By Angelina Perez, A&E Editor/Engagement Editor
If you’re a consistent reader of the Jasper Jams column in A&E and see my name, you can guarantee you will see at least one Taylor Swift song on that list. This past Friday, Swift released her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, after announcing it at the 2024 Grammys while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Swifties have been anticipating this week ever since – leaving us to wonder if it would be her most heartbreaking album yet, because of her recent breakup with her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.
Swift released a double album with 31 songs at 2 a.m., and while I can’t review all the songs, here are the top five that I think are must-listens.
5. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
“Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” tells the story of romance and witnessing the pain of a partner’s betrayal when one of them prioritizes substance over love, leaving their partner grappling with feelings of abandonment. I loved this song’s meaning and how the lyrics flow.
Favorite lyrics: If you wanna break my cold, cold heart / Just say, “I loved you the way that you were” / If you wanna tear my world apart / Just say you’ve always wondered
4. Down Bad
I initially thought “Down Bad” was about Joe Alwyn because of the lyric hint at cosmic love, but as the song went on, fans started assuming it was about her fling with Matt Healy and how frustrated she was that they did not work out.
Favorite Lyrics: I’ll build you a fort on some planet / Where they can all understand it / How dare you think it’s romantic / Leaving me safe and stranded
3. Clara Bow
I loved that she used the actress Clara Bow, who struggled with her mental health because of fame, as a way to open the song. I think incorporating a real-life situation in her song that follows her mental health was a great choice, as she has been in the light since she was a young girl in Tennessee.
Favorite lyrics: You look like Clara Bow / In this light, remarkable / All your life, did you know / You’d be picked like a rose?
2. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
“I Can Do It With A Broke Heart” recounts Swift’s experience touring the Eras Tour following her breakup with Alwyn. The beat with the lyrics was just *chef’s kiss*. It was so motivational to know that no matter what you are going through, especially with heartbreak, you can still shine and thrive with a broken heart.
Favorite lyrics: I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day / I’m so obsessed with him, but he avoids me like the plague / I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it’s an art / You know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart
1. loml
Everything about this breakup song, the piano, the lyrics – I’m obsessed. The chorus ends with her saying, “You said I’m the love of your life,” which we assumed was why the song was called loml. However, Swift ends the song with, “You’re the loss of my life” – which is absolutely genius and gutwrenching. Swifties didn’t even get a chance to process the ending as the following tracklist went into “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”, which was hilariously painful.
Favorite lyrics: You shit-talked me under the table / Talkin’ rings and talkin’ cradles / I wish I could unrecall / How we almost had it all