Now that you've spent the entire weekend obsessing over all the lyrics to Taylor Swift's vast, 31-track Department of Tormented Poetsthe singer graciously stepped up to offer Swifties some added context.
On Monday morning (April 22), Amazon Music released a track-by-track album experience with Swift commentating on the songs interspersed within the album's tracks. Swifties can also listen to the album with Taylor's full commentary by saying, “Alexa, I'm a Member of The Tortured Poets Department,” or at Amazon Music app.
Describing the first single, “Fortnight,” which features Post Malone, Swift says, “'Fortnight' is a song that showcases a lot of the common themes that exist on this album. One of which is fatalism – the longing, the lost dreams. I think it's a very doomy album as there are a lot of very dramatic lines about 'I love you, it's ruining my life.' It's that kind of album.”
Speaking about another fan-supported song, “Clara Bow,” Swift says she was inspired by her experiences in the entertainment industry and the tendency to pit female artists against each other. “'Clara Bow' is a song I wrote as a commentary on what I've seen in the industry I've been in over time,” says Swift. “I used to sit in record stores trying to get a record deal when I was young. And they'd say, “you know, you remind us,” and then they'd name an artist, and then they'd say something disparaging about her, “but you're the one, you're so much better in this way or that way.” And so we teach women to see themselves as if you can be the new replacement for that woman who has done something great before you.”
Her collaboration with Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, 'Florida!!!', is described as inspired by true crime. “I always watch Date. People have these crimes that they commit. where do they immediately skip town and go? They're going to Florida,” says Swift. “They're trying to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in. I think when you get heartbroken, there's a part of you that thinks, “I want a new name. I want a new life. I don't want anyone to know where I've been or to know me at all.' And so that was the jump. Where would you go to reinvent yourself and mingle? Florida!”
The singer's 11th studio album instantly became the most-streamed album on its first day on Amazon Music on Friday, selling 1.4 million copies on its first day in the US
Other tidbits of knowledge Swift shares include the origin of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” which she says is a metaphor woven from the perspective of a child's toy. “Being someone's favorite toy until they break you and then don't want to play with you anymore. That's how a lot of us are in relationships where a person values us so much at first, and then all of a sudden, they break us or put us down in their minds,” she says. “We're still stuck on 'No no, no. You should have seen them the first time they saw me. They will come back to it. They'll come back to it.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-track-by-track-commentary-amazon-music-1235662357/
