Taylor Swift isn’t just the chairman of “The Tortured Poets Department,” but she’s ensuring fans are familiar with her particular curriculum of grief ahead of her new album dropping April 19.
Apple Music on Friday released five playlists curated by the 34-year-old Grammy winner, each of which corresponds to a track name on “TTPD.”
Apple attributed the project to Swifties “landing on the theory that her 11th studio album is sure to explore the five stages of heartbreak” — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Each playlist begins with a special recorded “Message From Taylor,” detailing what ties each particular collection together.
“When Swifties agree upon a theory, Taylor takes an interest — so, naturally, she’s responded by crafting a series of exclusive playlists, choosing songs of her own that fit each stage,” the streamer said.
The first collection, titled “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life,” explores the stage of denial, with songs including “Lavender Haze” and “Style.”
“This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion,” Swift says in her message at the start of the playlist.
The second collection, “You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad,” features songs Swift says she “wrote while feeling anger,” including “Vigilante S–” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
The third stage, bargaining, is explored in “Am I Allowed to Cry?,” through songs like “Say Don’t Go” and “This Is Me Trying.”
The fourth collection, “Old Habits Die Screaming” — including favorites like “Champagne Problems” and “Forever Winter” — touches on “the feelings of depression that often lace their way through [Swift’s] songs.”
“In times like these, I’ll write a song because I feel lonely or hopeless. And writing a song feels like the only way to process that intensity of an emotion,” Swift says in the playlist’s special message. “While these things are really, really hard to go through, I often feel like when I’m either listening to songs or writing songs that deal with this intensity of loss and hopelessness, usually that’s in the phase where I’m close to getting past that feeling.”
Lastly, the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” collection deals in acceptance and moving on from heartbreak through songs like “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “Closure.”
“These songs represent making room for more good in your life — making that choice — because a lot of times when we lose things, we gain things too,” Swift says.
Swift announced her upcoming album in February while accepting the Grammy Award for best pop vocal album.
First Published: April 11, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
