#ttpd themes

[cairsns]

peace, folklore (2020) // Anti-Hero, Midninights (2022) // The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived (?), The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

by Taylor Swift

[towlerknows]

Religious Imagery

I just recognized another theme in ttpd of how she, Taylor, has to shed her "good Christian girl" persona that simply isn't entirely real enough anymore ("half moonshine") to continue to express "her" as the public reflection of Taylor SwiftTM because her art requires authenticity.

So she's laying it out there -

"Here for examination are my sins, judge me as you will, I choose to be authentic:

I've cheated on my boyfriends in the past

I've ghosted. Repeatedly.

I thought I was in love with a heroin addict and was willing to overlook the whole Nazi-racist shit to be with him. For a minute anyway.

My dreamy romance that I sold as something beautiful was not, especially after the first couple of years

My treatment by the media and public made me terrified to leave a man that was borderline abusive to me.

I left the man considered my husband for a fucking POS

I've had so many breakdowns and heartbreaks that you will NEVER hear about

IRL I say "fuck" ALL. THE. TIME.

I know everyone is looking for who is the "next me" fuck all y'all

The "next me" will be fucking dazzling (and maybe not as abused since I'm talking about it out loud)

Sometimes fans, all of them, but mostly just some of them, piss me the ever-loving fuck off and I'm tired of being gentle with my wording. Be afraid. I'm done with your shit.

Harry Styles who?

I masturbate"

So now she has exposed the eclipsed part of her public self; which she tried to do by alluding to her heavy drinking, but no one thought she'd be saying that if she did have a problem. She's not "like that". She's a good girl.

Nope. She's "like that" and sometimes worse. But she's also pretty fucking awesome and appreciates that we know it!

[thegreatimpersonator]

EDITING PROMPT OF THE MONTH -> NOSTALGIA

[saradika-graphics]

— the tortured poets department dividers

[Free] Masterlist Headers & Dividers!

Please consider liking or reblogging if you use 💕

[cametotheshowinsd]

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? (2024) written & directed by Taylor Swift

So tell me everything is not about me …but what if it is?

[taylortruther]

must be very strange to have to perform your heartbreak. as authentic as the emotions are, to market them at all (do a photoshoot, decide on "promo")... it must be strange to reconcile that with your private life, the intimate details, at times

[lossisyours]

taylor swift + madness

blank space mv (1989, 2014) / the last great american dynasty (folklore, 2020) / mad woman (folklore, 2020) / champagne problems (evermore, 2020) / still from the eras tour (champagne problems) / hits different (midnights, 2022) / "in summation" - a poem by taylor swift / fortnight (the tortured poets department, 2024) / fortnight mv (the tortured poets department, 2024) / the tortured poets department (the tortured poets department, 2024) / down bad (the tortured poets department, 2024) / florida!!! (the tortured poets department, 2024) / guilty as sin? (the tortured poets department, 2024) / who’s afraid of little old me? (the tortured poets department, 2024)

[evermoredeluxe]

not to say this was about joe (because i actually think it wasn’t), but “i think about jumping off of very tall somethings just to see you come running and say the one i’ve been waiting but no,” “you always know knew how to push my buttons you gave me everything and nothing,” “you and i walk a fragile line, i had known it all this time, but i never thought i’d live to see it break,” “i have so many signs” … just can’t help but notice the theme of giving signs and hoping for him to do something but knowing it won’t work out deep in you and reminiscing/mourning

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

taylor swift fans saying her new shit is goth or punk or whatever the fuck has pissed me off from the start because a) swifties are the exact type of people who have bullied me and my friends for dressing punk/goth and b) it just contributes to the complete watering down of these subcultures that makes people think they're alt just for buying $200 mass produced black clothes.

these swifties are the same ones who are too scared to step into hot topic they’re idiots through and through

[neverbesokind]

Oh my god it's The Alchemy day I have SO many thoughts about this song so I'm gonna try and condense them.

