After over a year of extensive press coverage thanks to The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has claimed her spot as America’s top celebrity.
After winning Best Album of the Year at this year’s Grammys, Swift announced her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which was released last week. For Swifties, it was the next thing to look forward to after establishing cultural hegemony over the past few months.
According to Fox Business, “[H]er 11th studio album also [became] Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in their history.” If there was any doubt that she has outmaneuvered all competition in her genre, the commercial success clearly favors her music. Does she still have any daring edge left in her? Will the fans be right that the new album is merely an extension of the uptempo “Midnights” album? Not quite.
What got fans and media outlets raving about the album was the drama surrounding her notorious celebrity romances outside the studio. Songs taking fans through the gossip with former boyfriends Joe Alywn and Matt Healy is exactly what tabloid journalists are looking for. Was this more of the same “trying to move on but can’t” theme? Swift decides to don the mask and pour it into Lana Del Rey’s type of material. Rather than stick to the typical high school dating drama, Swift took the gloves off in bringing up decades-old grudges and new love interests alike.
The opening tracks set the stage for the “Midnights”-esque tone, however, diehard fans
