On April 19th, 2024, Taylor Swift surprised fans with the release of her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” This highly anticipated album, featuring a total of 31 songs, was dropped at midnight, prompting many Swifties to stay up eagerly awaiting its arrival. What caught everyone off guard, however, was the unexpected release of “The Anthology” just two hours later, at 2:00 a.m. Combined, both parts of the album offer over two hours of emotional depth, exploring themes of grief, heartbreak, yearning, and love.        

The album opens with “Fortnight,” an anticipated track featuring popular artist Post Malone. Other popular songs include “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” and “Down Bad,” covering the topics her songs typically do, such as struggles with love and fitting into girlhood. Fans appreciate her lyric genius, as she manipulates her words to flow beautifully in songs and maxes out almost every word combination in the English language. 

SHS senior Alexis Reynolds is a big Taylor Swift fan and took the time to listen to the album and evaluate what her top pick was out of the total 31. Reynolds’s favorite is “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” which is speculated to be about the 1975 frontman Matt Healy. Ultimately, the song discusses addiction and feelings of imposter syndrome, being in a relationship with a partner who isn’t fully supportive. Many others on platforms like TikTok and Instagram have shared their love for the song, one video crediting its validity and relevance to many people. 

SHS senior Tessa Norton has a passion for Swift’s music and commented that her favorite song is “loml,” which stands for “loss of my life.” The song is about losing someone close to you or watching another fall out of love. According to Norton, Swift is an important musical artist because she creates songs that are open to interpretation, so it’s easier for the audience to connect.