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Publication: The Torch, , Valparaiso University , Valparaiso, IN
Coming off of one of the best years ever seen in the music industry, including a record-breaking tour and a Time’s Person of the Year win, Taylor Swift had a seemingly impossible task to one-up herself with the release of her newest project, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Coming in at a mammoth 31 songs and over a two-hour runtime if you listen to it in its complete “The Anthology” form, one would think that record would be packed full of powerful tracks diving into the depths of the singer/songwriter’s brain. Instead, what we received is one of the most self-indulgent, creatively bankrupt and genuinely head-scratching releases I have ever seen from an artist of Swift’s stature.
Let me preface this review by saying that I am far from a critic of Swift. I’ve gone on record saying that she is one of the best songwriters of our generation and has put out one of my favorite records of the decade so far...