Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department ALBUM REVIEW 

If Taylor would have dropped this album in the 1830s but without all the racists you would have given it a 10

We got Taylor Swift saying Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto and Down Bad before GTA 6

She needs to stop working with jack antinoff and work with metro boomin for her next album

“There’s a difference between enjoying Taylor's albums for their music and their performances and their narratives, or enjoying them because you're deeply entrenched in the Taylor-verse and your obsessively combing through the lyrics on each song like the convoluted plot of the 30th marvel sequel” Bingo

I have nothing against Taylor or her fans but I want her to make a rap album just to see how far her fans will defend her

The Tortured Listeners Department

My problem with Taylor is that her older music is written better and more mature than everything she releases now.

Melon about to get death threats from millions of people who hate seasoned food.

Charlie Puth should not be a bigger artist

Wow without a low rating we'll never get to find out Anthony's home address now

Anthony after pissing off Kanye fans and Swifties in the same year: *I'm playing on both sides so that I will always come out on top*

Great point about this album feeling like a 30th marvel sequel. As a Taylor fan but not a marvel fan this really helped me understand how regular people probably feel about this album and other taylor swift lore/works lately. Even as a fan I didn't love this album. If anything I caught myself trying to untangle who the songs are about because they were so dull on their own that i quickly switched to their pop-cultural value instead of their artistic value. it's a shame but taylor has a history of self correcting and i hope thats what she'll do after this album cycle. fingers crossed

Anthony obviously didnt pick up the nuances in lyrics like “touch me while your bros play gta”

A dude who's messed with Kanye West fans in 2024 has nothing to fear and nothing to lose from swifties

Can you remember amy winehouse? Her lyrics in conveying a story with subtle metaphors was unmatched, so succinct and beautiful a true poet

I'd be excited to see her collaborate with someone other than Jack tbh.

Artists like Taylor Swift and Kanye West continue to push the boundaries of what a “fantano” review can be👍

Would’ve been a 10 if it was called to torture a poet

Nobody this rich and famous will be immune to becoming a narcissist. She was bound to implode.

I didn’t know Taylor Swift released a new album (yes I might live under a rock) till I was watching the local news and for some reason they decided to use a clip of this video to talk about the public response to the album. The whiplash I got seeing your face on news was bizarre, so here I am!

I like how Fantano is to scared to rate Taylor albums because he knows her fans are psychopaths

Can we just acknowledge how much Cal’s been around as of late? It’s been nice to see him around, missed that silly little guy

huge disappointment. poorly mastered/engineered, and sonically stagnant. i was hoping for SO much better but it’s like she’s trapped in some kind of blood oath with jack, which wouldn’t be so bad if they could artistically progress, but evidently they can’t. they both need to stop working together and trust that other collaborators may be able to help them make better art.

The Charlie Puth line is even more annoying to me knowing how big of a platform Taylor has and the massive opportunity to had to call out an actually under appreciated artist instead of.. Charlie puth

imagine dating a singer for 6 years, and when her new album comes out it's basically all about the racist dude she dated for 2 weeks immediately after you broke up

TERRIBLE news for people who aren’t developmentally past high school relationships

i thought jack antonoff was a fake name middle schoolers came up with. like mike hawk, joe mama or candice.

The swifties are already starting with the "you're not intelligent enough to understand her lyrics" argument. dear god

“You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me” … the christmas tree farm ??? 😭

I saw the red flannel and immediately did the thing that flies do where they rub their hands together in a menacing way

As a big Taylor fan I agree with every point. I was so disappointed. Even with the songs that are decent like loml have a weird cringy lyric inserted in there like “Mr. Steal your girl” that completely takes me out of it. Folklore and evermore are my favorites from her and I keep going back to them time and time again. I’m worried at this point that her fantastic writing in those records were an anomaly for that point in her career.

I'm a swiftie and i agreed with a lot of the points you made. I think the problem is how rewarded she is for exploring her personal lofe, if people valued the art more than the gossip that would be the focus

Not giving this a rating was smart because it means all the swifties have to actually listen to the video and formulate a coherent argument

“If I was this lacking in new fresh ideas, I would be paranoid too” damn Anthony is more of a poet than Taylor

I feel like Taylor is living every artist's dream. No matter what she puts out, she's built such a huge fandom, that it's gonna be a success and people are gonna be happy. What's a lukewarm 7/10 at best, for casual listeners, it's easily a 9/10 for a swiftie.

