decoding The Tortured Poets Department.
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 05. 2024
- Wake up with "morning glory", the new podcast hosted by Brad Evans.
episode 16, the longest single episode of the pod yet as I deep dive into The Tortured Poets Department by the one and only Taylor Swift. Today I tackle the first 16 tracks and if you guys enjoy this I'll come back to do the remaining 15 tracks as part of the Anthology. Enjoy!! xoxo
Main Channel: / @bradevans21
Hope you guys enjoyed this video if so please be sure to like, comment and SUBSCRIBE!! Share with your friends too!!
Email for enquiries: brad@areyouplush.com
Socials:
linktr.ee/bradleyy_y
oh yes sir give us a part 2. you genuinely are so good at these, and decoding isn't easy.
I just started the video and i felt so validated when you said how people who don't like Taylor make it their mission to make others who do like her admit "that the record is bad" it's so weird!! If I don't like an artist I just don't like them or if I like an artist and don't like their album I just say it's not for me. I don't go out of my way to make others agree that it's bad. So weird!!
At 01:41:50 when he goes "How about you fuck off and you get over your bullshit babes" LMAO I love you Brad you absolutely get ittt
Miss Tay Tay is going to have a new professor in the Tortured Poets Department
also brad the building up like waves in guilty as sin? is referencing her... alone time in bed. lol. now listen to that whole verse with that in mind its CRAZYYY she makes it sound so classy tho. slay
The part about my bedsheets are ablaze, crashing waves, screaming his name is about intensly self loving if you know what i mean👀and I LOVE IT, I love the way she wrote that
also i personally would loooove a similar deep dive with the anthology!! i think a lot of the songs on that side are even moreso story-based and poetic and id love hearing your interpretations of them all!!
I don't see anyone talking about the lyic 'For so long, London, stitches undone' and I REALLY think it needs to be brought to the forefront of everyone's attention 😂
She says 'stitches undone' and in 'Glitch' she says 'I think there's been a glitch, Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch'
It's like the 'glitch' is over and it actually was just a glitch.
I love how there are allusions to other past songs and she connects and weaves them all together. That's an art in and of itself. So good
Also, I made it to the end and would love an Anthology analysis!
I’ve been returning to Glitch too! To me, that’s a Matty Song now. Omg- alsoooo- ´stitch’ from So Long London /Glitch anddddd ‘embroidered memories/ stitching we were just kids babe’ in LOML
!!!!
WHERES THE ANTHOLOGY BRAD WHAT???
But like, actually!! I personally liked The anthology more, and I’m soo looking forward for Brad’s reaction and comments about it 😅
He said on Discord that he'd make a separate video bc if he did both in one it'd be too long dw it's coming lmao
"That child's play back in school" in The Alchemy... I think it can be referencing one of two things. 1. The Kiss Marry Kill game from 2016 that Travis played. Or 2. Travis got kicked off the football team in college for testing positive for drugs. Either way, both were child's play and she's forgiven him.
I can’t wait for your take on The Anthology…you’re so meticulous in your breakdown and I love hearing your interpretations! I definitely feel like The Anthology dives even DEEPER into the central narrative and explains/elaborates on a lot of the songs on the main album…which is amazing. Can’t wait for the next video (and in particular Chloe et al!!!!!)
Also I know you’re probably not a fan of The 1975 but as someone who is…hearing songs from Matty’s perspective talking about his delusions of grandeur, his tendencies to self-sabotage and his issues with commitment and being sincere…like…Taylor’s read on him is fairly accurate 😭 Your take on the “sandcastles he destroys” line reminded me of a lyric in When We Are Together (“I’m better at writing” was just a way to get you biting…)
Either way, the decade of history between Taylor and Matthew is kinda integral context to how melodramatic Taylor sounds on a lot of these songs.
