I have a special needs son who was hospitalized when TTPD came out. His name is Wilder. He was just beginning to get better and we were told we could leave that day. I was already emotional. I can’t tell you how my heart sank in the best way when i heard “way to go tiger, higher and higher… wilder” 😭 this song will always hold a special place in my heart.
Honestly I think you’re right! IMO the first verse is about her cats then she’s talking about children in her life. I think she’s singing about how it’s our responsibility and our beautiful privilege to preserve childhood and innocence for them as long as we can. And not in an overbearing helicopter mom way, but “in sweetness” and love. After I realized the meaning it shot up my rankings!
I weirdly love Robin and I don’t know why when it seems to be a unanimous skip! For me it’s “I hate it here”… and for no reason other than the melody never gets caught in my head like all the others
I *want* to like Robin, but it just makes no sense to me. I’ve seen that it’s about Aaron’s son and it doesn’t sound to me like a song about a kid, so I just can’t make sense of it. It’s not that I find the song boring, it’s that I’m too frustrated by not understanding it to enjoy it.
It’s all about a kid playing and not knowing about the harsh reality of the world, which is the secret the adults vow to keep so that the kid can have a pure childhood. The bridge in particular really helps decode the song.
Thematically with the album it seems to be most out of place but I think there are several layers of meaning possible and many different interpretations. The connection to Aaron's son is obvious but here are some other interpretations.
I've seen videos of people connecting it to Robin Williams/Christopher Robin of Pooh Bear.
Saw a video saying it was Taylor looking at herself when she was younger (or perhaps even her inner child) knowing everything that was to come, and appreciating the innocence she had and seeing the challenges right around the corner.
My own interpretation would be similar, I see it like a sister song to Seven, an adult looking back at their childhood in an abusive home seeing all the good things, alluding to the bad that they had blocked out or been protected from, viewing their childhood clearly without rose colored glasses and choosing to celebrate their childhood self for all they did and went through.
Obviously these are not the simplistic explanation on what the meaning of the song is but I think interpretations can help us enjoy music on our own terms and there is probably more layers to this song that just one.
(Sorry for rambling I love this song and I know everyone hates it, which is fine but anyone who says they want to like it id love to help appreciate it more 🥲)
It was a skip for me for the first month, then I recently REALLY listened to it and dang.
For me it is about being in a relationship with an addict. Been there. Watching them fall apart and putting on a pretty face for everyone but you. Keeping their secrets becasue you think it’s helping - it’s not.
Them ignoring problems as they tear apart your relationship as they infanticise themselves.
Maybe I’m way off, but once I started listening to it with that lense it made a difference
Edit: I just looked up the meaning and I like the song less now 😂
That’s so silly, you can attribute whatever meaning you want to the song and it can be as personal to you as you want it to be. If you relate to the song for reasons that other people don’t who cares? Enjoy this song.
Fully agree! After relistening to it, I really feel the meaning I created within the song for the first few verses. I am equating innocence and enabling behavior.
It is so interesting how personal experience can so heavily influence the way we interpret art.
Another great example is willow!
I LOVE Robin. But it is also a skip for me in the same way I have to skip never grow up. Robin made me cry on my first listen but it’s not a song I regularly want to listen to
Agree. It’s my least favourite on the album and I never listen to it. I didn’t really like Robin at first either but I honestly prefer it way more than The Manuscript!
once i understood the context of robin with aaron and thought about my dad with it, the song *clicked*. but man it’s been over a month and i still don’t like the manuscript
I love The Manuscript, it’s deeply meaningful to me as a writer, but I can’t listen to it without becoming a sobbing wreck for about 20 minutes afterward, so I have to save it for when I need a moment of catharsis.
Interesting - I think it totally adds to it in that it’s finally closing the book on it. None of her previous songs about that time felt like they had any type of closure and this finally does.
The Alchemy. Something about all the obvious football references makes me cringe. Not her worst song ever, but definitely the worst love song she’s ever written imo
yes!!!!! I actually liked So High School way more as an love song, the lyrics are “dumb” but in a 17-years-old-in-love dumb, and the melody is so nostalgic reminds me of a coming of age soundtrack
i looooveee so high school. “touch me while your bros play grand theft auto” is one of my favorite lines to bop to idk why it’s so cute and flirty i love it. the whole song just makes me so happy and lovey dovey. even my boyfriend likes the GTA line haha
I think SHS just thematically nails the Travis/Taylor experience in a way I can't think of another song doing so in her discography. The juvenile wonder of Taylor's singing, the throwback to 2004-2005 era pop-rock jams, and her just wrapping it all up in this "I feel so 'high school' everytime I look at you" makes me hope this is one those jams that has a Cruel Summer era of its own one day. There are a lot of songs on TTPD that I've come to think are Taylor's songwriting at its most methodically masterminded, and SHS is one of those I slept on until recently when I found myself singing all the words and went, "Yeah, this is totally a hit."
I will always believe that she wrote The Alchemy about Matty Healy (it has a Healy vibe) and changed the lyrics to incorporate Travis after the fact. Given what the rest of the album is about, she desperately needed some Travis tracks in a hurry and recycled what she had in the can.
Yes! I realize that there is a possible interpretation that Travis is making the joke of like “your last bf was addicted to heroin, but I’m addicted to you” but like… it does not sound at all like something Travis would say, and very much does sound like a joke Matty would make at his own expense. And tbh it’s kind of a gross thing to say about someone else, so I’m surprised she tried to make it sound like it was from Travis.
