Taylor Swift’s newest studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, is a breath of fresh air creating songs through poetry. This album includes a highly anticipated masterpiece, “So Long, London.”
The fifth track on the album, “So Long, London,” stands out for many reasons. This is a classic breakup song from Swift, coming out of her six-year relationship with her ex-boyfriend from London. Swift uses the phrase “So Long London” in two different ways throughout the song. She waves goodbye to the city and the relationship, which is a clever way to write the song on her part. The lyric that brings the song together is,”For so long, London stitches undone. Two graves, one gun. I’ll find someone.” This lyric is her expressing that the relationship is over, and she’s made it out and is ready to move on. Taylor’s effortless songwriting makes the song enjoyable and impressive while listening to the track.
A connection Swift made through “So Long, London” and the song “Call It What You Want” from her sixth studio album Reputation continues to express the passion and thoughtfulness she puts into her work. The beginning notes of “So Long, London,” mirrors the beginning notes to “Call it What you Want,” which is a love song about her same boyfriend. This creativity from Swift creates great symbolism and expresses the emotional depth in the music and the rest of the album.
Swift’s talent for writing every song she puts out is a skill that is hard to beat, and this album represents it. The title of the album literally translates to how poetic her lyrics are. Each track, specifically “So Long, London” tells a story through the lyricism and makes the song easy to connect.
There were a few tracks that were underwhelming compared to the rest of the album, like “Fresh Out the Slammer” and “I Can Fix Him(No Really I Can).” The tempo on these felt boring and redundant and didn’t add anything special to the album. These two are not memorable songs from The Tortured Poets Department.
The Tortured Poets Department is a well-rounded album full of variety in several songs. It’s worth listening to Swifties and an excellent way to get into Swift’s music.