Oh thank god, I found another the 1975 fan here. This album and the central narrative will not leave my brain, I need Matty's response 😅
@@KarolinaK00 i hope he’s honest in his response like I’m ready
Time stamps🫶🏼
intro 00:00
fortnight 04:58
the tortured poets department 14:59
my boy only breaks his favourite toys 19:54
down bad 29:37
so long, london 34:27
but daddy i love him 47:19
fresh out the slammer 57:42
florida!!! 1:05:41
guilty as sin? 1:09:29
who's afraid of little old me? 1:14:59
i can fix him (no really i can) 1:21:49
loml 1:24:10
i can do it with a broken heart 1:29:45
the smallest man who ever lived 1:34:32
the alchemy 1:42:19
clara bow 1:45:32
you broke this album down so well Brad and i'd love to see your take on the anthology!🫶🏼
thank you for doing this!
I think your lyrical interpretations are spot on… maybe because they completely align with my own fathomings. Even when you had two theories about what something meant, I think both were probably correct as Taylor does love a double meaning. I also agree that some of the songs are about both relationships… that maybe there were some similarities in how they both broke her heart. Although the rebound relationship with Matty was very brief in comparison to that 6 year commitment with Joe and thus it seems shocking to us that she’d feel this much about it to have this much to say… in reality, it had been a 10-year situationship / friendship before it was a 2-week romance. So she’s mourning the loss of that longer friendship as much as she’s crying about abrupt end of the romance. Also, if I’d been in her shoes, I would have felt so duped by Matty and questioning if I’d been enticed away from my long term domestic partnership with promises of true love and a future together and all I ever wanted, and then basically be told “psych!” once I had blown up my own life to be with this cowboy/rogue/con man who tricked me.
1:11:43 babe, “my bedsheets are ablaze, I screamed his name, building up like waves”? It’s an orgasm 😂 but also, definitely what you were talking about, “over my grave” is a reference to the death of the relationship
1:16:21 I think this is a song more directed to Kimye but mostly SB. The joke lines, the teeth line, the “you caged me and then called me crazy”… especially after hearing Cassandra I figured she fathomed some things while re-recording reputation (or she’s just now more free to say them)… all the bullying she was put through by SB and his clients might have been a strategy to make her small so she could be controlled by SB when he was to buy her masters… she literally says here, tell me it’s not about me, but what if it is? They didn’t do it to hurt me, but what if they did? Like, what if this was the plan all along? I am so excited about the Cassandra breakdown btw, are we getting an Anthology reaction? ❤
I have no idea how you’ve resisted listening to the entire anthology, I applaud your self restraint! I cannot wait to hear you dissect the second half of the album as there’s a lot of lyrical storytelling in so many of the songs. Some of my absolute favorite songs are from the second half of the anthology, and I really would love to hear you discuss them!!
We want the deep dive into the anthology and also the reaction video to it.
100% agree that the hospital lines are in reference to MH and the jail is JA. Excited for you video about TTPD The Anthology.
COME AWN QUALITY
I loveee theses videos/podcasts so much ❤
Brad!!! You absolute legend! I am only about 15 minutes in and I have already shared this video with three friends, I know I am going to listen to this about 10 times, and I am living my very best life! I can tell you right now that I would definitely want a parttwo! Even if you just put it on Patreon. I love hearing your thoughts and this is an absolute joy to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! ❤❤❤
Yes love. Please give the part 2. This is so amazing like. like the way you envision things is AMAZING.
I loved your insight on the tracks. Really well done! Thank you.
An extra long episode for TTPD is just the perfect birthday gift, thanks Brad xx
Thank you king for your service
Would loveeeeeeee a part 2 for the anthology. Also really enjoying your breakdown so far Brad x 💚 (Morning glory but in the evening is usually the way it goes for me🤣)
I see everyone taking the 'I would kill myself' line it TPD as them saying it seriously. I hear it as tongue in cheek like 'OMG I would die if he left or kill myself' but in a lighthearted way. Not actually killing themselves.
THANK YOU BRAD CANT WAIT TO WATCH THIS I ALREADY KNOW IM GONNA HAVE A GREAT TIME
Thank you so much for your Fresh Out The Slammer appreciation! It really is such a sultry sexy song and It wasn’t one I was crazy about at first either but it really grew.
This is my first time seeing your channel. LOVE your analysis! I’ve listened to this album so many times but you’re helping me see insights I never thought of!!