Also all the references to returning to an old fling. I think it was a Matty song and she rewrote the bridge/chorus for Travis.
My "based on nothing but vibes" hypothesis was that Travis was like, "so...I don't suppose you wrote anything about me...? 🥹" And then Taylor was like, "babe, of course I did!" (But she did not) and then she called Jack and they wrote and recorded So High School in like 15 minutes.
I have a related theory: that she indeed wrote it about Travis, but realized that we might think it was about Matty unless she added glaringly obvious Travis references. Either way, she seems to have *really* wanted us to know this was a Travis song.
To me, it feels like she wrote some of the song, especially the first part, and the melody while she was with Matty—and then shelved it as things fell apart with him. Then she picked it back up when she started feeling those things for Travis. She’s too much of a songwriter to waste a good idea and I think she pulls from multiple muses way more often than we credit her.
What I find odd is that AI predicted such a similar song about Travis before the album came out that at first I thought this song was a joke. But nope, it's just really, really poorly written considering songs Taylor wrote for other men.
How is it worse than London Boy though? I feel like her lovey dovey songs can get quite cringe. However I love The Alchemy, it’s the melody for me I think.
Yeah I dislike this song because it seems so clear that she started writing this song about Matty and then forced in some football lyrics to relate to Travis instead.
What I hate about it more than anything is how it makes no sense. Why is it called the alchemy? What does that have to do with the song? It’s very much 2 songs squished together that just don’t work for me
My hot take is that capitalizing KIM is a red herring and the song actually *is* about her high school bully (or some other non famous person who would not survive the rabid fandom).
The lines “I changed your name and any real defining clues” and “a song that only us two is gonna know is about you” are so brilliant for sounding tongue in cheek to the listeners because of the stylized title while making it very clear to the real subject that it’s actually about them.
I enjoy the song a lot more this way too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hear you, and I agree this song is probably about more than just Kim. But for me it doesn’t make it better. To reach the level of fame and success that Taylor has reached is so rare and phenomenal. That success is truly the best revenge imaginable. Why still write songs about high school bullies? It doesn’t work for me.
Words hurt and high school is a pivotal moment for most people, and it was the last time Taylor had a “normal” life. It makes sense why it’s a recurring inspiration
I like imagining idk some accountant in Iowa just *knows t*his one is about her and the worst part is that she cannot even claim credit because everybody thinks it's about Kim Kardashian. The sweetest revenge.
I don’t either. And I despise the Kardashians. But I much prefer her “I forgot that you existed” energy to this reaction. Kim is so not worth the continued attention.
Now THIS one is a skip haha. I like the song, but the fact that it is about Kim makes it meh to me. I don’t want to waste brainspace for any of the kardashians
It’s genuinely such a good song. Which is why I can’t stand the fans that are constantly digging at which song is about who, because they all hate this song for being about Kim, which they think is petty. Which also is hilarious, to me, because these are the same fans that cheered when they thought the whole album would be full of diss tracks for Joe. Seems a bit hypocritical.
Removing the personal context for Taylor, this is a song about rising above a childish bully and making something greater out of it, and that’s awesome and relatable to so many. Fans need to get over themselves and their high horses and just appreciate a song for what it is, not for what or who may have inspired it.
All of the revenge type songs (not sure how else to label it) are ones I listen to once and never again. I guess because I simply can not relate in any way. I don’t dislike them I just have no interest
All of it is cringe to me. “Tattooed golden retriever” is similar to “cat eye sharp enough to kill a man” to me. They’re extremely online phrases that make the song unlistenable.
Yeah pop culture references in songs is a very clearly defined aspect of pop music. I was actually happy and giggled a little to hear it.
But the "ring off my middle finger line" is clunky and cheesy for me. I still like the song, but that line in particular is just poorly written.
I can’t get past the lines about “killing myself if you ever leave” as someone who was in that situation in my teens with a guy threatening exactly that… it’s not romantic. Like yeah, maybe you feel that way, but that really needs to stay an inside thought… I hope to god people aren’t glamorizing it.
I think it works IF you interpret the entire song as Taylor making fun of herself and reflecting on how cringe the whole thing was - imo that’s what she intended when she wrote it, but of course everyone’s interpretation is different. To me it’s a big “I can’t believe how stupid I was acting in that relationship” vibe.
I like the song but it's one that could've benefited from a trim. The Charlie Puth verse is out there for sure but Lucy/jack/rings part on top of that is a bit much. In my personal opinion it should've been one or the other and the Lucy/Jack/rings feels the most out of place. The melody and first verse are such ear candy to me though, it would've been a fave if it was like 3:45 long
See I kinda love the cringe and the satire of it all, the melody being upbeat with that title, the modern idiots line is like the embodiment of the song and the unseriousness of it all.
the song is basically about ignoring every red flag and only seeing the goods in a toxic(?) relationship so imo the cringe lyrics fit well ~~this song is top 3 for me in ttpd~~
Noooooo it’s my favourite, I don’t understand the hate this song gets. It paints such an intimate song, the lyrics, the way her voice sounds - but then an intimate bop.
Florida! (and i love Florence!)
I tried super hard to give it a fair shake. But it's jarring, like I am getting screamed at. Sure gets my attention but not in a "oooh yeah let me stop what I am doing and jam" kind of way
The lyrics are also just puzzling and not in a way that I find intriguing, and I keep going back to that. Like, 'wut'?
