Kyle Riekki

★ 10.0

album

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY

Taylor Swift

“This IS her magnum opus, and truthfully my favorite album of hers OF ALL TIME. I mean what more needs to be said other than So Long London, Guilty As Sin, The Prophecy, I Hate It Here, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus? And as a truther of this sentiment since its release, I didn’t care for all the discourse during its release about “it’s too long and wordy”, “it’s unpolished and all sounds the same”, and “she needs to move on from Jack and Aaron”. If any critics understood any semblance of what she compounded the most pivotal, sky-rocketing years of her life into this album WHILE she was on the BIGGEST tour of ALL TIME, they’d probably retract their statements. And not to call them out, but with the release of TLOAS, I’ve seen lots of them already backtracking their statements they put out during release week and now switching their views that they didn’t give this album the credit it deserves. She’s said time and time again that writing and making songs is almost like taking the venom out of a snake, it’s a form of release of all the emotions and feelings she’s undergoing in real time. So it made sense that there was a lot to cover with how much change and discourse she experienced while on tour, it made sense that she put out a 31 song album where not only was she exploring each and every feeling, but she was giving listeners insight into her personal life and feelings as the biggest pop star. All roads will all lead back to TTPD, and this album (for now) is cemented as my favorite album of hers of all time.”