First time i catch a video this early🎉And watching you while currently visiting the UK hits different 🥰
I love these videos so much❤️❤️ also did you do a reaction of The Anthology or are you just going to make this kind of video for Anthology?
This is the first video of yours I’ve watched. Loved your entire analysis! It seems you really put a lot of effort into it. As for top 3, what comes to mind are I Can Do It with a Broken Heart (love me a sad bop), loml and Who’s Afraid. I’ve been listening to all 31 songs since the drop and I’m just now getting to the point where I foresee there will be skips.
I looveee the analysis!!!! Please do the Anthology deep dive ❤❤
Hey! New fan I just found your channel!! :) Amazing video, I love your video!! I need to see if there's a part 2! :)
To truly understand this album we need to know about her relationships. She and Matty had a short situation in 2014 and then she started a relationship with Calvin Harris. And I also think some of the songs are in order.
So my interpretation of fortnight is that matty and tay had a short situation in 2014 but after it ended they would run in to each other at events with other people. “My husband is cheating” could mean Calvin going to “massage” places.
Based on her songs her feelings about matty never went away and this whole folklore trilogy isn’t all that fictional.
Towards the end of her relationship with Joe she wanted to get back with matty hence guilty as sin.
I really love your take on this album it makes sense to me
I made it to the end :) Loved it and would definitely watch part 2.
Would love a part 2!!
Brad keeping me company for 2 hours as I clean my house and pack my bags. Go on luv x
love this, would love if you did a deep dive into the anthology
Heyyyyy~~
Definitely watched till the end🥰
i really liked this deep dive and would love it if you did the anthology as well!
Hey Brad, made it to the end! 😂
TTPD is quickly becoming one of my favorite Taylor albums! My top 3 (at the moment because it’s ALWAYS changing lol) are Guilty as Sin?, loml, and But Daddy I Love Him 🤍 vastly different vibes in those 3, but I love them!
Don't have a top 3, struggling to choose top 20 😅
Great reaction!
In relation to "Fortnight" - when she's saying his wife waters flowers and her husband is cheating, she's trying to describe a situation where the relationship is dying, but no one has officially called it quits, and they both act like polite neighbors. I read somewhere a theory that says this song contains references to plenty of other songs in the album, that's why Texas and Florida are mentioned here to.
Well said! 👏 You’re a kind person.👍🏼
And yes, Anthology! 💯👍🏼
TTPD is a masterpiece PERIOD 🤌🏻
omgggg yay i was waiting for this ❤❤
Brad! I had the exact same 'Taylor imagining a grim future for herself' interpretation of Fortnight! Love this for us (but sad for Taylor)
I love that you assume I won’t listen to you for 4-5 hours 💕
I agree, this entire album is amazing. The more I listen the more I grow to love each song. My top three are Guilty as Sin, the TPD, and My Boy.. but changes daily lol!
Yes please the anthology!
Guess what. This was brilliant! You didn’t hesitate to go into some of the harder parts, like ‘push pins’ on SMWEL. That line always confused me but I love your read of it! Also your read on the Jehovah’s suit 🤯 and how the title of loml mirrors how the author was deceived 🤯
I’m so seated for the Anthology- give us your annotations!
"Push pins" also makes me think of it being temporary. When you hang something up with a push pin it's not meant to stay there permanently, otherwise you'd use a nail or screw. So is like she is saying that, for a time, he "idolised" her. Which also ties in with Chloe or Sam...where she says "You turned me into an idea of sorts"
I think Fortnight referencing husbands/wives etc. is totally about her watching an ex move on. It reminds me of the lines in Chloe or- “you saw my bones out with somebody new” and the concept of “you just watched it happen”. As in, they’re forced to be in the same metaphorical “neighborhood” (aka Industry) and have to see each other move on with new people. They have to play nice and make small talk (“comment on my sweater”) and pretend they don’t hate each others’ new partners
Made it to the end! Down bad, guilty as sin and the alchemy are my top 3 in no order!!!
AHH Im so ready for this!!!
i loved each and every song. i'm specifically more attached to fortnight because it's eerily but beautifully reminiscent to anti hero which is another fave of mine!!