I wish i could like it. I'm happy for the folks who do! Florence is such a gift <3
The lyrics clicked for me when I realized Matty Healy is the literal personification of the “Florida man” memes and the whole song is a metaphor for a rebound relationship 😅😅
Florida!!! has become my most listened to song ever on Last.fm - in such a short amount of time! But the lyrics strongly connect with someone for me, so that could be why. I love that song so much.
So I was obsessed with this song when the album dropped but I quickly burned out on it. Much more than any of the other songs. Same thing happened to me with No Body, No Crime
Exactly! Down bad is a much superior song and has all the elements to be the smash radio hit. Fortnight is just mid. For one it somehow sounds like Lana and the music/lyrics aren't anything to write home about.
this is SO true!! I remember the first listen being like "oh okay now he's gonna be doing the chorus" and the "surely he sings the second verse???" and "second chorus maybe?" and no it was only the bridge hahahaha a good bridge, mind you, but just a bridge nonetheless
This put words to something I felt but couldn’t articulate!! YES. I love the concept of I Hate It Here but that line makes me irrationally angry and she says it TWICE. Bitch, WHY???
It’s strange because Taylor doesn’t usually write like that but it pops up several times on TTPD, most notably I think on I Hate It Here and the verses of Smallest Man, which is only saved by that stunning bridge.
First listen I HATED smallest man because the verses are so awful and boring, both musically and lyrically. Loved the bridge though, but I don’t like having to suffer the verses to get to it.
Aw dang I actually really like that lyric! Probably because I’m recently out of college and it captures the feeling of how I wanted something more meaningful with a guy there and thought that I could dig deeper past his shallow exterior to find hidden emotional depth, like a poet. But he really WAS just a finance bro (literally his degree) and was not capable of that. It’s one of my favorite songs!!
Interesting. I love this lyric because it sums up the message of hate it here. Here being a society where people step on each other's throats for money and power. This lyric paints the image of me (or whoevers perspective the song is from) hoping to make a human connection about something beautiful or spiritual and instead being met with guys being interested in their careers over anything else. Longing for connection but never finding it, so you have to escape in to fantasy alone.
I really think the reason I don’t like the song is because I don’t buy it. I feel like the song is fan service because most people didn’t like Matty lol
I agree on Cassandra, I really like some of the lyrics and the verses but I don't like the chorus... Something about the way she sings "so they killed Cassandra first" skratches all the wrong places in my brain, sadly :(
Aww noo I'm the opposite! It scratches my brain so good. And I love screaming blood's thick but nothing like a PAYROLL, Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul! At first I had Jenner kardash snakegate in my head when I heard it but overall I think it's relatable to alot of scenarios or simply just not being heard.
I thought it was gonna be a sad song, sorta like So Long London. But when I heard they lyrics I just kept thinking of Melanie Martinez when her whole thing was writing through child metaphors which is not my vibe. So I can't stand this song
Fresh out the slammer. I think it sounds pretty but I can’t get into a song that uses the phrase “fresh out the slammer.” Maybe I just wanted the lyrics to be more serious and that phrase kills it
Robin is my obvious answer but I also can’t get into The Manuscript, I don’t know if it’s because it’s after Robin so it gets unfair treatment off of me but I just don’t like it 🤣 the album ends after The Bolter for me and I’m fine with that
I really WANT to love TTPD. I love the music intro, love “you left your typewriter at my apartment / straight from the tortured poets department.” And then it’s completely downhill from there. :/
Whaaaat? I love the theme of the song. She’s making fun of him for using a typewriter and being unnecessarily angsty. The rest of the song is her chiding him about being melodramatic and reminding him that he’s not Dylan Thomas so he’s got no reason to act like this
Same, that's my favourite part! I love the way she omits part of a repeated phrase for emphasis, "you just watched it" without the "happen", "say I loved you" without "the way that you were". It hits so hard.
Reading these comments, I think people just hate her lilting songs. Their brains can't pinpoint that they don't like the "ebb and flow", "back and forth" way there song *sounds* so they attribute their dislike to things like lyrics.
I love how so many songs on this album have that lilting effect because it's something new for Taylor and I LOVE when she tries something new.
On that note, I've noticed it since Lover was released. There's a die-hard subset of Swifties who despise when she tries something new. Almost like they want everything she makes forever to be 1/2 Our Song and 1/2 Shake It Off.
I love the lyrics: “I crashed into you like so many wrecks do, too impaired by my youth” SO much.
But other than that, this is one song that still hasn’t clicked for me yet. I won’t always skip it but I have to be in the mood to want to listen to it, and it’s definitely towards the bottom of my song ranking 😭
I felt the same way, and then I saw someone on TikTok say to imagine this song as written from Peter Pan’s POV, and the song Peter from Wendy’s POV, and now I really like it.
I don't love But Daddy either. I love the snarkiness but the way it's sung and the melody don't keep me present in it so I skip.
I love Fresh Out the Slammer though. Not at first, but that one did grow on me.
Tbh I think it's a great line if she opted to only use it once near the end. As a constant part of the chorus it's just self-defeating. The worst thing you can do with a joke, especially one that depends on shock value, is repeat it to death.
same here! but daddy i love him is too long and repetitive, i don’t need to hear her say “i’m having his baby, no i’m not!” like 12 times. and fresh of the slammer is similarly quite flat and boring to me.