I am SO glad you mentioned the metaphor thing. I have been saying this since at least the 1989 vault tracks: interrupting one bad metaphor with another and then cutting in a random word you find pretty doesn't equate to good song writing

If Taylor Swift would have dissed Kendrick Lamar in "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived", you would have given this album a 10

It's like she discovered ChatGPT and asked it to rewrite her lyrics in Lana Del Rey's style

Thanks for the honest and inciteful review. It seems like some long-time Taylor fans just don't want to hurt her feelings or something because it's been hard to find true reactions to the actual material. As a newer and more mature (in age) Taylor fan, I also thought the same... that this album has very similar sounds to her last few albums. (even though I really did like folklore, evermore and Midnights) I'm thinking that maybe since she had said that "she'd written so much tortured poetry" in the last two years that she just needed to purge it all and then move on. Hopefully she'll take some time off after the finish of her tour and refresh and renew herself. I'm sure she truly needs that!

Taylor needs to stop working with Jack Antonoff 🗣️

You nailed my thoughts on this record. The first time listening through this I immediately thought, "Taylor and Jack are more friends than collaborators now... and he can't give her constructive criticism". This album is just so shockingly underbaked that I keep relistening to see if I missed something.

I don't mind about her being so popular and succesful, but when I see grown women talk about her songwriting like she's fionna apple or something I really burn inside

The new album is not creative as Taylor has been in past. She wrote some amazing melodies and catchy songs. I just listened to "Speak now", and "Fearless" - as well as other songs. She also needs to change the type of sad, slow songs about breaking up with guys and maybe start expand her thinking about other things that are going on in the world. I know its about her, but she needs to think about her fans.

10:30 this is such a fascinating point. I’m honestly kind of amazed that after spending so much time re-recording her back catalog and later showcasing it on tour that she wouldn’t feel inspired to reincorporate some of those sounds into her new material.

honestly, regardless of the quality of the songs themselves, the thing which frustrates me most with Swift atm is the complete disregard for the album format itself. since Billie Eilish announced she was releasing an album which had to be listened to as a cohesive body of work (gasp!! you mean.. an album?), i realised that the album format was in dire straits in the mainstream. 31 songs, with no interlude tracks, and hardly any instrumental moments within the tracks themselves, no apparent editing to create a cohesive story or soundscape - it reads as 31 stream opportunities rather than a 31-track record. it's frustrating to see someone who has genuine writing prowess put no effort into structuring a body of work and make it actually listenable. anyone who managed to listen to the full 31 songs in one go has my respect - i couldn't do it

Hi, I just want to say how refreshing this review is! I’m a swiftie, but I agree with a lot of your points and I felt like this album was more empty and hollow than her previous albums. The way you articulated why this album was weak is exactly what I’ve been trying to pinpoint since it came out, so thank you! Your reviews are appreciated

I really hope she takes this criticism to heart and actually tried to improve because I've been a ts fan since I was a kid and my love for her reignited when she released folklore, and this is the first time I've been quite disappointed by an album that I was so excited for.

I love Taylor and I really admire this record but at the same time everything’s so overwhelming and underwhelming simultaneously. Upon first listen, I only liked three songs out of sixteen. Taylor, please fire Jack Antonoff and just relax when writing songs… your best work is made when you think you don’t have to prove anything to people. Loml, TSMWEL, and Guilty as Sin? (a Jack Antonoff collab but the production wasn’t too much) are the better songs in this album because it is straightforward lyrics-wise and has good instrumentals.

It’s boring, not many songs are memorable. She should work with someone other than Jack Antonoff. After the final leg of her tour she should take a break. We don’t need a new album every two years…

6:55 "It is uncharacteristically sloppy for Taylor, in terms of songwriting execution." This is my biggest criticism about TTPD. I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift and I can see how this album is just weirdly bloated in all the wrong ways. Folklore and Evermore are much much better in subtle cleverness, especially with the storytelling contained within. Truly a fall from grace. She should serriously consider taking a break.

