Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’: All 18 Tracks Ranked
One of the constants of Taylor Swift’s storied career has been the chances she’s taken at the precise moment when taking a chance wasn’t necessary
She was a country superstar who didn’t need to go pop; she was less than a year removed from a major pop album and didn’t need to take an indie-folk detour
Time and again, Swift has identified artistic opportunities that other stars would have blanched at (or at the very least, set aside for a different time
so as to not muck up any professional momentum), and she has leapt into them fearlessly, always coming out on top.
She didn’t have to do this! But then again, making an album like The Tortured Poets Department is exactly what separates Swift from her more careful peers.
Challenging herself to shape-shift, to accomplish something new at the moment anyone else would rest on their laurels, is what makes her so fascinating.
Here is a humble, preliminary opinion on the best songs on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
Thoughts of destiny buzz around “The Alchemy,” and chest-thumping becomes a form of attraction
Baby, I’m the one to beat,” Swift sings, before dismissing the “blokes,” natch, that came before.