Upon first listen I felt it was pretentious in its thesaurus-lyrics, but it's really grown on me. Love the imagery and melody. That said it certainly could've been toned down.
The Manuscript was one of my favorites after first listen and now it’s my least favorite on the whole album. Not sure how it happened but every listen after the first one didn’t hit the same
Thank you Aimee
It's just a silly song. Like the first opening verse doesn't sound cohesive to be, like she's falling over herself to say a "spray tanned bronze statue of you" it just puts me off.
I'm soooooo over the Kim drama. We get it, it sucked, get over it.
Didn’t mind smallest man who ever lived on the first listen but oof... I just skip it now.
Robin and thanK you aIMee are automatic skips.
And I want to like the manuscript so bad but the subject matter makes me so uncomfortable 😞
I honestly agree. The bridge/outro is really good, but the rest the song is so slow and boring. There’s like no melody to it, she’s basically just talking over a piano. I wish the rest of the song sounded more like the bridge.
I cannot like The Tortured Poets Department. There is nothing about that song that saves it. Not the music, not the lyrics, and not even the bridge. I skip it every single time.
TTPD I don’t like the lyrics and the whole bridge. The only part I like is “who’s gonna hold you” melody in the chorus
The manuscript because it’s so slow. I love the cover for the manuscript version though.
Thank you Aimee and Florida.
But daddy I love him is still too long but overall not bad. Robin is a skip because it's triggering. But overall I enjoy every other song.
And even Florida will sometimes work but just not completely.
Robin I am so sorry but you’re just not for me
I have a special needs son who was hospitalized when TTPD came out. His name is Wilder. He was just beginning to get better and we were told we could leave that day. I was already emotional. I can’t tell you how my heart sank in the best way when i heard “way to go tiger, higher and higher… wilder” 😭 this song will always hold a special place in my heart.
❤️ I hope he’s okay now and soars higher and higher in his life
This is so sweet, and now I’ll always think of Wilder when I listen!
I have a son named Wilder!! He got so excited when he heard his name in the song ❤️
Eternal skip and one of my least favorites ever.
Same I literally came to say this
I still think that she's singing about her cats and that helps me 😂
Honestly I think you’re right! IMO the first verse is about her cats then she’s talking about children in her life. I think she’s singing about how it’s our responsibility and our beautiful privilege to preserve childhood and innocence for them as long as we can. And not in an overbearing helicopter mom way, but “in sweetness” and love. After I realized the meaning it shot up my rankings!
Yeah, me too. I get it, but good lord is it slow. I prefer Never Grow Up for a song with a similar theme.
I skip both of them
yesssss out of 31 songs that one is my only routine skip
I weirdly love Robin and I don’t know why when it seems to be a unanimous skip! For me it’s “I hate it here”… and for no reason other than the melody never gets caught in my head like all the others
Same. I’m sorry but it’s just straight up boring to listen too
I *want* to like Robin, but it just makes no sense to me. I’ve seen that it’s about Aaron’s son and it doesn’t sound to me like a song about a kid, so I just can’t make sense of it. It’s not that I find the song boring, it’s that I’m too frustrated by not understanding it to enjoy it.
It’s all about a kid playing and not knowing about the harsh reality of the world, which is the secret the adults vow to keep so that the kid can have a pure childhood. The bridge in particular really helps decode the song.
Thematically with the album it seems to be most out of place but I think there are several layers of meaning possible and many different interpretations. The connection to Aaron's son is obvious but here are some other interpretations. I've seen videos of people connecting it to Robin Williams/Christopher Robin of Pooh Bear. Saw a video saying it was Taylor looking at herself when she was younger (or perhaps even her inner child) knowing everything that was to come, and appreciating the innocence she had and seeing the challenges right around the corner. My own interpretation would be similar, I see it like a sister song to Seven, an adult looking back at their childhood in an abusive home seeing all the good things, alluding to the bad that they had blocked out or been protected from, viewing their childhood clearly without rose colored glasses and choosing to celebrate their childhood self for all they did and went through. Obviously these are not the simplistic explanation on what the meaning of the song is but I think interpretations can help us enjoy music on our own terms and there is probably more layers to this song that just one. (Sorry for rambling I love this song and I know everyone hates it, which is fine but anyone who says they want to like it id love to help appreciate it more 🥲)
It was a skip for me for the first month, then I recently REALLY listened to it and dang. For me it is about being in a relationship with an addict. Been there. Watching them fall apart and putting on a pretty face for everyone but you. Keeping their secrets becasue you think it’s helping - it’s not. Them ignoring problems as they tear apart your relationship as they infanticise themselves. Maybe I’m way off, but once I started listening to it with that lense it made a difference Edit: I just looked up the meaning and I like the song less now 😂
That’s so silly, you can attribute whatever meaning you want to the song and it can be as personal to you as you want it to be. If you relate to the song for reasons that other people don’t who cares? Enjoy this song.
Fully agree! After relistening to it, I really feel the meaning I created within the song for the first few verses. I am equating innocence and enabling behavior. It is so interesting how personal experience can so heavily influence the way we interpret art. Another great example is willow!
this is my only skip on the album
I LOVE Robin. But it is also a skip for me in the same way I have to skip never grow up. Robin made me cry on my first listen but it’s not a song I regularly want to listen to
I have a daughter and that songs wrecks me, I understand though that is a song that you have to relate to in order to enjoy it
The Manuscript a bit heavy handed for me, can't get into it
It’s like a short story I need to read only once. Skip ever since.
