Summary

• Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, turned out to be a surprise double album with 15 extra songs.
• With 31 songs on the full tracklist, Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology is Taylor Swift’s longest album.
• Some songs fail to leave an impression, like “Guilty as Sin?” and “imgonnagetyouback,” while others stand out from the rest, like “Florida!!!” and “So High School.”

With 31 songs total between the first and surprise second instalment of the double album, some tracks on Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology are better than others. Swift first announced the upcoming release of her eleventh studio album during her Grammys acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights on February 4, 2024. After an extensive rollout, during which she revealed the 16-song tracklist, released special edition vinyls with individual bonus tracks, and teased lyrics, TTPD arrived two-and-a-half months later on April 19.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the highly anticipated release of The Tortured Poets Department was accompanied by a secret second installment containing 15 additional songs. Together, these 31 songs make up The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, Swift’s longest album in terms of both the tracklist and title. The Tortured Poets Department includes features from Post Malone (“Fortnight”) and Florence + The Machine (“Florida!!!”), and saw the return of Swift’s frequent songwriting and producing collaborators, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. Between the synth-pop bops and folk-infused numbers, it’s a solid body of work with some highs and lows.

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.

31 I Look In People’s Windows

Written By Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Patrik Berger

Though it can be difficult to decide which song to rank below the rest on an album, putting “I Look in People’s Windows” at the bottom of the bunch is a no-brainer. At two minutes and 11 seconds, this sad tune about trying to get one last glimpse of an ex-love is the shortest on the album. Its length alone isn’t the problem, but it results from the song’s lack of a bridge, which are Swift’s greatest lyrical strengths. Ultimately, the song doesn’t make up for its brevity or bridgelessness with a particularly unique sound or powerful lyrics.

30 Guilty As Sin?

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

On “Guilty as Sin?”, Swift relishes the innocence of simply fantasizing about someone without acting on it, evoking plenty of religious imagery and symbolism. This song’s biggest sin is that it fails to stand out at all among the rest of the tracks, both sonically and lyrically. It blends in with the overall sound of the front half of the album, and the religious motif isn’t enough to save this forgettable tune from slipping through the cracks.

29 imgonnagetyouback

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

On this all-lowercase no-space B-side track, Swift has yet to make up her mind about her intentions to get back the one that got away. Although the catchy hook and her delivery on lyrics like “even if it’s handcuffed, I’m leavin’ here with you” and “pick your poison, babe, I’m poison either way” from the bridge stick out, “imgonnagetyouback” doesn’t offer much more than a few auditorily satisfying lines. Like “Guilty as Sin?” this song is simply fine, but nothing to write home about.

28 I Hate It Here

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

Switching gears a bit from the plethora of love songs and breakup anthems, Swift sings about getting lost in the vast, private corners of her own mind because, as the title suggests, reality bites. It’s a refreshing change of course on an album that leans heavy on romance and heartbreak (which isn’t inherently bad) and the relatable sentiment will no doubt resonate with those who daydream to escape their reality. Despite this, there is a deeply melancholic quality to “I Hate It Here” that renders it off-putting as opposed to comforting.

27 The Alchemy

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

“The Alchemy” is another song on The Tortured Poets Department that falls victim to its unremarkability. On this track, Swift sings about the uncommon and undeniable “alchemy” (as opposed to chemistry) between her and the subject, which is hardly new territory for her even on TTPD. On such a wordy album where she’s taking more lyrical risks than ever, “The Alchemy” is lyrically weak in comparison, and the football analogy feels beneath her prowess.

All the football terminology on “The Alchemy” heavily alludes to when Swift’s current boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce won the Superbowl in 2024, though this could just be a coincidence (or an intentional red herring).

26 I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

“I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” is the next shortest track on TTPD, but it manages to feel like a fuller song (in part thanks to it possession of a bridge). The production on the two-and-a-half-minute track has an eerie quality reminiscent of Lana Del Rey’s music (which checks out since Antonoff, who co-produced the song, has worked extensively with the singer). Despite the final lyric reversing the notion that Swift can fix her damaged bad boy, this song is outshined by the thematically similar “But Daddy I Love Him.”

25 Robin

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

The penultimate track on the whole anthology carries a sweet and touching sentiment paired with beautiful vocals, but like several other lower-ranking tracks from TTPD, “Robin” is not sonically compelling enough to stand out. Swift already captured the stinging nostalgic yearning to return to childhood innocence and wonder better on “seven” from Folklore, and did it with more melodic diversity.

24 thanK you aIMee

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

On “thanK you aIMee,” Swift realizes that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that all the torment the titular “Aimee” put her through pushed her harder to prove herself. Though this empowering track is seemingly directed at a former school bully, the capitalized letters in the title suggest that Swift actually wrote this song about her famous feud with Kim Kardashian under the guise of a hometown mean girl named Aimee. While this adds a certain level of intrigue, it doesn’t objectively make this otherwise average song better.

23 Chloe Or Sam Or Sophia Or Marcus

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

The unconventional title of “Chloe Or Sam Or Sophia Or Marcus,” which emphasizes the uncertainty of who exactly her partner might be cheating with by listing off random names, might make it stand out on the tracklist even amidst the other first name titles in the second instalment, but the song itself doesn’t do enough to set itself apart from the rest. Swift’s solemn vocals are striking, but ultimately, “Chloe Or Sam Or Sophia Or Marcus” is another sad song about a troubled relationship in an album full of better ones.

