swift (the person) v. swift (the artist)

one of them no longer has to make good music

Presumably, this is a trap. I was not going to write about this album. I said, multiple times, publicly (much like a fool or a court jester), that I wasn't going to write about this album. Why? Because every time I hit Publish on a Taylor Alison Swift newsletter, I immediately want to burrow deep into the closest hole in the ground and hibernate until The Discourse is over.

I am, obviously, stupidly, writing about this album. Or rather, the response thereto, which for many reasons I've found more interesting than the album itself. The Tortured Poets Department was released at midnight on April 19 and I listened to it, along with the surprise Anthology (a! double! album!) early Friday morning on the flight home to my parents'. You know this, but I want to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to the sheer length of this album in its totality: 31 songs. 2 hours and 2 minutes. 

FWIW, this is how it feels to get up too quickly after a hot shower. (Photo: Beth Garrabrant)

Inexplicably, I sometimes feel the need to employ more caution to discuss Taylor Swift than I do when discussing major geopolitical issues, so as I disclaim every time I write about Swift, let me remind you that I do not come to the discourse from a hater's perspective. I am a fan of her music, and have been for a long time — I don't listen to criticize it. I want to enjoy it. That's how I go into most art: looking for reasons to love it. I know this will shock some of you, but for me being a hater is an occupational hazard, a negative externality of taking in the art that makes up our culture and gives context to our lives. It is never the occupation itself. 

Because I only have one life, and I'd rather spend it consuming music and movies and books I like. And historically, I have liked — loved, even — Swift's music, which is why I listen when new albums are released. I can't say I loved or even liked this one, which is fine. It's a normal part of engaging with art — you won't always like it. Except that, for many fans of hers, Not Liking An Album is a personal failing of some sort. It means you don't understand something critical about Taylor Swift (sure! ok! probably! I don't know her, and neither do most of us!) and also, somehow, something critical about girlhood, womanhood, storytelling, and relationships. 

Someone calmly disliking an album is not in itself interesting. Droves of strangers telling that person they are Not Listening Well Enough Because They Don’t Understand the Artist (Because They’re Stupid), however, is. So let’s discuss!