The Albatross cards

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY

merch concept - a patch/magnet for every track (click for full quality)

Swift said the track is “a commentary on what I’ve seen in the industry that I’ve been in over time". "I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you. I picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these architypes of greatness in the entertainment industry. Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music."

Taylor on Clara Bow for Variety

As for “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” Swift revealed that she wrote the tune “alone, sitting at the piano in one of those moments when I felt bitter about just all the things we do to our artists as a society and as a culture.” “There’s a lot about this particular concept on ‘The Tortured Poets Department,'” she added. “What do we do to our writers, and our artists, and our creatives? We put them through hell. We watch what they create, then we judge it. We love to watch artists in pain, often to the point where I think sometimes as a society we provoke that pain and we just watch what happens.”

Taylor on “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” and TTPD (Variety)

You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised us

"This is a Joe Alwyn album" "This is a Matty Healy album" shut up shut up SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!! Swifties are so annoying, this is a TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS YOUR FIRST REACTION TO ASSIGN THINGS TO A MAN!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!

we are so back, gaylors.

SAPPHO SPOTTED AT TTPD!

​"bust of young woman with loose hair and lyre” is the sculpture name. by @/tsalchemy on twitter

Folkmore girlies we really won with the Anthology songs didn't we

Oh damn wait a minute, Kali is often depicted sticking her tongue out, something that Karlie's pretty fond of being photographed doing herself

Holy shit, my grandpa was born in the British Raj not too long before it was disolved and partitioned. Taylor comparing Karlie to Kali in a song just so she could be like "I need Karlie to step on me again SO bad 😫" is a crossover my American Desi mind was NOT expecting

Like Taylor girl holy shit you really saw artwork of Shiva making heart-eyes at Kali as she stepped on him with her tongue sticking out and went "Yeah hard same, I completely get it dude" what the f*ck man this album somehow keeps getting gayer and gayer and more Kaylor every minute it feels like 😭

i love this for you 😆 and for everybody

😭

https://twitter.com/Quadl0r/status/1781713494590775704

👀

😫

Any thoughts on The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived?

Hey, buddy! 😄✌🏼

For me, without a doubt this song is about Scott Borchetta. Have you ever seen how tiny he looks next to Tay when she's wearing high heels? Lol

In addition to his height, the "smallest" she used to refer to his petty and simple-minded character.

In Tay's Rolling Stone interview following the release of folklore, she said that the only way she could find to relate Scott's betrayal to the professional/family relationship she had with him for many years was to equate it with the end of a long marriage, so here she again takes advantage of the idea of ​​the crisis between a couple of long-time lovers to talk about the issues that remained after the breakdown of their working partnership. She was very clever and used her breakup with JA as a scapegoat to expose Scott once again, as most Swifties and the press believe this song is about the end of Toe. 🤭

If you search you will find several photos of him showing off TS™ at various award shows ("in your Jehovah's Witness suit") and with boards of records from Tay's sold albums for hanging in his office.

Taylor says she doesn't want to get back together with him and asks someone to text him because she certainly hasn't had contact with him since then, even though he tried a while later. She also mentioned this in the “closure” (yes, this song is about Borchetta).

With the date of the master's sale, you realize that Borchetta definitely ruined her sparkling summer.

Scooter Braun (aka her biggest enemy) is famous for his NDAs, and just as he wanted Tay to sign one, I bet Scott also signed an NDA where he can't talk about sales of ts's masters for many years after partnering with this bastard.

Not to mention that Scooter is the only one who wants her dead (I don't doubt it's literal after she exposed him and kind of ruined his business), she's been saying for years that Braun just wants ruined her life after she refused to work with him in 2012 or 2013... and Scott partnered with him, her worst enemy. 🤮

He knew about her complaints about Braun and that's why she questions if something in their partnership was real, or if he wasn't a spy.

1989 ERA × Fortnight

Kelsea Ballerini • tiktok • 4/19/2024

When I was writing the Fortnight music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music.  Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it. Post Malone blew me away on set as our tortured tragic hero and I’m so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration. I’m still laughing from getting to work with the coolest guys on earth, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles (tortured poets, meet your colleagues from down the hall, the dead poets). I still can’t believe I get to work with the unfathomably brilliant Rodrigo Prieto on cinematography and my team of dream collaborators: Ethan Tobman (production design), Chancler Haynes (editor), Anthony Dimino (1st AD), Jil Hardin (producer) and Dom Thomas (executive producer). Parliament aced the VFX as always. Joseph Cassell, Lorrie Turk and Jemma Muradian made these tortured looks come to life. The entire crew made this a dream to shoot. Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who has watched it!! https://taylor.lnk.to/FortnightMV

aaron_dessner: I'm so excited and honored to share that I have contributed to my dear friend and collaborator @taylorswift's brilliant 11th album -- a 31 song double album / anthology called The Tortured Poets Department. We started working on these songs over two years ago and it feels like they have kept us company and evolved in beautiful and unexpected ways through so much life lived during this process. It's hard to believe Taylor and I have now recorded over 60 songs together (17 across this anthology!!) in the 4 years since we began working together on Folklore in 2020. I am forever grateful to Taylor for sharing her insane talents with and trusting me with her music. I believe these songs are some of the most lyrically acute, intricate, vulnerable and cathartic Taylor has ever written and I am continually astonished by her skills as a songwriter and performer.

I also want to thank the incredible @jackantonoff for his open hearted and open door collaboration with me through all these many projects and all of my talented friends who continue to contribute generously to my work. I could never have made all this music without a village of friends supporting me -- especially the engineering talents @heyjonlow @bellaicecream and @sharp_stick and as always my brother @brycedessner made many vital contributions and other friends like @900x @tingalayo @lanzprojects and @mooserob who have helped me so much over the years. Thank you to @serbangheneamixes for mixing these songs and @randymerrill_sterling for mastering. And all of these friends for their amazing contributions: @glennkotche @jt_bates_ @notfastbutslota @lcorchestra @robertamesmusic @jeremymurphymusic @spacemoth__ @beaunoise

It's not lost on me how lucky I am that this is my job and I feel so grateful to be a part of creating this vast, magically detailed and symbolic world of songs Taylor has crafted that we all get to inhabit and enjoy. Keep searching and you'll find some new detail, layer or sliver of meaning with each listen (x)