Taylor Swift new album LIVE: Fans go wild over Matty Healy relationship hints in Tortured Poets Department

1 week ago
Please Share to your Social Media
Please Follow Naijamerit on Social Media

By Eleanor Dye

Published: 08:02 BST, 19 April 2024 | Updated: 10:17 BST, 19 April 2024

Advertisement

The reviews are in! The Tortured Poets is branded 'gloriously chaotic' by critics calling it her 'most personal record yet'

The reviews of The Tortured Poets Department are flooding in, with critics calling it 'gloriously chaotic'.

The Telegraph's Neil McCormick focused on Taylor's savage swipes at her British exes, awarding it four stars.

Meanwhile Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield described it as her 'most personal album yet'.

And The Daily Mail has awarded it four stars - while El Hunt of the Evening Standard only gave it two.

Read the full round-up here to see what the critics are saying:

Fans still going wild over Matty Healy relationship hints

Many people expected The Tortured Poets would focus on Taylor's six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn.

But her fling with The 1975's Matty Healy, which began in May 2023, is also heavily referenced.

In the song titled The Tortured Poets Department, she sings: 'I scratch your head, you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever,' appearing to reference Healy's famous tattoos

Meanwhile in her lead single Fortnight, she appears to say their 'toxic love' was 'ruining my life'.

It's not all heartbreak out here! Swifties go wild over references to Travis Kelce in The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor may have taken aim at ex-lovers Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn, but she also doesn't hold back in speaking about her current boyfriend, Travis Kelce.

In her track The Alchemy, Taylor drops multiple references to her boyfriend and football.

The bridge of the song is where the references to Kelce are the most obvious. 'Chiefs chanting 'cause they said / There was no chance / Trying to be the greatest in the league / Where's the trophy?/ He just comes running over to me,' she sings.

She then refers to 'touchdowns' and 'blokes warming the benches'.

Aww! Read more about the sweet lyrics in our story below:

Who are the writers credited on the album?

Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner are once again credited as writers on Taylor's latest album.

So, My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys and Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? are the only two songs solely written by Taylor, but she will have had a major part to play in all of them.

Fortnight (ft. Post Malone) also credits Austin Post with writer credits - which is Post Malone's real name.

He is joined by Florence Welsh (from Florence + The Machine) as a featured writer on the album.

Producer Jack is much beloved by Swifties, having worked on at least 50 of her songs. And The National's Aaron Dessner has helped her produce masterpieces ever since folklore.

Taylor is called 'so real' for song lyric saying she's 'crying at the gym'

Taylor certainly knows how to pen a relatable lyric, from the sorrows of young love in Fifteen on her early album Fearless, to later visions of heartbreak in her more recent releases.

And fans have been quick to spot their new favourite lyric in her new song 'Down Bad', in which Taylor says she's 'crying at the gym'.

'She's so real!' fans were quick to exclaim, flooding Twitter with memes and gifs.

Others even went so far as to call it the 'most relatable lyric she's ever written' - which, as we all know, is a very strong claim indeed.

What Tortured Poets merchandise is available?

With every new album and every new release, Taylor is keen to offer a wide variety of merchandise to her fans.

Folklore saw the launch of the iconic cardigan, which are now worn by Swifties all over the world.

And items for the Tortured Poets include clothes, gold-plated jewellery, baseball caps and a display version for vinyls.

Read on to find out the full selection on offer from Taylor's billion-dollar merchandise machine.

Read the Mail's review of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: ADRIAN THRILLS casts his verdict

The Mail's official review of The Tortured Poets Department is in, as ADRIAN THRILLS has cast his verdict.

'The pop superstar pulls out all the stops on this mammoth undertaking,' he writes, adding that this is the 'dawn of a new era'.

Adrian continues: 'The good news for Swifties is that the 34-year-old's astonishing work ethic hasn't led to a dip in songwriting quality.

'Including four re-recordings, this is her ninth LP in five years, and it's well up to the standard of the older albums she's currently revisiting on The Eras Tour, a career-spanning show which hits UK stadiums this June.'

Find out how many stars we have awarded the album and read the full review here:

All of Taylor's literary references REVEALED

The Tortured Poets Department is not Taylor's first deep dive into the world of literature.

Just days before she announced the new album, MailOnline took a detailed look at all the secret literary references she makes in her songs.

From mentioning Romeo and Juliet to Alice in Wonderland, it is no surprise that fans suspect she will one day release a book of poetry (and we can't wait if she does!).

How many references have you spotted?

What's happening next?

