyrics throughout the album are still better than plenty of popular artists today. However, in comparison to her best work, this album was lacking. 

While the majority of the lyrics are simply average, a few stood out to be atrocious. For example, “I girlbossed too close to the sun.” Although this is a reference to something someone had said about her, it did not need to be included in the song. I also don’t like when she says “We all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire.” This lyric made me the most angry because I resonate with the majority of the song, but the addition of the phrase “we looked fire” is absolutely horrendous. To add, the entire premise of the song “Wood” is bad. If that song had come from another artist, I would have liked it more. But Taylor has expectations to live up to because we all know she is so good. I think this could partially be due to the fact that Travis Kelce is a terrible muse. All of the songs written about him are some of her worst. The only songs off of The Tortured Poets Departments that aren’t up to par, also happen to be written about him. So while I am glad that Taylor is happy, I also think she may just need to write about her past because these songs are not nearly as lyrically beautiful as the songs about Joe Alwyn.