#i also really like the florence + the machine feature in florida!!! it was so good!!

[my-reputation-precedes-me]

i haven’t finished listening to all of ttpd yet but my top three so far is

1. clara bow

2. but daddy i love him

3. loml

[bittersweetbangers]

My thoughts after two listens to The Tortured Poets Department

I love this album. On my first listen, the anthology tracks interested me more than the original album tracks, but on my second listen, the album grew on me as a whole. The album itself is less sad than I was expecting it to be, but the sad songs are absolutely gut wrenching. The dark pop sound on the first half is exactly what I was hoping for/expecting when she announced the Post Malone and Florence + the Machine features, and I think it's a sound that really suits her. But the folklore/evermore-esque production on the second half also really suits her, and as a folklore girlie I'm very glad to see her returning to that sound.

I've seen some people saying that she's outgrown Jack as a collaborator and that they aren't making anything new anymore, and while I agree that some of the Jack-produced tracks are reminiscent of stuff on Midnights, I think there's also a lot of new sounds on this album. I also think we need to stop holding artists to this expectation that everything they make must be fresh and new. If Taylor likes a sound, why can't she repeat it? We also know she's very comfortable writing with Jack, even the most vulnerable stuff. A lot of my favorites on the album are Jack songs.

Anyway, my top 5 as of right now are:

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

Florida!!!

loml

The Black Dog

So High School

[zorawitch]

I have too many thoughts so um as someone who is occasionally a casual enjoyer but not a swiftie and who literally never does this, have fun. btw theres a woman named Grace Powers on instagram who made a song out of the track titles and it’s better than the whole album.

so super critical album review from someone who listened to most of it if you want it

TRACK ONE: Fortnight

this song is like. Just boring enough that I don’t actually have the energy to dislike it.

TRACK TWO: The Tortured Poets Department

I mean. It’s about Matty Healy it was never going to be fantastic especially when its competition in that really specific subgenre of pop music is one of the three best songs Ashley ‘Halsey’ Frangipane has ever written.

TRACK THREE: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

it would be one of the worse songs on reputation so it’s one of the better songs here.

TRACK FOUR: Down Bad

I forgot about this song to be honest.

TRACK FIVE: So Long, London

I actually do really like this. It’s got imagery and a nice vibe to it. A good sad ballad.

TRACK SIX: But Daddy I Love Him

it is the first of this album’s many unhinged songs, and by far the most calm of their number. It’s okay. Reminiscent of her earlier stuff but with less heart.

TRACK SEVEN: Fresh Out the Slammer

okay so. I had automatic terrible assumptions about a BILLIONAIRE writing a song with this title but it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

TRACK EIGHT: Florida!!!

based on the vibes of this song, I am going to assume that Taylor Swift has never been to any area of Florida outside of Miami. i am not a Floridian, but I know that this is almost laughably stereotypical. I don’t take issue with that - as a Yankee I encourage it - but the Florence + the Machine feature on this song only serves to remind me how much better Florence is than Taylor, at least in terms of her voice. Putting her on backing vocals for the chorus just makes her drown out everything else. This song just made me want to go listen to Morning Elvis again. That said, it’s definitely not bad. I do still like it.

TRACK NINE: Guilty As Sin?

I know nothing of this song.

TRACK TEN: Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

this song seems more intentionally unhinged than track six, and that makes it almost worse. If there was any conviction behind it, yeah, that would be a good song. However, I do not actually believe she has any plans to start biting people.

TRACK ELEVEN: I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

it’s fine.

TRACK TWELVE: loml

it’s alright. Wish I remembered anything about it.

TRACK THIRTEEN: I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

she’s railing against the golden cage she’s in, but who locked the door and then promptly had the bars reset so they were shiny, Taylor???

TRACK FOURTEEN: The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

also pretty forgettable.

TRACK FIFTEEN: The Alchemy

simply the most forgettable.

TRACK SIXTEEN: Clara Bow

I don’t know why, but this song Got To Me. I audibly wailed at the end of this song. I have no clue what about this one motivates me, but it is just so good to me specifically. I said, “if the Clara Bow song is bad, im so done” and it wasn’t bad.

[neon-in-the-night-time]

ttpd first thoughts

woke up to find out she did the "released a back half of the album at 2 am" thing again. i’m just listening to the first 16 tracks though

ttpd is lowkey a bop, i really like the synths

lyrical motif of typewriters? shows up in tracks 1+2

some 80s influence in the production? who produced ttpd?

i like the vocals in the beginning of so long london reminiscent of a choir

the words "but daddy i love him" sounds very silly coming from a 34 year old woman

not sure how i feel about the songwriting just yet (i need at least 5 listen-throughs to form an opinion) but the production is so insane. loving the instrumentation

start of fresh out the slammer has some western vibes (like those movies where the cowboys have a shootout). guitars/strings give it i think. rest of the track doesn't have that vibe tho

lets see if florida!!! beats the female feature backing vocals allegations

okay florence welch has a verse. the timbre of her voice is so rich i love it. maybe i should try to listen to more florence and the machine after i get the feel of this album and also the fob hyperfixation fades

i like the bridge of florida!!!

"you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum that they raised me"?

again absolutely loving the synths

i can do it with a broken heart is really upbeat i’m loving the vibes. heartbreaking lyrics/upbeat melody and tempo combination goes hard as always

last ts new album release i had a whole 4.5 hour train ride to process the album and i lowkey miss it. i’m so bored trying to listen to the album without doing anything else

i know the song's called clara bow but it sounds like clarabelle. like the cow from mickey mouse clubhouse.

conclusion: i don't remember any of these songs. i do really love the production though, it's a very interesting use of synths. wish there was a glitter gel pen in here but idk