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Swift-mania reached a fever pitch this week when the singer released The Tortured Poets Department, an unrelenting 31-song double album that reads like a jilted teenager’s diary.

The album may also have finally prompted people to start wondering: Is it all getting a bit too much now?

Okay fine, if you are a Swiftie the answer will be an emphatic NO, and you’d likely point to her success as proof that the world demands more Swift, not less. However several publications are beginning to ask the question of whether the hype is getting out of hand, and if the more-is-more ethos of online streaming services is driving the mania instead of actual, well, substance.

Now don’t get your sequenced mini-dress in a knot, I am not implying that the singer’s success is not justified. There is no denying that Taylor Swift is indeed an incredibly talented singer and one helluva performer. But scenes of grown-ass people weeping on the sidewalk while clutching a vinyl should give anyone a vague sense of disquiet.

And it is a feeling that has only solidified online in the days following the release of The Tortured Poets Department, which morphed from a simple 16-song album into a 31-song epic hours after its release.

Many critics (including The New York Times) have suggested that the album was ‘overstuffed and simply not her best’. And critics have now opened the door to complaints that Swift has not yet faced during her world-conquering recent run.

“It’s almost like if you produce too much… too fast… in a brazen attempt to completely saturate and dominate a market rather than having something important or even halfway interesting to say… the art suffers!”

This is not to say nobody listened to the album; far from it. Spotify said since it was released on Friday, it has become the most-streamed album in a single day – with more than 300 million streams.

The first days of the album’s release have been greeted with the usual lyrical dissections for clues hidden within the songs, attention to every word that few other albums receive. If you ever crossed Swift in any way, you are bound to be nervous as the millions of fans decide who to hate based on what the lyrics have to say.

But others, including some self-identified Swift fans, have freely admitted frustration. Fans and critics alike have contended that Swift’s lyrics have become “a tad verbose” and that the tracks on this latest album — many of them breakup songs — sound a lot like others she has already put out.

The internet has also provided an almost unlimited supply of jokes about the length of the album.

Woman Doing Her Best to Like New Taylor Swift Album Lest She Face the Consequences: https://t.co/yqNQ8by6QW pic.twitter.com/BNbIg5o2s2

— Reductress (@Reductress) April 19, 2024

I’ve been a Taylor fan since 2006, so this is tough: I don’t think this is a good album. It feels like she internalized “more words = art” post-folklore. A 31-track album that boldly asks: what if there are two good songs on the front half?

— Nick Hutchins (@nicholasrhutch) April 19, 2024

Some chided Swift for selling so many versions of “Poets” only to double its size after those orders were in, part of a “cynically corporate rollout”.  The Daily Mail even put together what it deemed “The 10 WORST lyrics in Taylor Swift’s new album — ranked!”

Those who dare to publicly criticise Swift are very much aware of the potential for backlash. Paste Magazine even removed a byline from its harsh review of Swift’s album, citing safety concerns for the writer. To anyone not weeping over a mediocre album, this sounds a lot like cult behaviour. And therein lies a large part of my own criticism.

Taylor Swift has become so big, that any opposition to her music is fiercely shut down, without giving pause to think about whether it may be justified. “How dare you say she can not walk on water! She can!”

“It might be a tough few days for the fanbase,” Nathan Hubbard, a co-host of the Ringer podcast, “Every Single Album,” wrote in a social media thread about “Poets” on Friday.

“Fans will hear some valid criticism they aren’t used to (if the critics dare), and for many, they’ll have to reconcile their own truth that this isn’t their favourite, while still rightly celebrating it and supporting her.”

Indeed, grinding through the 31-song double album after midnight had felt like “a hostage situation,” Hubbard wrote.

The hyper-focus on all things Taylor is not doing the music world any favours. While universities are hosting Swift studies, and the Grammy Awards are stubbornly sticking to TikTok’s opinion, there is a legion of amazing (dare I say, better) musicians wilting in the shadows of the lucrative juggernaut that is Taylor Swift.

Even the NFL seemed to have bowed down to the singer after the recent playoffs between ‘her boyfriend and the other team’ saw the cameras panning towards her losie almost as much as to the coaches.

No man, it’s enough now. If you want inspiring and profound lyrics check out the sadly overlooked Sarah Bettens from K’s Choice, or the mournful sounds of the unknown genius that is Kai Engel. Stop pretending that popular musicians are the only musicians.

Just because McDonald’s sells a billion burgers, doesn’t mean it’s the best and only burger in town. It’s not.

[source:nytimes]