Taylor Swift dropped many bombshells about her love life in the eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released on April 19, 2024. There is a lot to unpack in the new album, and many fans are wondering what each song is about based on the lyrics.
Track 1: ‘Fortnight’
The album kicks off with a duet featuring Post Malone, which was cowritten by Taylor, Post and Jack Antonoff.
“I was supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me,” Taylor sings at the beginning of the song. She eventually starts singing about an unnamed lover, declaring that she touches him “for only a fortnight.”
The story gets more complicated when Taylor reveals that her love interest is married. “Your wife waters flowers, I want to kill her,” she sings.
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It’s not clear exactly who inspired the track, though fans may speculate the song is about Matty Healy following their fling that lasted between May and June 2023. After all, fortnight is defined as a period of two weeks.
Track 2: ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
The title track is another collaboration between Taylor and Jack. In the song, the Pennsylvania native seemingly sings about her romance with Matty while insisting they’re unlike writers Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith. At the time of the song, Taylor recalls wanting to “decode” her love interest amid their intense feelings for each other.
“I scratch your head, you fall asleep like a tattooed golden retriever,” she sings at one point. The line hints that the song is about the “Chocolate” singer, who is her most recent ex to have visible tattoos.
Meanwhile, Taylor also sings that he “told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave. And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen.” While she didn’t confirm exactly who she was singing about, it seems that she was mentioning singer Lucy Dacus and the song’s cowriter.
Track 3: ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’
Taylor penned track three, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” by herself. The song is seemingly about her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, whom she broke up with in April 2023 after six years of dating.
In the song, Taylor details the end of a relationship that was allegedly sabotaged by the other person. “Saw forever, so he smashed it up,” she sings. “Oh my boy only breaks his favorite toys.”
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She also implies that the end of the relationship wasn’t mutual with a heartbreaking line at the end of the song. “Stole my tortured heart, left all these broken parts, told me I’m better off but I’m not. I’m not,” Taylor sings.
Track 4: ‘Down Bad’
The “Cornelia Street” singer was likely inspired by Matty in the fourth track, “Down Bad,” which was cowritten with Jack.
Taylor sings about developing intense feelings for someone, only for him to break up with her. “For a moment I knew cosmic love, now I’m down bad crying at the gym,” she sings in the chorus. “Everything comes out, teenage petulance.”
The angry song – which drops several “f–k” bombs – was possibly written after she and Matty ended their romance. Their short-lived fling faced backlash from fans due to The 1975 singer’s many controversial moments, and abruptly ended after he traveled to watch her perform several shows on her Eras tour.
Track 5: ‘So Long, London’
Taylor tends to place her most emotional songs in the track five spot on each album, and “So Long, London” is no exception. In the song, which was cowritten with Aaron Dessner, Taylor sings about saying goodbye to the life she built in London.
While both Joe and Matty are from London, the song was likely inspired by the Harriet actor after the former couple spent much of their time in the European city.
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“I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth,” she sings, seemingly referencing the length of their relationship that began when she was 27.
The song also hints at Joe not wanting to marry her, which she also referenced in the 2023 song “You’re Losing Me.” She sings, “I died on the altar waiting for the proof. You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.”
Track 6: ‘But Daddy I Love Him’
Another song seemingly inspired by Matty is “But Daddy I Love Him,” cowritten with Aaron.
In the song, Taylor details facing backlash for a romance with an unnamed lover. “They slammed the door on my whole world, the one thing I wanted,” she sings. “Running with my dress unbuttoned, screaming, ‘But daddy, I love him, I’m having his baby.’ No I’m not, but you should see your faces.”
While Taylor doesn’t directly name the “Girls” singer in the song, she infamously faced backlash from fans and the media for dating him during the short lived romance.
Track 7: ‘Fresh Out the Slammer’
“Fresh Out the Slammer,” which was cowritten with Jack, seems to reference both Joe and Matty. In the song, Taylor contemplates leaving her partner to start dating someone new. Fans will likely speculate that the song is about her wanting to leave Joe in order to be with Matty due their blurry relationship timeline.
“No matter what I’ve done, it wouldn’t matter anyway. Ain’t no way I’m gonna screw up now that I know what’s at stake,” she sings. “Here at the park where we used to sit on children’s swings wearing imaginary rings.”
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Track 8: ‘Florida!!!’
While Swifties will think that some of the songs are easy to decode, “Florida!!!” will likely leave even some of Taylor’s biggest fans stumped. Cowritten and sang as a duet with Florence Welch, the women sing about spending their time in Florida to escape the drama in their hometowns.
“You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too. They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true,” the song begins. They later sing, “Little did you know your home’s really only a town you’ll get arrested. So you pack your life away just to wait out the sh*tstorm back in Texas. Florida is one hell of a drug. Florida can I use you up?”
