Taylor Swift demystifies ‘Tortured Poets Department’: What inspired the lyrics of her songs ‘Fortnight’ and ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’

 

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“The Tortured Poets Department. An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time — one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure. This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry (sic),” Taylor said in her long post shared on her Instagram handle. And while her post reads that she has moved on from her lovers, who broke her heart and the trauma that she faced in her initial days, the songs talk about episodes from her life and depict that she is still clinging on to the hurt and betrayal.

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Here’s what Taylor shared about her songs:

Fortnight: Of dramatic lines about life or death

The album’s opening song, which also features Post Malone, explores a lot of the common themes recurrent in the album, including fatalism. “Longing, pining away, lost dreams,” Taylor explained, adding that she feels that The Tortured Poets Department is “a very fatalistic album” as there are a lot of “very dramatic lines about life or death” in it. ‘I love you, it’s ruining my life.’ These are very hyperbolic, dramatic things to say. It’s that kind of album,” she divulged.

 

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Clara Bow: An ode to women
Taylor dedicated the song “Clara Bow” to the popular silent film actress. She said the song reflects what she has faced and witnessed in the industry over the years. Talking about the track, which speaks about the treatment of women in Hollywood, Taylor, added, “I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you”. She revealed that she “picked women who have done great things in the past” and called them the “archetypes of greatness in the entertainment industry”. “Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music,” she said. Interestingly, Stevie Nicks, former Fleetwood Mac singer, penned ‘For T and Me,’ a poem featuring as the written prologue on the physical copies of the The Tortured Poets Department.

Florida!!!: Of crime and violence
Taylor collaborated with Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine for the track “Florida!!!,” which she said was inspired by true crime. Drawing parallels between criminals and heartbroken lovers, the singer explained, “I’m always watching Dateline. People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida. They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, and blend in. I think when you go through a heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’ And so that was the jumping-off point. Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida!”

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My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys: Heartbreak and self-worth
One of the most loved tracks from the album, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” deals with the complexities of relationships and self-worth. “Being somebody’s favourite toy until they break you and then don’t want to play with you anymore. Which is how a lot of us are in relationships where we are so valued by a person in the beginning, and then all of the sudden, they break us or they devalue us in their mind,” Taylor said in her commentary. “We’re still clinging on to ‘No no, no. You should’ve seen them the first time they saw me. They’ll come back to that. They’ll get back to that,” she added.

Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?: Bitternes personified

“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” depicts how society first praises an artist and once they rise in their career,  it tears them down. Dark in its lyrics and treatment, the track is layered and inspired by Taylor’s own encounter with trolling and bullying. Commenting on its inspiration, Taylor, said, “I felt bitter about just all the things we do to our artists as a society and as a culture. There’s a lot about this particular concept in The Tortured Poets Department. What do we do to our writers, and our artists, and our creatives? We put them through hell. We watch what they create, and then we judge it. We love to watch artists in pain, often to the point where I think sometimes as a society we provoke that pain and we just watch what happens.”

The Tortured Poets Department has smashed Amazon Music records since its release. On Friday, The Tortured Poets Department became the most-streamed album on its first day ever on the platform.  It also became the most streamed album in its first week globally in three days since its release.