Swiftologist

In The Twilight Between The Last Era And A New One...

Added 2025-10-03 00:37:20 +0000 UTC

I like to reflect on what we’re moving beyond. what leaps to mind initially when I think of tortured poets (what it meant to taylor as an artist, to us as her fans) is the pre-release lyric drop that gagged me in the best possible way: am I allowed to cry?

tortured poets was a unique exercise for taylor swift, the songwriter. it was an exorcism of sorts. she emptied the darkest corners of her psyche: jealousy, bitterness, self-pity, delusions, desperation. there is something almost grotesque in its candor. it was impulsive and, at times, reckless. she seemed not to care about embarrassing herself in the pursuit of her destiny: to write frankly about love and its many afflictions.

am I allowed to cry? is a distillation of the whole project: on tortured poets, taylor gave herself permission to exhibit her most unflattering emotional truths, which gave us permission to sit with our own. the record asks for nothing but to bear witness to the raw, disconcerting honesty of a freshly broken heart.

in that way, tortured poets feels less like a chapter and more like a clearing. burning the field down so something new can grow. it’s another line in the sand between an old and new taylor, the way something inside her died in the growth spurt from red to 1989. on tortured poets, we witnessed the last breaths of a certain version of her, one she may never return to. she had to bleed out to step back into the light.

happy release eve!! I can't wait to listen in 3.5 hours...