All is fair in love and poetry, but both are not without torture. Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department is finally here. Tortured Poets presents an ethereal collection of hushed midnight musings that are vulnerable, brutal, unhinged, hopeful and, of course, tinged with torture. Swift provides us with a look into her life as she struggles with emotions determined to drown her while continuing to go above and beyond for her fans. Tortured Poets is a revealing and cathartic album that comes with claws that spare no one, even Swift herself.
“The greatest films of all time were never made… the greatest loves of all time are over now.”
Taylor Swift’s discourse on romance tracks surprisingly well onto the recent history of the great Gen X directing duos: The last couple of years have brought about the divorces of the Safdie brothers, Wachowski sisters and — most tragically — the Coen brothers. Creative partnerships tend to be tenuous, and most historic examples (Martin and Lewis, Nichols and May, Powell and Pressburger, to name a few) end with one or both attempting to stake their own claim — or perhaps needing to after the death of one half. Still, this recent crop of breakups, and particularly the first individual projects from Joel and Ethan Coen, represent at once a great tragedy and fascinating subject for interrogation. A duo best marked for their juxtaposition of brilliant wit with bleak subject matter have split up and demonstrated that they each brought something incredibly different to their collaboration. Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth brought the filmmaker’s trademark visual excellence but stripped the exercise of any humor, and the new film from Ethan Coen, Drive-Away Dolls (or D**es, as the final title card and filmmakers call it), cares about little more than getting a laugh out of its audience.
The 2024 Grammy Awards was a night of celebrations and record breaking, as well as some snubs and surprises. The ceremony took place Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Comedian Trevor Noah hosted the show for the fourth consecutive year, providing light-hearted commentary throughout the night. The big winners included Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish. Cyrus won her first two Grammys, after only receiving two nominations in years prior.
Look what we made her do. With the release of her album Midnights just under a year ago, the announcement of The Eras Tour soon after, nine months of touring and the release of the rerecorded Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift has accomplished more in a year than most of us could dream to do in a lifetime. And she didn’t stop there — Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Movie was released on Oct. 13 and has quickly shattered records.
Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo often make headlines, but now more than ever, the two of them seem to be a major topic of conversation. Taylor Swift’s burgeoning relationship with Travis Kelce has been talked about non-stop in the media, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is already reaching record-breaking ticket sales and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is set to be released at the end of this month. Olivia Rodrigo has largely been talked about in regards to the release of her sophomore album, GUTS, and the announcement of the accompanying world tour.
With the highly anticipated release of 1989 Taylor’s Version only a little over a month away, countless theories about potential featured artists have been circulating. Unlike previous albums, 1989 TV has an air of mystery surrounding the featured singers. For Red TV, Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody were obvious choices (although Phoebe Bridgers and Chris Stapleton were also included), and even for Speak Now TV, many fans were able to predict Hayley Williams and Fallout Boy. However, Taylor has recently been seen interacting with so many prominent artists that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the signal from the noise. For a while, fans speculated that Swift’s most recent ex, Matty Healey, would be featured, but Swift’s representatives have since shut this theory down, much to the relief of most of her following.
The first video, created for lead single “Anti-Hero,” is a delightful, self-referential video full of Swift’s trademark “Easter eggs.” It also offers an honest glimpse into her insecurities, which she has been vocal about sharing.
Taylor Swift is sick of reinventing herself. Her 10th studio album, Midnights, signifies her return to pop, but with a wine-stained, eleventh-hour clarity in both production and lyricism
Fans are using the release of “This Love” (Taylor’s Version) and The Old Taylor Shop merchandise on her store, which is themed to “1989” and “Speak Now”, to speculate about the potential release of “1989” or “Speak Now” (Taylor’s Version).
Hopeless romantics develop our burning passion for love through a combination of their own experiences and the influences of pop culture in diverse mediums of expression.