First of all, the song starts and ends with "This happens once every few lifetimes," which is a statement filled to the BRIM with irony, in my view. The entire album up to this point has been concerned with two romances, both of which Taylor states she felt were destined and fated and "storybook" in their own ways. The entirety of TTPD is exploring how these fated, destined, storybook romances could actually crumble, and with it, her faith and belief in the existence of fate and destiny and storybook love.

But THEN... almost at the end of the standard run of the album, Taylor states that she's getting back from recovering from this tragedy - "I'm back / The hospital was a drag / Worst sleep that I ever had". She gets back from the messy process of healing from the events described on the album, and despite everything finds herself falling in love again.

This is why the title is significant, too. Alchemy is the pseudoscience of making a material into something more valuable. And this reflects the emotional process of Taylor falling in love again - she felt like the past two tragedies took the shine off of everything, killed her belief that love could ever work. But then, despite everything, she falls in love again and the normal, even tragic world she lived in before is transformed into something golden.

And then the first line repeats again, to reflect the cyclical nature of what she has experienced. Obviously, "this" doesn't happen once every few lifetimes, it's happened twice before on the album and is happening again in this song. She's falling in love, she's finding something beautiful and fated, and she can't help but find it gorgeous and meaningful, even if she's been shown again and again that she might be proven wrong in the end. And it feels so special that even if it's obvious that it isn't a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it feels that rare and that precious.

In this song, love is the alchemy, the process of turning normalcy into meaning and beauty, and she can't help it.

[coastaltowned]

ttpd song predictions: fortnight (ft. post malone)

how quickly things change in the time of two weeks, how fast our time ran out of the hourglass, how it can only take a fortnight to end a relationship, how much time should you give yourself before you decide to blow up your life? what happens when the fortnight ends and you wake up as someone new? time's up, time to go, time to end it, time to move on.

[likeawolfatthemoon]

the tortured poets department - taylor swift

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

With all the discussion yesterday I am once again thinking about the way grief/loss is portrayed in her last few albums and thinking thoughts I maybe can’t fully articulate re: TTPD

[taylortruther]

I'm very curious about clara bow, especially because it seems to me that it would be taylor comparing herself to clara bow and how she felt during the relationship. But that being the last song I wonder if it would be like a hopeful song (if the tracklist progresses linearly when it comes to how she felt with time) and in that case I wonder if it will be how she doesn't want to make the same decisions as clara bow made? (Idk i don't really know a lot about her other than what I have read on tumblr) or do you think it could be a sad song like hoax? When it comes to closing the album

i think it could be a lament for all the women who were forced into boxes from which they could never break free, and who suffered the consequences if they didn't make themselves smaller or more palatable. the women who tried and tried and overcame so much adversity, but still couldn't do it "perfectly." who were gaslit and provoked endlessly until their downfall. and i think it will touch on how society, at large, does this to women... but the men in their intimate lives also take part.

reading about clara bow (and i am not an expert), it's obvious why taylor might relate:

clara was considered scandalous at the time due to her sex life and many relationships, but she had an intangible "it factor" that made her beloved and yet more widely criticized. she had some major disagreements/issues with studios, and her mental health was in decline, which led to her leaving the spotlight. that's when she met rex bell...

(also, reminds me of how taylor spoke about zelda fitzgerald's biography. obviously we have tlgad about rebekah harkness. she's spoken about liking sylvia plath. there's a theme here. even the main character in rebecca - fictional, but still.)

[lossisyours]

They say, "What doesn't kill you makes you aware" What happens if it becomes who you are?

don't blame me (reputation, 2017) ⇾ the great war (midnights [3am edition], 2022) ⇾ would've could've should've (midnights [3am edition], 2022) ⇾ imgonnagetyouback (ttpd: the anthology, 2024) ⇾ the prophecy (ttpd: the anthology, 2024) ⇾ cassandra (ttpd: the anthology, 2024)

[fogsupwindshieldglass]

The Tortured Poets Department is giving folklore but sexy and mature and also directly autobiographical….