Department of Tormented Poets has enough staff! Taylor Swift released her long-awaited new double album on Friday (April 19), and across the LP's 31 tracks are a number of references to celebrities in and out of the worlds of music and poetry.
When the “Cruel Summer” singer first revealed the Tormented Poets tracklist in February, much of the attention went to the two high-profile artists. Grammy-nominated alt-rock band Florence + the Machine appears on “Florida!!!” and Post Malone appear on “Fortnight,” which Swift confirmed as the set's first single on Thursday (April 18).
In addition to these collaborations, however, the tracklist also included a song titled “Clara Bow”. “Clara Bow” which serves as the closer for the album's first record, also refers to an American actress who rose to fame during the silent film era, turned to “talkies” and eventually became a leading cultural icon of the 20s .
As it turns out, these tracks were only the tip of the iceberg. Department of Tormented Poets — which broke a major Spotify record in under 12 hours — is not only inspired by Tay's tumultuous relationships with 1975's Matty Healy and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, but also features references to stars ranging from Boygenius. Lucy Dacus to Kim Kardashian.
Department of Tormented Poets serves as both Swift's eleventh studio album and her first album of new music since 2022's Grammy-winning Midnight. Longtime collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner helped write and produce the record, continuing a streak that stretches back to 2014 1989 for Antonoff and the 2020s Folklore for Dessner.
Keep reading for a list of all the celebrities Taylor Swift has directly or indirectly tagged Department of Tormented Poets.
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Charlie Puth
Song: “The Section of Tortured Poets”
Lyrical: “You smoked and ate seven chocolate bars/ We declared that Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist”
T-Swift shows Charlie Puth a lot of love on the title track. Puth has scored four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Attention” (No. 5) and the Selena Gomez-assisted “We Don't Talk Anymore” (No. 9). On the Billboard 200, the acclaimed singer-songwriter has earned three consecutive top 10 albums.
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Lucy Dacus
Song: “The Section of Tortured Poets”
Lyrical: “Sometimes I wonder if you'll spoil this for me/ But you tell Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever left.”
If the Tormented Poets The title track is really about Swift and Healy's relationship, “Lucy” could refer to Boygenius' Lucy Dacus. After all, Dacus and Healy were friends before Swift hit the movies, though that dynamic eventually soured. Last year, Healy turned off his X account after Dacus responded to one of his tweets bashing her and her bandmates Boygenius.
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Jack Antonoff
Song: “The Section of Tortured Poets”
Lyrical: “And I'd told Jack that about you/ So I felt seen / Everyone we know understand why it's meant to be/ 'Cause we're crazy.”
C'mon, who else Jack could Taylor be referring to?!
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Dylan Thomas & Patti Smith
Song: “The Section of Tortured Poets”
Lyrical: “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.'”
Swift references Welsh 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' poet Dylan Thomas and 'Because the Night' rocker Patti Smith on the title track for her eleventh studio album.
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Kim Kardashian
Song: “Thank you Aimee”
Lyrical: “I don't think you've changed much/ And so I changed your name, and any real clues,” as well as “And one day, your child comes home singing”/ A song that only the two of us will ever know is about you .”
Okay, so Taylor spends the song referring to an “Aimee” and never drops Kim K.'s name, but the capitalization of the song's title – “thanK you aIMee”, capitalized as “Kim” – is intentional, according to Swifties. In the song, “Aimee” causes Swift “intense pain,” just as the chips were down in 2016 when the then-married Kim Kardashian and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) publicly sparred with Swift over “New Slaves.” Rapper T-Swift's own name on the Rihanna-assisted Billboard Hot 100 hit “Famous” (No. 34). Fans also believe the pop superstar is hinting at Kim and Jae's daughter North with the line that a child is coming singing “a song that only the two of us will know is about you,” a possible reference to when reality star and North danced to one of Tay's songs in a video.
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Stevie Nicks
Song: “Clara Bow”
Lyrical: “You look like Stevie Nicks in '75/ The hair and the lips/ The crowd goes wild on her fingers/ Half moonshine, a full clipse,” Swift sings, nodding to Nicks' Fleetwood Mac era.
Stevie Nicks – who has scored four Hot 100 top 10 hits and six Billboard 200 top 10 titles as a solo artist – also wrote a poem about his physical copies Department of Tormented Poets playing with Taylor's signature lovelorn lyricism.
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Clara Bow
Song: “Clara Bow”
Lyrical: “You look like Clara Bow in that light/ Remarkable/ All your life, did you know you'd be picked like a rose?”
Of course, the iconic actress is referenced through the title song which directly references her.
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Taylor Swift
Song: “Clara Bow”
Lyrical: “You look like Taylor Swift in this light/ We love it/ You got an edge, she never did/ The future is bright, dazzling.”
Every major pop star indulges in a meta-moment. In “Clara Bow,” Taylor defines herself, mocking how the media and culture at large have perceived her art and persona throughout her career.
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The Blue Nile
Song: “Guilty as sin?”
Lyrical: “Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me 'Downtown Lights'/ Haven't heard it in a while”
In the opening lines of this soft-rocking Tormented Poets cut, Taylor refers to Scottish alternative band The Blue Nile. The group — which last performed together in 2008 — scored a Hot 100 entry in 1990 with “The Downtown Lights,” which reached No. 10 on Modern Rock Tracks, now known as Alternative Airplay.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-stars-name-dropped/