Agree 100% She needs a break, and her next album needs to be different and refreshing. Otherwise, She will probably fade out at least for a while. At this point, she can retire very comfortably, but she loves to write, so I doubt she'll stop writing, even after her popularity dies down. Will be interesting to see how her career plays out because her whole music career has been a bit of an enigma. 😊

Do we remember when Anthony was defending Antonoff on Midnights? Edit: I realize that that reads like I am attacking Anthony, but I just find it funny that he wound up agreeing with the criticism eventually.

the line "I'd rather burn my whole life down, Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin'" sums up the whole album for me

As a Swiftie, I was disappointed af with this double album release. I hope she takes a real break and stop being 'productive' and actually grow as a person and an artist. Please

Genuinely not sure if Kanye fans or Swifties are worse.

i'm not saying taylor swift is a bad songwriter by any means but you can really tell when someone only listens to taylor swift or adjacent

YES THANK YOU! 8:40 you explained my biggest problem with her new music. she has completely stopped being subtle and this is the same girl who wrote "dear john," which is a very beautiful song and not subtle at all. i think it was soooo petty to put thanK you aIMee on the tracklist, furthermore to capitalize the letters spelling "kim." I will admit it, i am a big Kim K hater but man this is not taylor being the bigger person. this is woe is me ass writing.

Anthony Bouta be in witness protection after this one

I hope she works with Max Martin again. That man gave us bops

12:15: That’s exactly how their relationship felt to her in the end I think

As much as I enjoy an artist taking back their creative work, this is kind of what you get when you've spent the last decade rehashing all of your old songs.

The Tortured Melons Department

Just looked at the album on Spotify and started scrolling down the tracklist and kept scrolling.. and kept scrolling.. and kept FUCKING scrolling. No way she put 31 fucking songs on an album that’s insane

bring me back to folklore era please, i need uniquely sounding soft songs of hers back🙏

She wants to be Lana so bad but it’s just coming off as cringey-theater-kid

"You know how to ball, I know Aristotle" 😭😭😭 Bro, ain't no way she unironically wrote this.

Correction: So Long, London is produced by Aaron Dessner, not Jack. I felt this album is a bit all over the place and a let down from me. I'm still trying hard to connect with most of the 31 songs, but in many cases the loyrics are just not at the level I would expect from such a brilliant songwriter. However I have some favorites that will do it for me, like The Black Dog and Robin.

Wow can't believe this album won the grammy for album of the year 2025

For a self proclaimed “lifeline album” she really flatlined with this

vultures son or tortured poets department daughter

What makes Taylor so unbearable besides her obviously copying artists is her fans. They make Taylor their whole personality and it’s disturbing

The "Newly Divorced" sticker on cals laptop is wild

Once I heard the "1830s without racists" lyric I knew red flannel was inevitable.

she wants to be lana del rey and phoebe bridgers SO BAD

I must say this is the most Ive ever agreed with you on a review. Especially when you talked about this album if it was Country. THIS IS THE BEST TAKE. If it was country I can see this album being a COMPLETELY different record, and probably a wayyy better one at that.

I'm actually starting to like her stuff and I liked this album because I felt it was Lana inspired rather than a rip off. But Anthony is so right about her needing to take a break from Jack. She's about the words and she needs someone to make the sound jump out so it's not so homogeneous.

Dead Poets Society >>> Tortured Poets Department

I’m no longer a Swiftie after this album, it just drained me emotionally and physically. I could barely finish it, there was only 2-3 songs I liked out of 31?!? Like this was absolutely awful.

Florida!!! is hitting hard with me and my friends who live in the South. It was so cool to hear her talk about Destin and Texas. It's not for everyone, but we are having fun with it.

“I can fix him, no really I can” is certainly one of the lyrics of all time

she’s in her St Anger era

Missed opportunity to not have a 3 minute and 48 second montage of Taylor and Post Malone playing fortnite duos

she needs to stop copying Lana because it's not working out for her, like stick to what u know 😭

Comparing the Taylorverse to Marvel is a harsh, yet fair, critique That line is more telling that any low number that you might expect in the end of the review

The flannel is red Swifties may be blue Fantano will be dead If his hatred is true

Listening to this album with the perception that it’s a troll by Taylor made it very entertaining. From working with Jack to reference the 1975 music production and literally spelling out KIM, Charlie Puth reference all while she admits to the chaos that was finally dating Matty Healy after leaving her 6 year relationship which barely got recognised in her anthology … I had a good laugh 😅