Track 9: “Guilty as Sin?”
“Guilty as Sin?” is another song Taylor cowrote with Jack, which seemingly references her relationship with Matty.
The song begins with Taylor explaining the “boredom” in her relationship, which was likely with Joe, and her desire to hook up with someone new. “I dream of cracking locks, throwing my life to the wolves or the ocean rocks,” she sings. “Crashing into him tonight, he’s a paradox, I’m seeing visions.”
While Taylor sings about having “fatal fantasies” with the other man, she assures herself that she’s done nothing wrong because she hasn’t acted on her desires. “Without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?” she sings.
Track 10: ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’
The second self-written song on the album is “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” The tenth track is another song that will likely leave fans unsure of who it is about. However, she seems to be singing about how she composes herself after a scandal.
“The scandal was contained, the bullet had just grazed. At all costs keep your good name, you don’t get to tell me you feel bad,” she sings. “Is it a wonder I broke? Let’s hear one more joke.”
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Track 11: “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”
“I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” which was cowritten with Jack, tells the story of Taylor wanting to fix her boyfriend who has been deemed as bad news by the public.
The track, which fans will likely speculate is about Matty, features Taylor telling her critics that she had a handle on the problems caused by her partner. “I can fix him, no really I can, and only I can,” she sings. However, she seems to start second guessing herself by the end of the song when she adds the line, “Whoa, maybe I can’t.”
Track 12: ‘Loml’
“Loml” is another song that could be about her relationships with either Joe or Matty. The song, which was cowritten with Aaron, looks back at a relationship that she once believed was the great love of her life.
The song makes many references to rings and marriage, which is a hint that the song is about Joe. “If you know it in one glimpse its legendary. You and I go from one kiss to getting married,” she sings. “Still alive, killing time at the cemetery.”
Later in the song, she implies that she was led on in the relationship. “You said I’m the love of you life,” Taylor recalls. “You s–t talked me under a table talking rings and talking cradles.”
While the marriage references are seemingly about Joe, the song also discusses a romance being rekindled. The comment may prove the song is about Matty, who briefly dated Taylor in 2014 before they got back together in 2023.
Whether the song is about Joe or Matty, fans know that the relationship that inspired “Loml” ultimately didn’t work out. “Your arson’s match, your somber eyes,” she sings at the end of the song. “And I still say it until I die, you’re the loss of my life.”
Track 13: ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’
Cowritten with Jack, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” is another song that could be about either Joe or Matty.
The song catches up with Taylor as she tries to put up a good image following a breakup while on tour. “Cause I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my s–t. They said babe you gotta fake it til you make it and I did,” she sings. “Lights camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die. He said he’d love me all his life, but that life was too short.”
Despite having her heart broken, Taylor sings about putting on a good show for her fans and acting as if everything’s OK.
The song could easily be about the Boy Erased actor or “Robbers” singer, as both of the splits took place when she was on the Eras tour.
Track 14: ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’
Taylor reunited with Aaron to write “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” The song details the “Love Story” singer being blindsided following a split, adding that the unnamed ex acted as if everything was OK when their romance ended.
“You hung me on your wall, stabbed me with your push pins,” she sings. “In public showed me off then sank in stoned oblivion.”
The song is likely about Matty, as Joe famously stays out of the spotlight and has not revealed many details about the end of their romance.
Track 15: ‘The Alchemy’
“The Alchemy,” which was cowritten with Jack, tells the story of Taylor falling in love at an unexpected time. While she insists she wasn’t looking for anything serious, the “Sparks Fly” singer explains that meeting the love interest was like having “these chemicals hit me like white wine.”
The song could possibly be about her current boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who she has been dating since summer 2023. The track makes many football references, including, “Touch down call the amateurs and cut ’em from the team. Ditch the clowns, get the crown, baby I’m the one to beat.”
“Shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads. Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanting cause they said there was no chance,” she continues. “Trying to be the greatest in the league, where’s the trophy?”
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Track 16: ‘Clara Bow’
The album concludes with the song “Clara Bow,” which was cowritten with Aaron. Taylor sings about achieving success as a singer after many people told her she wouldn’t make it, while she also details the downside of fame.
“Beauty is a beast and roars down on all fours, demanding more. Only when your girlish glow flickers just so do they let you know,” she sings. “It’s hell on earth to be heavenly, that’s the race they don’t come gently. ‘You look like Taylor Swift in this light, we’re loving it.’”
The song was named after Clara, who was one of the biggest stars of the silent film era in the 1920s. Throughout her career, Clara became an icon of sexual freedom for women among her fans.
