Swifties had April 19 circled on their calendars ever since Taylor Swift announced at the Grammy Awards that she was releasing her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. With that date behind us, the debate has begun: Where does this collection rank in comparison to her past work? Are these heartbreaking lyrics Swift’s best writing ever? Is it even any good? After one outlet chose to hide their writer’s name due to alleged “threats of violence” over a negative review, Swift herself has been shouting out those who gave her positive evaluations.
Taylor Swift took to Instagram Stories to share the glowing reviews from outlets including Rolling Stone, The Independent and The Times UK, complete with a lyric from her album and white heart emojis that have become synonymous with this most recent era.
However, in addition to sharing links to the critics’ work, Taylor Swift made a point to call out the authors of the positive reviews by name — an interesting move given how Paste Magazine chose to handle its negative review of The Tortured Poets Department.
The magazine published its critique anonymously, citing backlash a previous writer received for their less-than-complimentary assessment of Swift’s Lover album. The publication explained on social media:
Editor’s Note: There is no byline on this review due to how, in 2019 when Paste reviewed ‘Lover,’ the writer was sent threats of violence from readers who disagreed with the work. We care more about the safety of our staff than a name attached to an article.
Paste’s review of The Tortured Poets Department — credited simply to “Paste Staff” — pans the double-album with a 3.6 rating, saying Taylor Swift can’t help but “infantilize the very people who buy into her music.” The critic goes on to call the album a “heady vat of pop nothingness,” writing that the lead single “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone “chokes on the vomit of its own opaqueness.”
If the Paste critic responsible for the Lover review did, in fact, receive threats of violence — which, let’s be real, isn’t hard to believe given how passionately Swifties will go to bat for the artist — it’s easy to see why the magazine would be concerned for its TTPD reviewer. The 2019 album received a 5.8 rating, which is still low but quite a bit higher than what they gave Taylor Swift’s current offering.
Even amongst the Swifties, there have been a number of different reactions to The Tortured Poets Department, so there’s no way that every fan is going to love what every music critic has to say. Hopefully people can agree to disagree with those who see the album differently than them and simply continue to debate which of the TTPD songs will be the first surprise song sung on the Eras Tour next month and if Taylor Swift is ever going to announce the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
In the meantime, stay updated on all of Taylor Swift’s upcoming projects, and you can keep replaying The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version), as well as the Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on Disney+.