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The Tortured Poets Department

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024)

“The Tortured Poets Department” is track two on Taylor’s eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). It was released on April 19, 2024, through Republic Records. Written by Taylor and Jack Antonoff, the song satirizes a relationship between two pretentious artists who think of themselves as modern poets.

Background and Release

Taylor started writing THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album, Midnights, in early 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of “The Eras Tour” in 2023. The album’s conception took place when her personal life was once again a widely covered topic in the press. Two significant events changed her life during this period: the end of her relationship with her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, and the short-lived romance with Matty Healy immediately afterwards. Taylor described THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT as her “lifeline” during this time, and as album which she “really needed” to make:

«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 titular track, “The Tortured Poets Department” seems to most heavily reference Taylor’s relationship with English singer-songwriter Matty Healy, tracing its lifespan and the complex emotions it invited.

Lyrical Theme

The song describes a turbulent relationship with an unpredictable and mentally unstable partner. The “tortured poets department” in question is a metaphor for Taylor’s lover’s erratic and self-sabotaging behavior. She describes them as equally turbulent and “crazy,” alluding that they’re meant to be together as deeply compatible “tortured poets.” However, the lyrics are written in a satirical way, as Taylor mentions feeling inferiority to the artistic levels of the poets Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith. She calls herself and her lover “modern idiots”, a self-critique of their artistic limitations.

One symbol for their pretentiousness is a typewriter. Taylor mentions it in the very first lines of the song. Matty Healy’s attachment to his typewriter is well-documented, and he has gone on record as naming it on a list of things he couldn’t live without. Within the song, the abandoned typewriter transforms into a tangible symbol of the relationship’s demise.

Notably, “The Tortured Poets Department” name-checks multiple contemporary musicians in its lyrics, mentioning Charlie Puth directly by his full name. The names “Lucy” and “Jack” are most likely American singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus (a close friend of Matty) and the song’s producer Jack Antonoff, who is one of Taylor’s best friends.

Production

Music critics compared the song’s production to the music from the 1980s. “The Tortured Poets Department” is a midtempo, synth-pop and pop-rock track with indie pop stylings. It is grounded by a prominent drum beat and lush, layered, “sparkling” retro synths.

Live Performances

“The Tortured Poets Department” received its first live performance acoustically on guitar on May 25, 2024, in Lisbon during one of Taylor’s shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). She mashed it up with “Now That We Don’t Talk” (2023). During the tour’s final weekend on December 7, 2024, she paired the song with “Maroon” (2022) in Vancouver.

Critical Reception

Most music journalists complimented the production of “The Tortured Poets Department”. Billboard‘s Jason Lipsthuz highlighted the “light and unobtrusive” drums that leave space for Taylor’s voice and describing the sound as a “synth fantasia”. Tom Breihan of Stereogum praised the song as an earworm and selected it as one of the album’s well-constructed tracks. Webb contended that the track contains “unchartered sonic ground” for Taylor, specifically praising the nostalgic 1980s production by Antonoff. Lindsay Zoladz, writing for The New York Times, described “The Tortured Poets Department” as a “chatty, radiant” song that effectively portrays “the flushed delirium of a doomed romance”.

Commercial Performance

Upon the album’s release, “The Tortured Poets Department” debuted at No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100, during the chart week ending on May 4, 2024. Internatioally, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the Top 10 on charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and the UK.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the Tortured Poets Department
I think some things I never say
Like “Who uses typewriters anyway?”
But you’re in self-sabotage mode
Throwing spikes down on the road
But I’ve seen this episode
And still loved the show
Who else decodes you?

[Chorus 1]
And who’s gonna hold you like me?
And who’s gonna know you, if not me?
I laughed in your face and said,
“You’re not Dylan Thomas.
I’m not Patti Smith.
This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel.
We’rе modern idiots.”
And who’s gonna hold you like me?
Nobody.
Nofuckinbody.
Nobody.

[Verse 2]
You smokеd then ate seven bars of chocolate
We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist
I scratch your head, you fall asleep
Like a tattooed Golden Retriever
But you awaken with dread
Pounding nails in your head
But I’ve read this one
Where you come undone
I chose this cyclone with you.

[Chorus 2]
And who’s gonna hold you like me?
And who’s gonna know you like me?
I laughed in your face and said,
“You’re not Dylan Thomas.
I’m not Patti Smith.
This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel.
We’re modern idiots.”
And who’s gonna hold you like me?
Nofuckinbody.
Nobody.
Nobody.

[Bridge]
Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me
But you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave
And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen
Everyone we know understands
Why it’s meant to be
Cause we’re…Crazy.
So tell me
Who else is gonna know me?
At dinner you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one
People put wedding rings on
And that’s the closest I’ve come to my heart exploding
Who’s gonna hold you?
Me.
Who’s gonna know you?
Me.

[Final Chorus]
“And you’re not Dylan Thomas.
I’m not Patti Smith.
This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel.
We’re two idiots.”
Who’s gonna hold you?
Who’s gonna hold you,
Gonna know you
Gonna troll you?

[Outro]
You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the Tortured Poets Department
Who else decodes you?

Artist

Taylor Swift

Album

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

Released

April 19, 2024

Recorded

2023

Studios

Conway (Los Angeles)
Electric Lady (New York City)
Hutchinson Sound (Brooklyn)
Big Mercy Sound (Brooklyn)
Pleasure Hill (Portland)
Audu Music Studio (Brooklyn)
Sterling Sound (Edgewater)

Genre

Synth Pop

Length

4:53

Label

Republic Records

Songwriters

Taylor Swift
Jack Antonoff

Producers

Jack Antonoff
Taylor Swift