We may have 31 tracks to be getting on with, but there's still a lot to be looking forward to!

Taylor will be releasing a music video for the lead single Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) at 8pm ET (1am UK time). She has already released a sneak preview and fans can barely wait.

And if that still isn't enough, there are big listening parties happening for the new album in London and Manchester, where you can join fellow Swifties in unpicking all the references.

Taylor is such a big fan of surprises that who knows what she has in mind next!

All the poets and celebrities namedropped on The Tortured Poets Department

It's Easter eggs galore in Swiftieland today as Taylor has namedropped the likes of Charlie Puth and Patti Smith.

The album also includes a poem penned by Fleetwood's Stevie Nicks, which references a pair of starcrossed lovers.

Swift mentions singer-songwriter Charlie Puth, 32, on the title track The Tortured Poets Department with the lyrics, 'You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.'

Read on to find out who else is mentioned in the 31-track album!

Could Taylor be referencing her feud with Kim Kardashian?

The tea keeps on spilling and Taylor keeps on topping it up!

A track from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology is called thanK you aIMee and surely it's not a coincidence that the capital letters spell out KIM.

The song happens to be about a school bully.

Taylor and Kim's longtime row began thanks to the singer's dispute with Kanye in 2009, when he famously stormed the stage at the VMAs when she won the prize for Best Female Video.

Things got worse in 2016 when Kanye released his song Famous, which featured the lyrics: 'I feel like me and Taylor Swift might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous.'

It led to a social media firestorm ignited by Kim, who was married to Kanye at the time.

Taylor references exes Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy in new album

There was much speculation over who Taylor would write about on her latest record.

In April 2023, her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn came to an end - and she went on to have a short-lived fling with 1975 frontman Matty Healy.

Fans have been quick to speculate over the meanings of her lyrics - although she is now happily loved up with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.

Here MailOnline breaks down who each of her new tracks is about. So who does YOUR favourite track reference?

What are fans saying so far?

Swifties are not known for doing things by halves - and have been left in tears by the new album, calling it a 'masterpiece' and her 'best album ever'.

One typed, 'IM CRYING RN. TAYLOR WE LOVE YOU!!!!' while another added, 'This is going to be the best album Taylor has made I know it.'

'13 seconds in and its already the best album,' a follower penned, and one excitedly wrote, 'OMG Taylor this is a masterpiece!! Thank you for this amazing album!! Love you.'

'I love it so much already,' a Swiftie typed, while another penned, 'THIS IS THE BEST ALBUM YOU'VE EVER MADE.'

'10 seconds into The Tortured Poets Department,' one typed while adding a GIF of Max (Sadie Sink) from Stranger Things floating up into the air.

The tracklist in FULL

It's a great day for Swifties as we now have 31 new songs from Taylor - with a music video on its way.

Here's the tracklist of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology in full...

Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)

The Tortured Poets Department

My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys

Down Bad

... So Long, London

But Daddy I Love Him

Fresh Out The Slammer

Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)

Guilty as Sin?

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

loml

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

The Alchemy

Clara Bow

The Black Dog

imgonnagetyouback

The Albatross

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

How Did It End?

So High School

I Hate It Here

thanK you alMee

I Look in People's Windows

The Prophecy

Cassandra

Peter

The Bolter

Robin

The Manuscript

Taylor sends fans into meltdown by dropping 15 MORE tracks

Just hours after The Tortured Poets Album being released - and Taylor has announced 15 MORE tracks.

The popstar is known for her 'Easter eggs' and surprises for her fans - and had sparked a flurry of speculation by posting a countdown clock on social media.

Captioning the post, Taylor told her followers that she'd written 'so much tortured poetry in the past two years' that she wanted to share it with her fans.

Sharing the double album was called The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, she wrote: 'It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️

'I'd written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore… it's all yours.'

Good morning Swifties!

Good morning everyone and welcome to MailOnline's live coverage as Taylor Swift releases her new album: The Tortured Poets Department.

The Grammy-winning artist has officially dropped her highly anticipated 11th studio album.

And what's more - she's announced that it is secretly a DOUBLE album with 15 extra tracks!

Let's get Swiftly into it...

 Taylor Swift accepts the Album Of The Year award for "Midnights" onstage during the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Key Updates

Could Taylor be referencing her feud with Kim Kardashian?

Taylor references exes Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy in new album

What are fans saying so far?

Taylor sends fans into meltdown by dropping 15 MORE tracks

Read full article
Please Follow Naijamerit on Social Media
< Back | News content