As a huge taylor fan, there are so many hits in this album that are overshadowed by the misses. She did not have to put out 31 songs bc 15 GREAT ones would have done the work. Her magic comes from being earnest, the album makes me wanna listen to her older music because her lyricism is so much better at 22 than at 34

I'm genuinely a fan of Taylor and have listened to her since I was 10. I was a defender of Reputation and Midnights. The only album I didn't vibe with was Lover but mostly because it felt like a step back and that was rectified with folklore. This is the worst thing she's ever made in a way that feels a lot more final. Like, something vaguely legacy-destroying. Maybe the facade finally broke for me, where the person that came across in public finally coalesces into the person that came across in the music, but it's so, so embarrassing. Taylor has become too rich, too privileged, too disconnected from reality to write anything even slightly relatable to anyone outside of a rabid core fanbase. It's a movie franchise descending into empty fanservice, with anything genuinely interesting or creative has been wrung out in service of The Brand. Taylor's narcissism has gone from being an interesting character flaw in an often deeply raw and emotionally vulnerable artist to being the only thing she even does anymore. She's become the same kind of cringe as a late-period emo band, still screaming and whining about your ex well into your 30s and well beyond when you should've grown up already. It makes sense to me that despite being 34 herself, most of her particularly invested fanbase aren't people like me who are less than a decade younger than her and grew up with her music from the beginning, they're current-day teenagers, as in people with significantly less life experience than Taylor herself. She's cultivated this, a fanbase so invested in picking apart her lyrics to add to their lore (because that's the only real way to get anything out of it at this point), yet seems to resent the level of scrutiny that invites. Obviously artists are allowed to write about relationships without being obligated to enjoy seeing those relationships raked through the public eye, but Taylor isn't a normal artist, she's a billionaire, a towering persona that barely even feels human in the music anymore. If you don't want to feel like your fanbase of teenagers is judging you for your relationships, just maybe write about something else? She clearly has the ability to do so, folklore especially showed that, but it feels like she just wants to exist in this songwriting comfort zone as to establish her legacy and fight against her long-documented insecurity about getting replaced in the industry. Just deeply unrelatable and boring stuff, the kind of music you can only write as a truly out of touch billionaire who doesn't have anything to say anymore. I do feel vaguely bitter about it, probably unreasonably so, because I really felt like folklore/evermore and even Midnights to a certain extent represented Taylor's transition into a more mature artist who had more variety in her song topics (and a real gift for fiction and storytelling) as a natural extension of being a proper adult now, and I was excited for where her music was going to go from there. This feels like an intentional regression, to wallow in the drama that you seemed like you were leaving behind when in reality it had just been parked. After more than 15 years and defending her music through times when it was really unpopular to do so, I can't in any way call myself a fan of Taylor's music anymore and it genuinely does upset me. thank you for reading my self-therapy session in this youtube comment xo

Grateful to hear a music critic calling a spade a spade. It's been surreal reading all the gushing reviews for this forgettable ass album

Taylor Swift sounds like a 16 year old who discovered indie music for the first time, thought "I could do that" and just emulates it poorly because she thought being edgy in song writing sounded cool.

i think this album could've genuinely been pretty good if she cut out like 21 songs. it's such a long album and all of the songs sound so similar that it's genuinely hard to get through.

Goodbye Anthony, it was good knowing you...

Taylor, take notes. As a fellow swiftie, i agree with him. Taylor should stop working with Jack.

She's desperately trying to have an NFR in her career. This sudden friendship with Lana always made me suspicious. She has a history of making "friendships" in the industry with artists she finds interesting and then starting it as if she had used what she wanted and left. That's what happened to Lorde.

If it was called The Pimped Butterflies Department you would have given it a 10

the dopamine rush I got when I saw the red flannel is inexplicable

My colleague played this in our office, our manager called us The Tortured Ears Department.

8:21 That line is about Travis Kielce The song is clearly about someone she’s currently dating and uses the word touchdown several times

This is a fair review, although your criticism of jacks production on so long London is incorrect as it was produced by Aaron đessner. Although the little bleep boops totally sound like a Jack thing 😂

Just because your favorite team lost the superbowl doesnt mean you can give it a zero melon.