“There’s a Taylor Swift song for every occasion,” every Swiftie likes to claim, and this is not without reason.
One of the things that has endeared Swift to generations of fans is how she can put into such simple words the complexity of emotions and situations (and situationships?) we universally experience.
Well, the words used to be simple. And haters have long used that against her. But with her more recent albums, Swift has shown a flair for the literary; so much so that defining words she’s used in her lyrics has spawned numerous TikTok series from various fans.
With her newest release, “The Tortured Poets Department,” (TTPD) Swift fully steps into the role of wordsmith, churning out 31 tracks that I’d personally describe as some of the most brutally honest things she’s ever put out. Downright depressing, even. It’s also the most explicit, with almost every other song including expletives or outright mentioning sex, drugs, cheating, and/or death. (Her previous songs have alluded to these before, but blanketed in double entendres.) Definitely not the sparkly, red-lipped, sequin-clad Taylor Swift the world sees her to be.
To the average listener, it may all sound the same. But the trained Swiftie ear will notice how some songs allude to the melodies of older hits, or how lyrically there are parallels to her old memoirs-turned-songs
Never mind the sonically monotonous feel of the album. Though, can we take it to mean that when you’re feeling so shitty all the time, everything just looks and feels the same? Is this intentional, Dr. Taylor Alison Swift?
To the average listener, it may all sound the same. But the trained Swiftie ear will notice how some songs allude to the melodies of older hits, or how lyrically there are parallels to her old memoirs-turned-songs.
The massive album also presents itself like she just published her diary for us to read. This album is less for the market or to get new fans, rather, it’s more for Swift to purge her own emotions and finally move on from the chapters of her life that she has bared in TTPD’s lyrics. At some point—owing largely to this album’s length—it’s like she’s trauma dumping on us, the listener. It feels that personal.
(On one hand, does it count as trauma dumping if we willingly streamed the album, or bought the vinyl/CD/cassette/whatever other version she’s put out?)
And yet, despite being so deeply personal, there are songs that are so, so relatable.
And so, dear reader, here are some of the most hard-hitting lines for every type of Tortured girlie. Some of these are lines taken out of Taylor’s context, adapted into ours. After all, Taylor Swift did say this manuscript’s story isn’t hers anymore—but ours.
For the overworked, burnt out girlie
“All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February” (Fortnight feat. Post Malone)
“I’d rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second of all this bitchin’ and moanin’” (But Daddy I Love Him)
“I was tame, I was gentle, til the circus life made me mean” (Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?)
“Still alive, killing time at the cemetery, never quite buried” (loml)
“I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it’s an art” (I Can Do It With A Broken Heart)
“I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my shit; they said, ‘babe, you gotta fake it ’til you make it’ and I did” (I Can Do It With A Broken Heart)
For the delulu girlies
“I love you, it’s ruining my life” (Fortnight feat. Post Malone)
“No I’m not coming to my senses, I know it’s crazy but he’s the one I want” (But Daddy I Love Him)
“But you should’ve seen him when he first got me. My boy only breaks his favorite toys; I’m queen of sandcastles he destroys” (My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys)
“My friends tried but I wouldn’t hear it, watched me daily disappearing for just one glimpse of his smile” (Fresh Out of the Slammer)
“I keep recalling things we never did, messy top lip kiss, how I long for our trysts; without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?” (Guilty As Sin?)
“They shake their heads saying, “God help her” when I tell ‘em he’s my man, but your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a finger, I can fix him — no, really, I can” (I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can))
For the heartbroken girlies
“I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary” (Fortnight feat. Post Malone)
“I stopped CPR, after all, it’s no use; the spirit was gone, we would never come to” (So Long, London)
“Fuck it if I can’t have him. I might just die, it would make no difference” (Down Bad)
“And you say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it” (So Long, London)
“I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all” (loml)
”You’re the loss of my life” (loml)
“A greater woman wouldn’t beg, but I looked to the sky and said: Please, I’ve been on my knees, change the prophecy, don’t want money, just someone who wants my company; let it once be me. Who do I have to speak to about if they can redo the prophecy?” (The Prophecy)
“And I don’t even want you back, I just want to know if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal. Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?” (The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived)
“I’m lonely, but I’m good, I’m bitter but I swear I’m fine, I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life, and I’ll get lost on purpose” (I Hate It Here)
“But you are what you did and I’ll forget you but I’ll never forgive” (The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived)
For the longing and pining and maybe waiting for nothing girlies
“A greater woman has faith, but even statues crumble if they’re made to wait. I’m so afraid I sealed my fate; no sign of soulmates” (The Prophecy)
“I look in people’s windows in case you’re at their table. What if your eyes looked up and met mine one more time?” (I Look In People’s Windows)
“You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof” (So Long, London)
“I move through the world with the heartbroken, my longings stay unspoken. And I may never open up the way I did for you” (The Black Dog)
For the healing and moving on girlies
“Looking backwards might be the only way to move forward” (The Manuscript)
“‘Cause love’s never lost when perspective is earned” (Peter)
For the girlies who are tired of everyone’s sh*t
“Who’s afraid of little old me?” You should be” (Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?)
“There’s a lot of people in town that I bestow upon my fakest smiles” (But Daddy I Love Him)
A little social commentary
“And you deserve prison, but you won’t get time” (The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived)
“Wise men once read fake news and they believed it” (The Albatross)
“When it’s ‘burn the bitch,’ they’re shrieking; when the truth comes out it’s quiet” (Cassandra)
Header photo from Taylor Swift/Instagram
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