THE TORTURED CARTOONISTS DEPARTMENT
The excruciating wait for Taylor Swift's new album (and cartoons)
THIS WEEK:
The torturous wait for Taylor Swift’s new album
“Where Are They Now?” The CrossStitch Games!
BEHIND THE PAY WALL: Literal torture
In my early 20s, I was talking with a coworker at my day job and made the mistake of being vulnerable and candid about my woes as a newly minted professional in the cartooning and illustration fields. He was delighted! He gleefully pointed at me with a watermelon slice smile and exclaimed “You’re a tortured artist! I know a tortured artist!” How fun for him.
As you all know, Taylor Swift’s 11th album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, comes out on Friday! Join the tortured cartoonists for a few laughs and album predictions!
What are your thoughts/predictions for THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT? Let’s discuss!
Frega: Will there be talk about dying? Marriage? Motherhood?
These are all real songs. Wye Oak’s “I Hope You Die” is actually a great indie song.
Say! We’ve actually got a Buddy and Romeo playlist on Spotify! Enjoy!
Frega: I think it’s going to be very moody.
DiPerri: There’s a lot of speculation around what the album will sound like. Some predict it will be a continuation of what we heard on Midnights while others are hoping this will finally be the long wanted jazz album. Based on the album’s visual aesthetics (branding, fashion, cover art), I really don’t think this is the jazz album. I think we’re headed back to 2011 (Hey! The year Frega and I met!) for a sound that’s a cross between The Civil Wars (haunted indie acoustic) and Florence and the Machine (emotionally charged indie fireworks). Florence and the Machine will feature on the track “Florida!!!” Coincidence? I doubt it!
Frega: Joe Alwyn is maybe… an intense person with a lot of feelings?
DiPerri: Frega told me that she read Joe Alwyn received $2.3 million in Spotify royalties for his William Bowery writing credits on her 2020 album Folklore. So I guess he’s a person with a lot of money too. Is this a reason to add Folklore to the “Do not stream” list along with her original “stolen” recordings? For me it is.
Frega: Extra vulnerable Taylor, maybe self-critical
DiPerri: Likely a pendulum swing from acceptance and confidence to despair and worthlessness.
DiPerri: According to Ally Sheehan of “A Girl Named Ally” (the definitive Taylor Swift YouTuber), Taylor Swift is a modern-day Clara Bow. Clara Bow was a silent film actress who rose to meteoric fame for her role in 1927’s It. I watched this film last month and found Bow’s performance charming and the film to be highly entertaining. Filmgoers at the time became obsessed with 22-year-old Bow but, as she was not yet a household name, she was referred to as “The It Girl.” That’s where “The It Girl” comes from and nearly 100 years after Clara Bow, Taylor Swift is “The It Girl.” I suspect this track will be an examination of the pressure and impossible standards that go along with bearing the weight of that label. Will those impossible standards and expectations relate to the demise of her relationship with Joe Alwyn? Was it all too much? Did a new “It Girl” enter Joe Alwyn’s life…?
Also as pointed out by Ally Sheehan, 2019’s Lover ends with “Daylight.” We weren’t supposed to get Folklore or Evermore but did because of the quarantine. So had the pandemic never happened and Folklore/Evermore never existed, “Daylight” would have lead into her next album, Midnights. The original bonus track version of Midnights (3 AM Edition) ends with the track “Dear Reader” and THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT title obviously deals with reading and writing. A couple months ago, it was announced that Taylor Swift is a direct descendent of poet Emily Dickinson.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT ends with “Clara Bow,” whose fame peaked in the late 1920s, early 1930s (she walked away from Hollywood at the height of her fame to raise her children…). Perhaps ending THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT with “Clara Bow” means her next album (album 12) will be the long anticipated jazz album? Perhaps we’ll find out in 2026…
What do you think?!
Bring your friends!
Have you read Scenes from the CrossStitch Games yet? Readers are calling Frega’s writing “Brilliant” and DiPerri’s illustrations “Stupendously creative!”
Check it out! While you’re over there, please clap for it (they do “claps” instead of “likes” over there, just because I guess), leave a comment, and highlight your favorite lines! We get paid for every view/read/clap/highlight/comment/follow so please do!
Read Scenes from the CrossStitch Games!
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