22 Fresh Out The Slammer

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

Ever the fan of an extended metaphor, Swift compares a bad relationship with doing jail time on “Fresh Out the Slammer.” The highlight is the warm key change on the pre-chorus before the tone shifts toward the end where the bridge turns slightly solemn, but still ends on a hopeful note. This is another instance in which there are no glaring flaws that break the album’s cohesion or hurt the song itself, but it also doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression either.

21 The Tortured Poets Department

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

The title track on The Tortured Poets Department caused quite the commotion online due to the many pop culture references and names Swift drops. The Charlie Puth shoutout in particular was so bizarre it was at least memorable, but the hyperspecific details and overly conversational writing on the title track are distracting to the point that it sometimes takes the listener out. It’s certainly not the worst song on the album, but it could have benefited from some lyrical refining.

20 Fortnight (Featuring Post Malone)

Written By Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Austin Post

As the lead single and opener of what turned out to be a 31-song double album, “Fortnight” was under enormous pressure to both set the tone for The Tortured Poets Department and deliver as a standalone track. Swift’s hazy vocals on this tune about the post-breakup misery of a short-lived romance is gorgeous, especially when harmonizing with featured artist Post Malone. Ultimately, “Fortnight” loses points because there’s not enough Post, as he mostly just provides backing vocals except on the outro.

19 The Manuscript

Written by Taylor Swift

In a perfectly poetic fashion, the album opener is followed by the final song in the anthology in this ranking. Thematically, “The Manuscript” is a better closer than “Fortnight” is an opener, especially because of the very last line, “now and then I reread the manuscript/but the story isn’t mine anymore.” “The Manuscript” is stronger lyrically than it is sonically, which makes it properly equipped to wrap up the overarching story of the album, but also means it struggles to stand out from the album beyond its notable placement.

18 The Prophecy

Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

On “The Prophecy,” Swift finds herself unlucky in love once more and prays to reverse her destiny to be alone. “The Prophecy” has some semblance to Swift’s Evermore album, which Dessner also heavily co-produced and co-wrote. Sitting in the #18 spot, “The Prophecy” is one of those songs with nothing outwardly wrong with it, but also nothing exceptionally memorable about it either.

17 Down Bad

Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff

Featuring the most F-bombs of any Taylor Swift song by a significant margin, Swift is equal parts pissed off and devastated about her lover leaving her on “Down Bad.” She’s well aware of how dramatic she’s being but remains unapologetic about how immature her bitterness is, which makes “Down Bad” an amusing indulgence. The undeniably catchy hook on the curse-riddled chorus gives “Down Bad” an earworm quality that will keep it stuck in listeners’ heads, but the rest of the track keeps it from ranking above the halfway mark.

Swift drops a total of 18 F-bombs on “Down Bad.”

16 The Albatross

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

The Evermore vibes are even stronger on “The Albatross,” also co-written and co-produced by Dessner. It’s a better song than “The Prophecy,” which blends more into this album’s production style. “The Albatross” has a more distinctive folky sound that makes it stand out on The Tortured Poets Department, but since it’s the only song that fits this particular vibe, it almost sounds like it might’ve been an Evermore reject that Swift simply had more room to include now.

The titular albatross is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
in which a sailor curses his crew by shooting the innocent seabird, which comes to symbolize his regret.

15 Peter

Written By Taylor Swift

Just managing to slide into the top half of the ranking is “Peter,” in which Swift compares an almost-lover who needed to grow up before he could be with her to the forever-young Peter Pan. Swift’s vocals are exceptionally clear on “Peter” and pair well with the somber piano, giving it enough distinction from some of the other sad, slow ballads about lost love to rank it a little higher.

14 How Did It End?

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

On “How Did It End?” Swift takes the titular question often asked in the context of someone demanding the juicy details about another person’s breakup to ponder how her own relationship crumbled. Swift has critiqued the sickening joy people take in gossiping about her personal life in her music before, but it’s never taken on quite such a tragic tone before. Although she’s emotionally distraught in this song like many others, “How Did It End?” has enough power behind it to rank it among the better half of the album.

13 My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

Written By Taylor Swift

Yet another extended metaphor put to song in The Tortured Poets Department, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” compares Swift’s lover constantly mistreating her and sabotaging their relationship to a stubborn child destroying his favorite toys out of spite. This song earns points for Swift’s elongated delivery of “toys” on the chorus alone, but it’s not quite solid enough all around to break into the top 10.

12 Clara Bow

Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner

On “Clara Bow,” Swift points to how up-and-comers are often compared to established stars as being the “next” one by using the titular Old Hollywood actress and Stevie Nicks as examples. On the outro, she flips the script by using herself as a means of comparison for a newer, younger female artist to express her fear of being replaced and discarded in the industry. It’s an effective device that warrants putting “Clara Bow” on the higher half of the ranking, but Swift has already explored this phenomenon on songs like “The Lucky One.”

Some have speculated that the outro is a reference to Olivia Rodrigo, who was deemed “the new Taylor Swift” when she burst onto the scene in 2021.