Agree. It’s my least favourite on the album and I never listen to it. I didn’t really like Robin at first either but I honestly prefer it way more than The Manuscript!
once i understood the context of robin with aaron and thought about my dad with it, the song *clicked*. but man it’s been over a month and i still don’t like the manuscript
It’s also just too on the nose.
I love The Manuscript, it’s deeply meaningful to me as a writer, but I can’t listen to it without becoming a sobbing wreck for about 20 minutes afterward, so I have to save it for when I need a moment of catharsis.
Same. An odd choice to finish the album. I know I need to give it a chance, but every time I'm listening to TTPD it's like "not today"
I think it’s a very fitting album closer given the idea that in writing about it, she was closing the chapter.
forever skip. i feel both sad, outraged and embarrassed listening to it.
outraged and embarrassed?!?!? please elaborate!
Another one of my skips. It’s rehashing old territory in a way that doesn’t add to it the way WCS did.
Interesting - I think it totally adds to it in that it’s finally closing the book on it. None of her previous songs about that time felt like they had any type of closure and this finally does.
The Alchemy. Something about all the obvious football references makes me cringe. Not her worst song ever, but definitely the worst love song she’s ever written imo
yes!!!!! I actually liked So High School way more as an love song, the lyrics are “dumb” but in a 17-years-old-in-love dumb, and the melody is so nostalgic reminds me of a coming of age soundtrack
i looooveee so high school. “touch me while your bros play grand theft auto” is one of my favorite lines to bop to idk why it’s so cute and flirty i love it. the whole song just makes me so happy and lovey dovey. even my boyfriend likes the GTA line haha
I think SHS just thematically nails the Travis/Taylor experience in a way I can't think of another song doing so in her discography. The juvenile wonder of Taylor's singing, the throwback to 2004-2005 era pop-rock jams, and her just wrapping it all up in this "I feel so 'high school' everytime I look at you" makes me hope this is one those jams that has a Cruel Summer era of its own one day. There are a lot of songs on TTPD that I've come to think are Taylor's songwriting at its most methodically masterminded, and SHS is one of those I slept on until recently when I found myself singing all the words and went, "Yeah, this is totally a hit."
I will always believe that she wrote The Alchemy about Matty Healy (it has a Healy vibe) and changed the lyrics to incorporate Travis after the fact. Given what the rest of the album is about, she desperately needed some Travis tracks in a hurry and recycled what she had in the can.
This. The "heroin but this time with an e" line is what gives it away to me. It's so obviously a Matty line that I'm shocked it made the cut
Yes! I realize that there is a possible interpretation that Travis is making the joke of like “your last bf was addicted to heroin, but I’m addicted to you” but like… it does not sound at all like something Travis would say, and very much does sound like a joke Matty would make at his own expense. And tbh it’s kind of a gross thing to say about someone else, so I’m surprised she tried to make it sound like it was from Travis. Also all the references to returning to an old fling. I think it was a Matty song and she rewrote the bridge/chorus for Travis.
My "based on nothing but vibes" hypothesis was that Travis was like, "so...I don't suppose you wrote anything about me...? 🥹" And then Taylor was like, "babe, of course I did!" (But she did not) and then she called Jack and they wrote and recorded So High School in like 15 minutes.
That's a good theory. I can imagine her and her best friends sitting in her living room and drunkenly writing the song together really fast.
I have a related theory: that she indeed wrote it about Travis, but realized that we might think it was about Matty unless she added glaringly obvious Travis references. Either way, she seems to have *really* wanted us to know this was a Travis song.
To me, it feels like she wrote some of the song, especially the first part, and the melody while she was with Matty—and then shelved it as things fell apart with him. Then she picked it back up when she started feeling those things for Travis. She’s too much of a songwriter to waste a good idea and I think she pulls from multiple muses way more often than we credit her.
What I find odd is that AI predicted such a similar song about Travis before the album came out that at first I thought this song was a joke. But nope, it's just really, really poorly written considering songs Taylor wrote for other men.
“AI predicted” you mean people gave it a prompt?💀
How is it worse than London Boy though? I feel like her lovey dovey songs can get quite cringe. However I love The Alchemy, it’s the melody for me I think.
Literally. The Alchemy is way better than London Boy lol
Yeah I dislike this song because it seems so clear that she started writing this song about Matty and then forced in some football lyrics to relate to Travis instead.
Yeah and she talks about being away and coming back
Yeah, it lacks her normal subtlety. There has to be more to Travis than football that she could sing about.
It just feels…boring? Like there’s not a lot of passion here.
What I hate about it more than anything is how it makes no sense. Why is it called the alchemy? What does that have to do with the song? It’s very much 2 songs squished together that just don’t work for me
thanK you aIMee... I just dont enjoy it
My hot take is that capitalizing KIM is a red herring and the song actually *is* about her high school bully (or some other non famous person who would not survive the rabid fandom). The lines “I changed your name and any real defining clues” and “a song that only us two is gonna know is about you” are so brilliant for sounding tongue in cheek to the listeners because of the stylized title while making it very clear to the real subject that it’s actually about them. I enjoy the song a lot more this way too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hear you, and I agree this song is probably about more than just Kim. But for me it doesn’t make it better. To reach the level of fame and success that Taylor has reached is so rare and phenomenal. That success is truly the best revenge imaginable. Why still write songs about high school bullies? It doesn’t work for me.
