Thread by @NathanCHubbard

1) #TSTTPD is a piercingly vulnerable window into the 2022-2023 psyche of the biggest star in the world. It has some *really* good songs. I think it might be the most interesting lyrical product she’s ever put out. And it is, objectively, not her best album. Bear with me.

2) Following Midnights and the apex of her stardom with a new release was inevitably going to invoke critical scrutiny; but I’m here to tell you that making her “best” album ever was definitely not the point. It requires no apology. I think she made what she had to.

3) Every word of these songs reads of wrenching heartbreak from the longest relationship of her life, and the most public (and apparently painful) rebound of her life. Early 2023 @taylorswift13 was apparently pretty vaporized inside while performing the biggest tour in history.

4) Not tryna be gross, but this album is her vomiting from being lovesick. She told us as much. She just had to get it all out, via the only way she knows how to deal with hurt: writing. No way was the intended purpose to “follow up the third AOTY”. It was to survive.

5) So it’s no surprise she went with what she knows (mostly the great Jack Antonoff) to execute it. He was safe for some very unsteady emotional space. Important. And the record has a lot of things you’ve heard before as a result. Some people will criticize this. It’s fair.

6) Sneaky think it might be a tough few days for the fanbase. They’ll hear some valid criticism they aren’t used to (if the critics dare), and for many they’ll have to reconcile their own truth that this isn’t their favorite, while still rightly celebrating it and supporting her.

7) Fortnight is great. Down Bad is Downright Badass. Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is INTENSE. The breaths. The low register voice. Mercy. You believe her when she talks about the loss of her life. Clara Bow is clever af. Hearing there are a few even better ones coming.

8) Some of this album will undoubtedly grow on you like Reputation did. She says she puts narcotics in her songs, after all. It’s only Friday. AND overall, it’s not as melodically new, and the interplay between melody and lyrics is usually her superpower.

9) Lyrically, though, she shines. There are stunning insights into the artist-fan relationship from her rarefied air. The fans bullied her out of love. She says this. She was worryingly depressed while parading around in front of stadiums smiling. Functioning alcoholic!

10) Yes, a lot of this sounds like it’s about Matty Healy, while less than expected is about Joe Alwyn. And so it makes more sense she didn’t call off the fans from the attack until tonight - the fans had already attacked. That’s her point, and the source of some of her hurt.

11) There’s a bit of sweet grace towards Joe that honors those 6 years, even if she’s pissed about giving up that much youth (as she writes), or feeling abandoned. She’s flat out angry at Matty. And if you squint, some of the fans too. She has tRuSt iSSueS. It's cathartic poetry.

12) It is also, at times, achingly sad. These are not bops and bangers. And that’s okay! She’s with Travis Kelce now, who is basically a 6 foot 5 bop and banger. The next album is probably going to make you dance your face off. That wasn’t on The Chairman’s agenda this time.

13) The biggest message is normally cliche but it’s searing from Taylor-f*ing-Swift: a billion dollars and fan adoration doesn’t make you happy. It doesn’t insulate you from hurt. What you see from the outside is not what’s inside another human. Live your own life.

14) Receiving that message is also awkward as hell; we have spent the last six months as a society obsessing over her new relationship, in which she appears to be publicly and deeply in love. Her current situation seems 180 degrees from what’s expressed on Tortured Poets

15) That might make it hard for some to over invest in the feelings she’s adeptly writing about; but maybe the lasting lesson of the art and her current spotlight taken together is actually hopeful, and that however badly you’re feeling, this too shall pass. It gets better.

16) We’ll talk more on Every Single Album (up this weekend!) about all this - tons more detail, a full album breakdown, and where she might go from here. I’ve gotta listen to it more. These are strong opinions loosely held. Nora might totally disagree? That’s the fun stuff.

17) But for now, we'd do well to observe the imagery on #tsTTPD of her toiling and reckoning, and adopt some of that for ourselves. This album matters. It’s part of her narrative. But it doesn’t have to be your favorite or anyone else’s. Let her create from just where she is.

18) See @taylorswift13 is, ever wonderfully, tortured - and she’s now done a bit of the same to her fanbase. Can she trust them with her feelings? Can they own that they’ve hurt her? Can they accept this for what it is? Can she ever feel/be *not* great and still be great?

(Yes!)