The Tortured Poets Department: Every Celebrity That Taylor Swift Has Sang About in Her Latest Album- Explained
Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on April 19, after the artist surprised her fans by announcing the album at the Grammy Awards 2024 in February. The highly anticipated album is a double album, with the second part titled The Anthology.
The 31-track album has songs that explore Swift’s outlook and psyche in her public and personal lives with a mix of emotions of sorrow, self-awareness, humor, and melodrama. The critics have dubbed the album a success, with her fans raving about the intense and in-depth lyrics that showcase her honest self. Throughout her album, Taylor Swift has very swiftly called out and mentioned various celebrities, giving her fans and publications some digging up to do.
Taylor Swift name-drops celebrities in The Tortured Poets Department
There is no question about how raw and honest Taylor Swift’s music has been over the years, and the artist is not afraid to put her feelings out in the form of a song. Her recent studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, is no different, as she very mildly drops the names of celebrities, some hidden and some direct, out there in her 31-track list.
1. Charlie Puth: The Tortured Poets Department
The title track, The Tortured Poets Department, features the name of Charlie Puth as the singer sings, “You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.”
Charlie Puth is regarded as one of the most talented artists in the industry by fans, but his contributions to the music industry have not always been given the recognition they deserve. So when Taylor Swift sang that he should be a bigger artist, fans not only resonated with it but also praised the artist for always being the one to encourage other artists.
2. Kim Kardashian: ThanK you, aIMee
Not surprised. Taylor Swift decided to use the opportunity of her eleventh studio album to call out beauty mogul Kim Kardashian. Kardashian and her former husband, Kanye West, had allegedly tried to sabotage Swift’s career. The beauty mogul has supposedly never apologized for the situation, but while addressing it, she noted that she thinks everything that happened was a long time ago and all of the parties involved must have moved on. Turns out Swift wanted to take the last shot.
In the song, Swift allegedly calls out Aimee [Kim], a high school bully who threatens to push her down the stairs and wrote headlines in the newspaper hinting at the infamous call recording that the reality TV star posted online. Fans pointed out that the use of the name Aimee is also a nod to Britney Spears’ song If U Seek Amy. She sings, “And so I changed your name and any real defining clues/And one day, your kid comes home singing’/A song that only us two is gonna know is about you.” Kim Kardashian has not responded to the song.
3. Matt Healy: The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, Fresh Out the Slammer
Taylor Swift’s fling with The 1975 frontman Matt Healy had garnered attention following her split from Joe Alwyn, but the romance soon fizzled out. She references their romance in various songs of her album, like Fortnight, which is a British term to describe two weeks, suggesting their short-lived romance. In her song Guilty as Sin, the artist mentioned that someone from her past has been sending her The Downtown Lights from the Scottish band The Blue Nile, which turns out to be one of Healy’s favorite bands.
Swift does not stop with it, in her song The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, she sings that she was allegedly ghosted by the singer. In her song Fresh Out of the Slammer, which is known to be a post-breakup song, Swift sings that she was probably the girl of his American dreams, allegedly addressing the concerns her fans had while she was dating him in her song I Can Fix Him (No Really, I Can). Towards the end of the song, she sings that she has learned the hard way that sometimes one cannot change people.
4. Joe Alwyn: So Long London, LOML
Taylor Swift’s split from her actor Joe Alwyn came as a shock to the entire world, and given the lyrics of So Long London, the split surprised the artist too, who thought that he was going to be her forever. She allegedly calls Alwyn the London Boy and sings, “You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?/ I died on the altar waiting for the proof.” Further, she sings, “Just how low did you think I’d go?/Before I’d self-implode/Before I’d have to go free.”
These lyrics suggest that the breakup was hard on her as she tried her best to make it work, and towards the end, she wishes him good luck in finding someone. Fans have considered this track her most devastating goodbye to the actor. Also, it cannot be denied that Joe Alwyn, along with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, have a group chat named Tortured Man Club. In her song LOML, she explains that there was so much more that the actor promised her but couldn’t fulfill.
5. Travis Kelce: The Alchemy
Taylor Swift wasn’t going to leave her man behind in her most honest and raw studio album, her song The Alchemy, she sings, ‘The greatest in the league/Where’s the trophy?/He just comes running over to me.’ The lyrics are about the viral kiss between the couple after Travis Kelce’s team won the Super Bowl.
A source shared with E! News that Travis Kelce is very proud of her and very supportive of her art, and he loves the fact that he gets to be a part of her story. Kelce’s mother, Donna, shared with People that she listened to The Tortured Poets Department on the day it was released, and she was left impressed by the artist.
The Tortured Poets Department is out now on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