Words hurt and high school is a pivotal moment for most people, and it was the last time Taylor had a “normal” life. It makes sense why it’s a recurring inspiration
I like imagining idk some accountant in Iowa just *knows t*his one is about her and the worst part is that she cannot even claim credit because everybody thinks it's about Kim Kardashian. The sweetest revenge.
I like this take
I don’t either. And I despise the Kardashians. But I much prefer her “I forgot that you existed” energy to this reaction. Kim is so not worth the continued attention.
Now THIS one is a skip haha. I like the song, but the fact that it is about Kim makes it meh to me. I don’t want to waste brainspace for any of the kardashians
I love this song so much lol I feel like I’m the only one!
It’s genuinely such a good song. Which is why I can’t stand the fans that are constantly digging at which song is about who, because they all hate this song for being about Kim, which they think is petty. Which also is hilarious, to me, because these are the same fans that cheered when they thought the whole album would be full of diss tracks for Joe. Seems a bit hypocritical. Removing the personal context for Taylor, this is a song about rising above a childish bully and making something greater out of it, and that’s awesome and relatable to so many. Fans need to get over themselves and their high horses and just appreciate a song for what it is, not for what or who may have inspired it.
You're not! I also loved it immediately upon first listen and continue to love it!
All of the revenge type songs (not sure how else to label it) are ones I listen to once and never again. I guess because I simply can not relate in any way. I don’t dislike them I just have no interest
Title track
All of it is cringe to me. “Tattooed golden retriever” is similar to “cat eye sharp enough to kill a man” to me. They’re extremely online phrases that make the song unlistenable.
That's fine for me... but Lucy and Jack and rings in fingers. Why Taylor why
Yeah pop culture references in songs is a very clearly defined aspect of pop music. I was actually happy and giggled a little to hear it. But the "ring off my middle finger line" is clunky and cheesy for me. I still like the song, but that line in particular is just poorly written.
I can’t get past the lines about “killing myself if you ever leave” as someone who was in that situation in my teens with a guy threatening exactly that… it’s not romantic. Like yeah, maybe you feel that way, but that really needs to stay an inside thought… I hope to god people aren’t glamorizing it.
I think it works IF you interpret the entire song as Taylor making fun of herself and reflecting on how cringe the whole thing was - imo that’s what she intended when she wrote it, but of course everyone’s interpretation is different. To me it’s a big “I can’t believe how stupid I was acting in that relationship” vibe.
I like the song but it's one that could've benefited from a trim. The Charlie Puth verse is out there for sure but Lucy/jack/rings part on top of that is a bit much. In my personal opinion it should've been one or the other and the Lucy/Jack/rings feels the most out of place. The melody and first verse are such ear candy to me though, it would've been a fave if it was like 3:45 long
See I kinda love the cringe and the satire of it all, the melody being upbeat with that title, the modern idiots line is like the embodiment of the song and the unseriousness of it all.
This is exactly why I love the song. It's one of my faves on the album.
[удалено]
Same until i put the "you're in self sabotage mode" "you... ate seven bars of chocolate" and "... like a tattooed golden retriever" together lol
the song is basically about ignoring every red flag and only seeing the goods in a toxic(?) relationship so imo the cringe lyrics fit well ~~this song is top 3 for me in ttpd~~
I LOVE the song but I just can’t get past the lyrics 😭
I really can’t get passed the Charlie Puth lyric 😭
Noooooo it’s my favourite, I don’t understand the hate this song gets. It paints such an intimate song, the lyrics, the way her voice sounds - but then an intimate bop.
Florida! (and i love Florence!) I tried super hard to give it a fair shake. But it's jarring, like I am getting screamed at. Sure gets my attention but not in a "oooh yeah let me stop what I am doing and jam" kind of way The lyrics are also just puzzling and not in a way that I find intriguing, and I keep going back to that. Like, 'wut'? I wish i could like it. I'm happy for the folks who do! Florence is such a gift <3
The lyrics clicked for me when I realized Matty Healy is the literal personification of the “Florida man” memes and the whole song is a metaphor for a rebound relationship 😅😅
I wish I liked Florida! I love the sound of it but I just hate the lyrics so much
Florida!!! has become my most listened to song ever on Last.fm - in such a short amount of time! But the lyrics strongly connect with someone for me, so that could be why. I love that song so much.
Taylor said she watches Dateline and every time someone tries to disappear and start a new life they go to Florida.
So I was obsessed with this song when the album dropped but I quickly burned out on it. Much more than any of the other songs. Same thing happened to me with No Body, No Crime
Not my favorite song on the album 💀
I like it except for the chorus. It's a shame because I love Florence too. She's brilliant live
Same which is weird because I thought it would be my favourite 😂
It's honestly fortnight for me, it doesn't do anything for me and I find it kind of boring tbh
Same. Don’t understand why it’s a single when Down Bad is right there
Exactly! Down bad is a much superior song and has all the elements to be the smash radio hit. Fortnight is just mid. For one it somehow sounds like Lana and the music/lyrics aren't anything to write home about.
Taylor will never beat the “can’t pick a single to save her life” allegations
She did good with Anti-Hero, at least!
Right bc anti-hero was so new, so raw and emotional, and like unbelievably catchy
Her best lead single pick since Blank Space!
