And So I Submit Into Evidence...Preparing for "The Tortured Poets Department"
....are you ready for it? Your Unofficial Professors of Taylor Swift™ are here to help
If you are subscribed to this substack, it is probably fairly safe to assume that you are aware that this past Sunday we were blessed by Miss Taylor Alison Swift when she announced her upcoming eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Not only did she announce it, she dropped the album front, album back cover AND an incredible handwritten poem.
Obviously, we were over the moon for this incredibly academia-coded album announcement, so this week we brought you TWO episodes: a bonus episode on the album release and our deep dive into “The Outside” from Taylor’s debut album.
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🎒This Week’s Extra Credit - Brought to You By Jenn
This week’s extra credit is definitely a quick pivot. While I absolutely adored our deep dive into “The Outside” (the nostalgia!), the new album announcement is officially taking over my brain. In our bonus episode we went in deep into the cover art and poem, but since she released the back cover literally as we hit record, we were still processing that information. So for this week’s extra credit, here is a selection of the song titles and my analysis, opinions, and theories. I greatly look forward to revisiting this in April and seeing how incredibly wrong I was about everything!
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
I haven’t seen too much commentary on this title yet, but oh wow am I excited for it. Amongst friends I have no problem with using the word “girl” with each other, but the number of times I have seen grown men use the word “girl” to intentionally discredit, infantilize, or dismiss a woman is upsetting. So for Taylor to use “boy” and “toys” here just brings me great joy. It reminds me a bit of the tone of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” when she sings “This is why we can't have nice things, darling / Because you break them / I had to take them away.” Maybe it’s time for boys to stop breaking things? Just a thought.
But Daddy I Love Him
Ok I may have a bit of a hot take here. While I totally see the reference to The Little Mermaid I read it a bit differently. The commentary I’ve seen is that Ariel gave up her voice for a man in that film, but to be fair to Ariel, she was already pretty obsessed with the land world before any boy entered into the picture.
That collection of hers was the product of years of research, not something new. I think she would have made the same deal with Ursula regardless of Eric’s existence, he just sweetened the pot. Also, we may criticize her for the deal she made, but she and Eric end up happily married with a child, so it wasn’t a false love or a bad trade for Ariel in the end at all.
What I DO see in that scene though is a deep feeling of being misunderstood. Ariel feels like the world is against her because she is different and wants different things. The boy is a key part of it, but living on the land is really a whole package deal for her.
I have no idea where this song will end up, but the happy ending is a key part in the film, so this could go a lot of ways.
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
My main comment on this one is “please release this right now.” It’s interesting because the phrasing of this question feels so tongue in cheek. It’s the “oh who? Me?” kind of feeling. Taylor is undeniably one of the most powerful people on the planet right now. Her mere presence has made a notable impact not only on one of the most famous NFL franchises right now but also the whole freaking US economy, and a lot of men really hate that. My hope is that this song is really owning that power and pointing out that the only men scared of her are the most fragile ones anyways.
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
This title takes me back to our deep dive of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” which I’ll link here:
In our conversation we talked about the line “But I'll be alright, it's just a thousand cuts,” and how female-coded that line is. “Just” diminishes the insane amount of pain that 1000 cuts would be, yet women so often just live with pain and continue to do incredible things. Whether it is physical pain (the medical community has really done poorly in supporting the female body, but that’s a whole other conversation) or emotional pain, women get up, take care of themselves and others, go to work, and do a million things anyways. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” makes me think this song may be along those same lines too.
The Alchemy
Oh alchemy. Most millennials probably best know alchemy through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Nicolas Flamel (the creator of the sorcerer’s stone in these books) was actually a real person, but his story is a little complex.
I find that personally fascinating, but in relation to the song title, alchemy itself is a pseudo-science that is all about making precious metals out of ordinary items. The key to this process was theoretically the “philosopher’s stone” (same thing as the “sorcerer’s stone” - publishers just didn’t think Americans would get the reference I believe), a mysterious item that promoted immortality. Who knows where this song will go but the reference is immediately leading to pseudo-science, futile efforts, and attempts to create something beautiful out of something ordinary. At the end of the day, alchemy was a failure. I’m sure in their journey the alchemists discovered other interesting things and it promoting the idea of scientific discovery and experimentation, but their ultimate goal was forever elusive.
Other Notes and Musings
I want to also acknowledge that “Clara Bow” is a LOADED title, but since so many others have done their research, I won’t rehash it here. This article from Entertainment Weekly gives a great biography on America’s first “It Girl,” so I highly recommend checking that out.
As always, I am sure what we are about to get in this album will be incredible and maybe some of our predictions are right, but I’m sure a lot of clowning is happening as well. What I think is certain is that Taylor is knowingly and intentionally taking her (rightful) place among the poetic greats. She’s been lyrically in conversation with so many of history’s greatest authors, poets, and artists, but this album feels like a more decisive ownership of that role. We discussed this more in our Ecocriticism episode and in a recent Substack, but as someone who has been arguing for years that academia shouldn’t be kept behind those ivy covered brick walls at higher ed institutions, I’m beyond thrilled that Taylor is bringing this to her millions of fans.
Follow along with us as we drop new episodes every Wednesday. We’ve been studying and preparing for this moment our whole lives, and finally class is in session. The tortured poets era will be here soon!