thinking about the pipeline from “once upon a time, the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned” in mastermind to “tried wishing on comets / tried dimming the shine / tried to orbit his planet / some stars never align” in the ttpd prologue

“You could at least recognize me.”

i think this album is a lot more abstract than we're used to with taylor, who is usually pretty direct, but people are still interpreting some of these lyrics extremely literally to infer factual real life events. sometimes lyrics just rhyme. sometimes imagery is used to invoke a feeling rather than make a legally binding statement. its ok to not know everything that happened to her for these songs to be, its more important to know whats happening with YOU as you listen to them.

t.s - the prophecy 🌙🖤

WERE YOU SENT BY SOMEONE 🚶‍♂️WHO WANTED ME DEAD 😵 DID YOU SLEEP 💤 WITH A GUN 🔫 UNDERNEATH OUR BED 🛌 WERE YOU WRITING ✍️ A BOOK 📖 WERE YOU A SLEEPER CELL 🧫 SPY 🕵️‍♂️ IN FIFTY 5️⃣0️⃣ YEARS WILL ALL THIS BE DECLASSIFIED🔎 AND YOU’LL CONFESS WHY 🤷‍♂️ YOU DID IT AND I’LL SAY 🗣️ GOOD RIDDANCE 👋 ‘CAUSE IT WASN’T SEXY 🫦 ONCE IT WASN’T FORBIDDEN 🚫 I WOULD’VE DIED 🥀 FOR YOUR SINS ☦️ INSTEAD I JUST DIED INSIDE 😫 AND YOU 🫵 DESERVE PRISON 🚔 BUT YOU WON’T GET TIME ⏰ YOU’LL SLIDE INTO INBOXES 📥 AND SLIP THROUGH THE BARS 🍻 YOU CRASHED 💥 MY PARTY 🥳 AND YOUR RENTAL CAR 🚗 YOU SAID NORMAL GIRLS 👩 WERE BORING 👎 BUT YOU WERE GONE BY THE MORNING 🌅 YOU KICKED 🦵 OUT THE STAGE LIGHTS 💡 BUT YOU’RE STILL PERFORMING 🎙️ and in plain sight you hid 🫣 but you are what you did 🖕 and i’ll forget you 💭 but i’ll never forgive the smallest 🤏 man 🧍‍♂️ who ever lived 🧬

i have not stopped laughing at this

ok what’s your florence + the machine song. mine is rabbit heart (raise it up)<3

if you asked me about any of the tunes to any song or any lyrics i’ve listened to in the past two hours i wouldn’t be able to tell you

I just think TTPD is not an album you can understand and fully digest in one listen or even a few listens and that's what makes it so great. It is accessible in terms of its melodies and high-level storytelling but the lyrical details are poetic and complex. I'm really just so excited to spend a lot of time with this album.

Taylor Swift is photographed for "The Tortured Poets Department" promotional album shoots

BONUS TRACKS IMMEDIATELY ON STREAMING…. WE USED TO PRAY FOR TIMES LIKE THESE