Lessons We Can't Learn: A Defense of the Tortured Poets Department

This might be a weird reference, but the performance of ICDIWABH reminds me of the scene in Interview with the Vampire where they are literally murdering people on stage but because it’s on a stage everyone thinks it’s just pretend. I love the concept and performance, but I can never truly let go of that worry that Taylor is more serious than she lets on. I just hope she has the support she needs as I prefer my poets to be tortured in only the most melodramatic sense.

I think it's her greatest album, the more I have listened to it the better it gets, the tunes are so beautiful, and at first listen I was thinking 'there is nothing special here' lol, a few listens later i'm crying to so many of them.

I really, really appreciate this review because it's quite a fresh new take on the album. I love the idea of assigning the songs' story to becky instead of Taylor Swift herself. That small change really made me rethink a lot of things in this album!!

And that's why I can never listen to the song I can do it with a broken heart. I don't hear a winner. I hear a broken woman who's pressured for more and more by fans who say they love her. It's abusive in my eyes..asking someone you supposedly for more after seeing them go through hell. Sometimes I would think that she would have self inflicted emotional wounds just so she has metaphorical blood to ink her stories. Not because it's the best creative decision but it's what was expected of her. She's made that fan's validation her identity. Or maybe she was raised to seek it.

Very well done. I wonder if she is so successful because she voices the immature emotions so many people know better than to admit to in public to a background of upbeat music. The lyrics are usually sad but the music is generally speaking upbeat.

This is the most thoughtful analysis of Taylor Swift's recent body of work (especially Midnights and TTPD) - thank you for treating this topic with so much respect.

I have been a fan of Taylor's since her debut. I really enjoyed this thoughtful review of not only the album but Taylor as a person. When Mignights was being marketed she reveled that one of her biggest insecurities is people not seeing her as a real person. I understand and accept that her music isn't everyone's cup of tea but the disgusting and disrespectful way a lot of people talk about her needs to stop. I want to close with letting you know I think your track list really does a good job of painting the story she is trying to convey with this album.

thank you for this analysis, i've been feeling the same thing. she has unaddressed childhood trauma that led to anxious feelings in relationships and many other issues

You articulate your ideas so well. Deeply thoughtful, analytical, insightful, and humane. Subbed.

I've been a fan of TS for maybe 7 years, since the reputation era, and I always enjoyed her introspections, but her being frozen in time (emotionally) meant that probably she's doomed to repeat her old patterns. I'm not a therapist, so I can't venture too much in this prediction, but I've noticed a feverishness and desire in how she approaches love (from a lyrical point of view, I don't know this woman). She WISHES, DESIRES, EARNS for that one true love, tired of being mocked by the general public, while also milked (for lack of a better word) for everything she has. ICDIWABH is, in that sense, the culmination of all of this effort, for both herself, her team, her fans, and her haters, where she goes "I'm giving you everything, even when I'm dying inside, why can't it be enough?" And I know plenty of people LOVE this song, but it makes me shudder every time I hear it. Great analysis, and I agree with your revised tracklist.

Omg finally- all they can say is “she’s so in love with travvvissss heart heart heart” and I’m like?? Are you blind???

this is soooooo gooooooood. It sumeryzes what I have been thinking lately, but you put it into words! could you do an anaylisis on her Marriage themes? I think that is another big subject in her songs

this is such a thoughtful review!!!! well done 🎉

Subbed for this video and now I’m going to make a playlist of your reshuffled tracklist because I think it’s genius 🙏

As someone that very recently watched Angels in America, I appreciate the inclusion of Angels in America 😎

Loved this! Will be back and send to friends

I totally agree, an adult would seek therapy for help, something seems broken with this fictional character in this story. Great job, in interpreting and “decoding” the song for us💙❤️💛

37 minutes??? Let me take a seat for this

About the "I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing", it can very well be a reference to the tale The Emperor's New Clothes: the emperor thinks he's wearing the most magnificent clothing that only the most intelligent people can see (even though he can't see them himself, but he acts he can), the people around do the same - because no one's want to be seen as stupid -, but one kid is smart enough to claim: THE EMPEROR'S NAKED. He was, indeed, naked, fooled by people who were actually smarter them him. So the emperor is a hypocrite and a fraud, the clothes don't actually exist. If you're dressing in emperor's clothing, you're pretending to be something you're not in order to feel superior (morally, intellectually etc). The vipers takes back to reputation, the people who cancelled her using snakes. My translation is: She thinks that people who said they care about her (when they expressed concerns about her relationship with Bullfrog) are hypocrites putting on a facade, but she sees right through them, so she will not listen to them.

(I'm only now noticing that, in the YT app, the subscription button has an effect when the person in the video says "subscribe to the channel". That's cool!)