Before we get to what you’re really here for…
🍩 Some (oldish) professional news: I have officially joined the “Just Basketball” podcast as a new co-host, joining Chris Manning and Brendon Kleen to form a three-man booth just in time for the playoffs. Episodes will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m really excited for this chance to talk about the NBA more often. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and podcast feed, and check us out on social media (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok)
On the latest episode, we ranked the most entertaining first-round playoff series.
🍩 Taylor Swift’s new era
So my wife and I stayed up late to listen to the new Taylor Swift album, “The Tortured Poets Department” when it came out at midnight. Then that witch decided to drop the second part of the surprise double album at 2am. I haven’t had a chance to really sit down with the second part the way I did with the first part, so the full-blown song analysis will have to wait. (Sorry!)
That said, I do have some initial thoughts…
This might not be my favorite Taylor Swift record. It might not be anybody’s nor will it rank at the top of Swift’s discography. But I think it might be one of her most important and could mark a new (ahem) era for the 34-year-old icon.
After listening to the first 16 songs, I didn’t hear one that popped as a radio (streaming) hit. That does not mean the songs aren’t good. It really has nothing to do with that. But, to this point, every TS album has featured a flashing-light single. (“Anti-Hero,” “Betty,” “The Man,” etc.)
Even songs on TTPD with features from Post Malone and Florence + The Machine don’t stand out as especially poppy.
Make no mistake, a song will pop, become a cultural sensation and an audio bat signal for Swifties everywhere who will chant instantly iconic lines like, “I love you. It’s ruining my life.”
And that’s exactly the point. Swift no longer needs to produce those flashing-light singles to create cultural touchstones anymore. The days of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “Shake It Off” are over. Her fans are so devout that they will take lines from any song, no matter how “poppy,” and turn them into screen-printed T-shirts, Instagram captions and TikTok dances. Swift has reached the stage where she transcends the music industry. It could be argued, although I won’t, that she is the music industry.
And that’s a really cool place for Taylor Swift to be. After creating content at a breakneck pace for the last 16 years (a stretch in which she has released an album every two years except that one time when it was three years) and becoming the proud owner of her own IP (Taylor’s Version), Swift is unbothered and untethered by the trappings of music industry expectations.
In other words, she can do whatever the fuck she wants.
Creative bliss. Not that she didn’t have this before, but as an artist with clear pop-culture aspirations, there were still boxes that needed to be checked.
Swift is the biggest music act on the planet. Her 2023 run might go down as the greatest year a musician has ever had (The Eras Tour, the success of “Midnights,” the rollout of more Taylor’s Versions, Time’s Person of the Year, the Grammy’s Album of the Year, the subject of thousands of think pieces, becoming the rare millennial to seamlessly crossover and master social media, Travis Kelce and winning her first Super Bowl).
All of that means that she can make whatever kind of music she wants. Lean completely into her musical tastes of the moment (which might be the most underrated part of her success) knowing that whatever she makes is pop.
I’m ironically reminded of the Kanye West line, “Goddamn, Yeezy always hit 'em with a new style. / Know that motherfucker, well, what you gon' do now? / Whatever ever I wanna do, gosh, it's cool now. / Know I'm gonna do, ah, it's the new now.”
This isn’t to say that Swift won’t release a ready-out-of-the-box-sounding single in the future. She is a pop artist, after all. But she won’t have to, and I suspect we may never hear anything sonically resembling “WE” ever again (thank goodness).
Taylor Swift, the pop star, might have peaked in 2023. It would be hard for her not to unless she, like, ran for president. But Taylor Swift, the artist, is far from making her most interesting work yet.
…Or maybe the second part of the album has a radio-friendly hit on it, and all of this is moot. I’ll get back to you next week.