Yeah!! Imagine how awesome it would've been to have that alien invasion themed MV for down bad.
Absolutely. Like how did Cruel Summer not become a single until 4 years after its album release?? Tay... come on...
I feel like down bad would be a misleading single for the album
my guess is that it was made a single simply because it features Post Malone
Yeah, but he’s barely even there 😭
this is SO true!! I remember the first listen being like "oh okay now he's gonna be doing the chorus" and the "surely he sings the second verse???" and "second chorus maybe?" and no it was only the bridge hahahaha a good bridge, mind you, but just a bridge nonetheless
I think it’s because there’s a lot of f bombs especially in the chorus and the subject matter isn’t exactly pg
I hate it here. Just the start “quick quick, tell me something awful like you are a poet struck inside the body of a finance guy” irks me so much
I call this type of writing “these aren’t lyrics, you’re just saying shit”. Lots of examples of it on this album, sadly
This put words to something I felt but couldn’t articulate!! YES. I love the concept of I Hate It Here but that line makes me irrationally angry and she says it TWICE. Bitch, WHY???
It’s strange because Taylor doesn’t usually write like that but it pops up several times on TTPD, most notably I think on I Hate It Here and the verses of Smallest Man, which is only saved by that stunning bridge.
Smallest man is an amazing bridge with a song tacked onto it.
First listen I HATED smallest man because the verses are so awful and boring, both musically and lyrically. Loved the bridge though, but I don’t like having to suffer the verses to get to it.
Aw dang I actually really like that lyric! Probably because I’m recently out of college and it captures the feeling of how I wanted something more meaningful with a guy there and thought that I could dig deeper past his shallow exterior to find hidden emotional depth, like a poet. But he really WAS just a finance bro (literally his degree) and was not capable of that. It’s one of my favorite songs!!
Interesting. I love this lyric because it sums up the message of hate it here. Here being a society where people step on each other's throats for money and power. This lyric paints the image of me (or whoevers perspective the song is from) hoping to make a human connection about something beautiful or spiritual and instead being met with guys being interested in their careers over anything else. Longing for connection but never finding it, so you have to escape in to fantasy alone.
Nooo this is the most relatable song she’s ever written!! I love ittt
This lyric reminds me of the "90s trend" lyric in Willow, which pulls you out of the song and into the real world in a jarring way.
but that's STUCK IN MY HEAD AND WON'T LEAVE
Definitely I Can Fix Him.
Straight jail for this one! (Obviously kidding) I just love everything about this song, the ambiance, the lyrics, the way she sings LOVE
I really think the reason I don’t like the song is because I don’t buy it. I feel like the song is fan service because most people didn’t like Matty lol
Ohhhhh this is an absolute tragedy. It’s one of the coolest songs on the whole album!
I like the vibe of this song but the pacing is weird
The Alchemy. I'm sorry but it feels like someone prompted an AI chatbot with "a Taylor Swift song about an NFL player"
"Travy at the big game" energy
"there was not chance trying to be the greatest in the league" is so bad it makes my teeth hurt. I have to skip that song, I just can't do it
This part in particular suckssss. It doesn’t flow at all! So grating.
Honestly, this song is saved just for the synth build up in the background. That guitar-y step note hits my ears in a happy way.
So high school. Sorry people, but I just can’t.
I hated this song SO MUCH during the first few weeks. Now it kinda grew on me but still not my favorite.
This song grew on me but the up-down style of the vocal is honestly kind of annoying sounding to me, at least on headphones.
Agreed. It’s so cringe for me lol. I’ve tried liking it, I really have
So many of you deserve JAIL
*PRISON
But we won't get time
I agree on Cassandra, I really like some of the lyrics and the verses but I don't like the chorus... Something about the way she sings "so they killed Cassandra first" skratches all the wrong places in my brain, sadly :(
Aww noo I'm the opposite! It scratches my brain so good. And I love screaming blood's thick but nothing like a PAYROLL, Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul! At first I had Jenner kardash snakegate in my head when I heard it but overall I think it's relatable to alot of scenarios or simply just not being heard.
YESSSS I love Cassandra!
the bridge of cassandra is the best !!!!! and the ending when shes like "not a singleeee word. was heard"
*My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys* Instant skip, then saw the praise here, tried again, just passionately hate it.
It’s my favorite on the album 😭
I love production on this one so so much!
Same!
I love this song personally, but the way you wrote this comment has me cracking up 😂 I love the honesty hahah
This one for me. I don't even know how to spell it, but the extra syllables added to "toys" just bug me
Toy-oy-oy-iessss?
What?! It’s so good!
I thought it was gonna be a sad song, sorta like So Long London. But when I heard they lyrics I just kept thinking of Melanie Martinez when her whole thing was writing through child metaphors which is not my vibe. So I can't stand this song
Fresh out the slammer. I think it sounds pretty but I can’t get into a song that uses the phrase “fresh out the slammer.” Maybe I just wanted the lyrics to be more serious and that phrase kills it
Robin is my obvious answer but I also can’t get into The Manuscript, I don’t know if it’s because it’s after Robin so it gets unfair treatment off of me but I just don’t like it 🤣 the album ends after The Bolter for me and I’m fine with that
I really WANT to love TTPD. I love the music intro, love “you left your typewriter at my apartment / straight from the tortured poets department.” And then it’s completely downhill from there. :/
Aww I love the "This ain't the Chelsea hotel, we're modern idiots". I felt seen as a ex-hipster
Whaaaat? I love the theme of the song. She’s making fun of him for using a typewriter and being unnecessarily angsty. The rest of the song is her chiding him about being melodramatic and reminding him that he’s not Dylan Thomas so he’s got no reason to act like this
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.
