Lights, Camera, B*tch Smile
New AP Taylor Swift podcast episode, musicals + "The Tortured Poets Department" out now
This week we’re covering a podcast-favorite topic: MUSICALS! Other than calling “The Tortured Poets Department” Eras tour segment “Female Rage the Musical,” this week we compare songs to “Hamilton,” “Les Miserable,” “A Chorus Line,” “Waitress,” “Six,” and “Wicked!” Can you guess which songs map to which musicals? Tune in and find out!
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This Week’s Extra Credit - Brought to You by Jodi
When we originally covered Musicals in Episode 21 (yes, we technically talk about musicals in every episode), I wrote our extra credit about how people love to hate musicals and Taylor Swift.
![If I was a [rich] man, I’d be the man.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffa491242-c1e5-4ef2-89d5-c163b8151bc2_1080x1080.png)
This time around I’m going to help those who are not as familiar with musicals by recommending a few more musicals based on songs from The Tortured Poets Department. I came up with most of these after we recorded, so this truly is extra credit. You’re welcome!
If you love “Fortnight,” check out “Next to Normal”
I was supposed to be sent away
But they forgot to come and get me
Fortnight’s lyrics deal with mental illness (“I was supposed to be sent away,”) medication (“took the miracle move on drug”), substance abuse (“I was a functioning alcoholic”), and not being able to forget someone you love (“I love you, it’s ruining my life”). My musical theater brain immediately goes to “Next to Normal,” a 2008 musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The musical tells the story of a mother who struggles with bipolar disorder and the effects it has on her family. Similar to Fortnight, the show has themes of death, mental illness, and substance abuse—the song “My Psychopharmacologist and I” in particular has Fornight vibes: “They say love is blind, But believe me love is insane…I don't feel like myself, I mean, I don't feel anything.”
Dark and depressing? Yes, but so is Fortnight!
“But Daddy I Love Him,” try “AIDA”
Based on the opera of the same name written by Guiseppe Verde, “AIDA” the musical was brought to Broadway in 2000 by Elton John and Tim Rice. The musical tells the forbidden love story of Radames, the captain of the Egyptian army, and Aida, the Nubian princess he captures. Aida falls in love with Radames but is torn between her love for him and her duty to her people. Both Aida and the protagonist are “dutiful daughters,” and both women are involved in forbidden romances with questionable men (did I mention Radames captured Aida’s father and is, checks notes, already betrothed to someone else?) It’s my all-time favorite musical and I will be the first person to buy tickets when it gets a Broadway revival (🤞🏻).
If “So High School” is your favorite, go watch “Grease”
To me, the beauty of “So High School” is the relatability of teenage references in the lyrics—“truth, dare, spin bottles,” “you gonna kiss, marry, or kill me?” “American Pie” and “Grand Theft Auto”—games and references familiar to anyone who was in high school in the early-mid 2000s (are these still relatable to today’s teenagers? Gen Z/Gen Alpha, drop a comment!). The music alsos harkens back to late-90s, early-2000s indie pop-rock sounds like Blink 182 and Third Eye Blind.
This song does for 90’s and 00’s teens what “Grease” attempted to do for 1950’s American teens. Premiering in 1971, “Grease” the musical was named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers and tells the story of ordinary, working-class 1950s teenagers. The music is heavy on rock and roll, perfectly capturing the sound of the 1950’s. The scenes and lyrics throughout the musical, while likely stereotypical of the 1950’s teenage experience, were also most likely relatable: street racing, sock hops, and giving a girl your class ring to signal you’re “going steady.” “Grease” is “So High School” for the 1950’s!