Taylor Swift’s newest album connects to past hardships

Taylor Swift left her fans awestruck when she announced her new album “The Tortured 

Poets Department,” in her speech at the Grammys. Swift is known for keeping secrets and revealing surprises that leave her fans speechless. The album was released on April 29, 2024, which included 32 brand-new songs. Two hours after the release, she added an additional track with more songs. It included features of Post Malone, Florence and the Machine.

Swift simultaneously wrote her songs while she was still on her Eras tour. She immediately started writing after the release of her tenth album “Midnights.” The album was produced by Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. The album was infused with both sorrow and melancholia as Taylor Swift writes about her own life. In one interview Swift stated that this album was a “lifeline” for her.

“So Long London” was one of the songs on her new album. Fans are speculating that this song is about Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. Alwyn and Swift dated for around six years and rumors of them splitting surfaced during Taylor’s Eras Tour. Many of Taylor Swift’s past songs had been about him and their love.  He even helped co-write songs on her album Folklore. “So Long London,” includes the lyric “I died on the altar waitin’ for the proof.” Many fans believe she was trying to verbalize her contempt towards Alwyn and her desire to get married. The background track of this song also includes vague notes resembling wedding bells.

While most of the songs on the album were quite sorrowful, one song in particular was a sappy sweet love song. “The Alchemy” is imbued with football references throughout the song, most likely being about Swift’s newest boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Their relationship left both Swift and Kelce’s fans abuzz. In one line she writes “Call the amateurs and cut them from the team,” most likely referring to her past lovers. The connections Swift draws between love and football references convinced fans of the authenticity of their relationship. If you want to listen to Taylor’s “lifeline” album, I definitely recommend her album.