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The Black Dog

Bonus Track | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY (2024)

“The Black Dog” is track seventeen on THE ANTHOLOGY, the double album edition of Taylor’s eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). Written by her alone, it captures the moment she realizes an ex forgot to turn off his location, leading her to discover he is visiting a familiar bar called The Black Dog and wondering what he is doing there. Fittingly, the song was originally called “Old Habits Die Screaming.”

Background

Taylor developed her eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, “for about two years” after finishing her previous album Midnights (2022). “The Black Dog” specifically was recorded at Electric Lady Studio in New York City on May 18, 2023. Taylor reflected on the creation of the album as a “lifeline” for her, as it took place amidst media reports on her personal life and her relationships with Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy, and Travis Kelce:

«TORTURED POETS is an album that I think, more than any of my albums that I’ve ever made, I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me, just the things I was going through, and the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life. And I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I’d needed it on TORTURED POETS.»

Taylor Swift

The album’s “Black Dog” deluxe edition along with the song was announced during Taylor’s “The Eras Tour” show in Singapore on March 3, 2024. On the digital version of the album, “The Black Dog” opens the second part of TORTURED POETS, titled THE ANTHOLOGY. As the title suggests, it is a series of scattered musings and ruminations on different aspects of Taylor’s life and career from 2022-2023, obscured through either a fictional or metaphorical lens.

Lyrical Theme

“The Black Dog” exhibits a style of writing in which one minor detail is expanded out to expose a much larger feeling. In this case, it is the experience of tracking an ex’s location, and in Taylor’s case, watching as he walks into the (very real) London bar that the song is named after. She laments the lost love, before surrendering that longing to the rage most break-ups inevitably lead to.

All of Taylor’s signature songwriting characteristics are on display here: Personal details lifted from her life. Using a memory to tell a story. A third verse plot twist and word swap.

Production

Musically speaking, THE ANTHOLOGY sets a starkly different tone from the main album with its very first track, being “The Black Dog.” The song begins with a soft piano, with booming synths only highlighting very key lyrics throughout the song. The song culminates with a final “screaming” exhale. But instead, it comes as a defeated death rattle.

Live Performances

“The Black Dog” received its first live performance acoustically on piano on June 21, 2024, in London during one of Taylor’s shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). She mashed it up with “Come Back…Be Here” (2012) and “Maroon” (2022). She said:

«I’ve never played this one live, so, wish me lots of luck and send thoughts and prayers.»

Taylor Swift

On August 3, 2024, she paired the song with “exile” (2020) in Warsaw. In New Orleans on October 25, 2024, Taylor played the song together with “Haunted” (2010) on piano.

Commercial Performance

Upon the release of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, “The Black Dog” debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week ending on May 4, 2024.