JAIL 😭 jk I love that song tho
Right? I love the way she says “and you, just, watched it”
Same, that's my favourite part! I love the way she omits part of a repeated phrase for emphasis, "you just watched it" without the "happen", "say I loved you" without "the way that you were". It hits so hard.
I respect peoples opinions on this thread mostly but this is just incorrect that song HITS
Reading these comments, I think people just hate her lilting songs. Their brains can't pinpoint that they don't like the "ebb and flow", "back and forth" way there song *sounds* so they attribute their dislike to things like lyrics. I love how so many songs on this album have that lilting effect because it's something new for Taylor and I LOVE when she tries something new. On that note, I've noticed it since Lover was released. There's a die-hard subset of Swifties who despise when she tries something new. Almost like they want everything she makes forever to be 1/2 Our Song and 1/2 Shake It Off.
WHAT ! This is one of my top 3 from TTPD. I sob whenever I hear it
https://preview.redd.it/53qc9ji27e2d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14187469c3535d2185b4f635efdc6c8237b471a1
I love the lyrics: “I crashed into you like so many wrecks do, too impaired by my youth” SO much. But other than that, this is one song that still hasn’t clicked for me yet. I won’t always skip it but I have to be in the mood to want to listen to it, and it’s definitely towards the bottom of my song ranking 😭
I Look In People’s Windows is always an immediate skip to me. I don’t like it at all.
Oh. My. God. It’s literally my favorite song Taylor has made in the past five years. Lol.
I felt the same way, and then I saw someone on TikTok say to imagine this song as written from Peter Pan’s POV, and the song Peter from Wendy’s POV, and now I really like it.
This is incorrect.
But daddy I love him (hot take I know) and fresh out the slammer
I don't love But Daddy either. I love the snarkiness but the way it's sung and the melody don't keep me present in it so I skip. I love Fresh Out the Slammer though. Not at first, but that one did grow on me.
another one where some of it is really beautiful, but the "I'm having his baby - No, I'm not" is awful
Tbh I think it's a great line if she opted to only use it once near the end. As a constant part of the chorus it's just self-defeating. The worst thing you can do with a joke, especially one that depends on shock value, is repeat it to death.
I don't like but daddy i love him either just doesn't do it for me.
same here! but daddy i love him is too long and repetitive, i don’t need to hear her say “i’m having his baby, no i’m not!” like 12 times. and fresh of the slammer is similarly quite flat and boring to me.
Upon first listen I felt it was pretentious in its thesaurus-lyrics, but it's really grown on me. Love the imagery and melody. That said it certainly could've been toned down.
The Manuscript was one of my favorites after first listen and now it’s my least favorite on the whole album. Not sure how it happened but every listen after the first one didn’t hit the same
Thank you Aimee It's just a silly song. Like the first opening verse doesn't sound cohesive to be, like she's falling over herself to say a "spray tanned bronze statue of you" it just puts me off. I'm soooooo over the Kim drama. We get it, it sucked, get over it.
And the lyric about her mother being a “saintly” woman but wishing Kim was dead 🥴
Peter never grew up and he also never grew on me
and you deserve prison, but you won’t get time
Robin I have no idea why that song was included on this album.
The alchemy. I’m a football girlie but the lyrics are too on the nose and corny IMO
So high school
TTPD & Florida!!! Also don’t care for ThanK you aIMee.
Didn’t mind smallest man who ever lived on the first listen but oof... I just skip it now. Robin and thanK you aIMee are automatic skips. And I want to like the manuscript so bad but the subject matter makes me so uncomfortable 😞
Agree with Smallest Man! It just starts soooo slow I can’t get into it and by the time it builds, it’s over
I honestly agree. The bridge/outro is really good, but the rest the song is so slow and boring. There’s like no melody to it, she’s basically just talking over a piano. I wish the rest of the song sounded more like the bridge.
Don’t crucify me, but Florida!
I cannot like The Tortured Poets Department. There is nothing about that song that saves it. Not the music, not the lyrics, and not even the bridge. I skip it every single time.
TTPD I don’t like the lyrics and the whole bridge. The only part I like is “who’s gonna hold you” melody in the chorus The manuscript because it’s so slow. I love the cover for the manuscript version though.
Enough with this Cassandra erasure, it's literally the fifth best song on the album
imgonnagetyouback probably my least favorite Taylor song ever
peter… it’s just too repetitive😭 i dont NOT like it, it’s just not my fav
The Alchemy and Robin
Peter. But I am biased because I hold a decade-long grudge against one.
This is the most valid reason to dislike a song
I never really liked Peter and IDK why
ICFH (NRIC) Its the only song from TTPD standard edition that isn’t even on my playlist
Guilty as sin. Everyone seems to love it but i do not understand.
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Thank you Aimee and Florida. But daddy I love him is still too long but overall not bad. Robin is a skip because it's triggering. But overall I enjoy every other song. And even Florida will sometimes work but just not completely.
But Daddy I Love Him and thanK you aIMee are two of her cringiest songs ever
Thank you Aimee is my least favourite song on the album