The 66th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 4, 2024, and was the day Swifties across the Internet swore Taylor Swift would announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version). 

Swift was nominated for six Grammy categories, having already won 12 awards in years past. That night, she ended up winning Best Pop Vocal Album, making it her 13th Grammy—13 being coined as Swift’s number. She walked up to the podium while Swifties awaited the potential Reputation (Taylor’s Version) announcement from their couches. However, Swift tricked Swifties once again and announced her brand new album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), to be released on April 19, 2024.

As soon as Swift announced the album, speculation started to spread on whether or not the new album would be about her ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. Swifties online began to make connections to songs on the tracklist and how they could potentially relate to Swift and Alwyn’s relationship. 

Track 5—“So Long, London”—was one of the first songs that fans could relate to Alwyn. London is his home city, and Swift wrote a song speculated to be about him titled “London Boy” on her seventh studio album, “Lover.” Fans felt that “So Long, London” would be the most ruthless toward Alwyn because of the track’s mention of London and how “London Boy” had been a love song.

Track 29—titled “The Bolter”— is another song fans linked back to Alwyn and Swift’s 6-year-long relationship. Fans first thought that the title was something Swift was accusing Alwyn of being scared of commitment until someone pointed out that their first public outing was at a pub named “The Bolter.”

All theories were either proven or put to rest when the album was officially released at midnight ET. 

My first impression of the album was that it had Midnights-esque beats, but the lyrics resembled those in Folklore. This album had a clear story being told throughout the album about her two toxic relationships—Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy—she’s been in over the past six years, which I enjoyed. However, it did present songs that could be about her budding romance with Travis Kelce and how amazing she feels in this new, non-toxic relationship. 

After the first listen, the twelfth track titled “loml” was my personal favorite. When I first looked at the track list, I predicted this would be one of my favorites. However, I thought that “loml” stood for “love of my life”—because that is what the acronym usually stands for—but I was wrong. I loved the piano; I felt like it made the song what it was and stood out among the other songs. All the lyrics felt deep, with genuine and raw emotion behind them. The ending hits the hardest because it is where she reveals what “loml” stands for to her. The song’s final lyric is “You’re the loss of my life.” That lyric perfectly ties off the already sad song and puts it at the top of my list.

Along with many other Swifties, I was ready to go to bed when we noticed a countdown to 2 a.m. ET (11 p.m. PT). Once the countdown ended, Swift announced that TTPD was a double album with 15 more songs.

I enjoyed the second half of the album. Each song is unique, and the lyrics are even better than the first half of the album. I feel like the songs were what I was expecting from TTPD, with more Folklore-esque beats.

Overall, this album is one of my favorites. It doesn’t reach my top three favorite albums—1989, Folklore, and Reputation—it lands at number four. I loved the poetry-esque lyrics with the upbeat beats. The album was well-written and deserves more hype.

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology Ranking:

1. loml
2. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
3. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
4. Peter
5. The Manuscript
6. But Daddy I Love Him
7. I Hate It Here
8. imgonnagetyouback
9. Fresh Out the Slammer
10. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
11. So Long, London
12. thanK you aIMee
13. The Black Dog
14. Chole or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
15. I Look in People’s Windows
16. The Prophecy
17. Down Bad
18. Florida!!!
19. So High School
20. Robin
21. Guilty as Sin?
22. The Alchemy
23. Clara Bow
24. Fortnight
25. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
26. The Tortured Poets Department
27. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
28. Cassandra
29. How Did It End?
30. The Albatross
31. The Bolter