Just subbed for part 2!!!!❤😊
Yeees the anthology is NEEDED
So lovely to have such a positive reaction to the album. I love it so much! - the reaction and the album. Top 3 for me: Florida!!!, Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, and Down Bad. The drama in all three is *chefs kiss*
Hi Brad, I made it to the end.
Too 3 areeee
1. Guilty as sin
2. Loml
3. So long London
Also, dead at the Cher Lloyd posters 😂😂
Good morning , Brad.💙✌️
Yes on pas de deux.
I was doing this list in my head of how she uses one head metaphor as a theme in almost every song on TTPD, and tried to pin the motivation for choosing those metaphors. Especially when it comes to My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, I found it interesting to uncomplicate the head metaphor for the song, i.e toys and playing. It to me says that it is a childish, immature relationship with an immature partner (who she enables).
I just felt so smart for dumbing it down lol. Of course, in a Taylor Swift song, there is at least like three possible menings to every word, including literary references, and the individual metaphors can be analyzed and contextualized. But it was fun identifying the head metaphors, for those of us who like to do that in our spare time.
Brad, you ate that 🤍
Loved this and hung on your every word. I haven't seen anything like this reaction and I've watched a lot of reactions. One thing - I took the ashes on the windowsill as literally ashes from Matty smoking and not from a Phoenix. Just a possibility.
Please do the Anthology. Please! It will take even longer I think.
Thank you so much!
Is there a donation avenue?
Would love an anthology decoding as well!
Loved the video! I watched the entire thing 😍
My Top 3:
1. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
2. Florida
3. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
My favorite tracks rn
1. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
2. Guilty as Sin?
3. The Bolter
4. loml
5. So long, London
6. Down Bad
7. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
8. The Prophecy
9. Fresh out the Slammer
10. But Daddy I Love Him
11. The Black Dog
12. The Manuscript
13. The Tortured Poets Department
14. imgonnagetyouback
I love the storytelling and cinematic production so much. This album is very raw and expressive. I love it. my favorite tracks are always changing.
I made it to the end. Guilty As Sin is my favorite on the 1st 16 but I like many others.
Thank you for keeping me company with this breakdown! Must tell you that you have lovely handwriting, and the little alien doodles was so cute! That's exactly how I take notes on her songs as well 😅
My top 3 are (not including The Anthology):
1. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart 💔
2. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived 🤏
3. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? 🎪
Needing Anthology!!!
The way I ended up becoming a Tay Swift listener is because of this album
Interesting to hear this after seeing the TTPD set and how close you were with the imagery - down bad especially!
also, having been the serial also-ran to many men, i can state it hurts a LOT. 😩😩
And, 1:41:00 - GO AWF KING ✌🏻✌🏻
46:10 this is exactly my thoughts on their demise, this song and her feelings on it. It seems like depression played a huge role and that's so sad. Her lyrics describe the soul crushing stuggle...carrying the weight of the rift, pulling him closer when he started to drift away. She tried so hard to help and support and stick by him (her white-knuckle dying grip) but, like you said, you can't fix someone else. He needed to want to change for himself, show effort and put the work in. Sometimes people with depression don't even remember what it was like when they didn't feel that way and don't even try to change it (sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days)
Eventually she hit her limit and it became detrimental to her (how much sad did you think I had, how low did you think I'd go) and she had to put her well-being and happiness first.
You also mentioned about sometimes you are mentally out of the relationship before you physically leave and I agree. She wanted it to work so badly, but could see nothing she was doing could save him and save them.
Just a sad situation and shows the effects mental health can have on the individual person, but also the people around them.
would love to see your opinion on the anthology because i love it even more !!
1:16:12 I always saw this part, but especially "crash the party like a record scratch", as like the people who claim to hate her so much, but they're still listening to her music. And it reminds me of when Kim went through that weird stint during Speak Now TV era where she was posting about how much she loved it and how big of a fan she is, but then she's gonna stay complicit about everything she watched Kanye do and she still hangs out with Karlie. I don't think it's exclusively about her by any means, but is definitely like everyone in the industry seems to hate Taylor or be annoyed by her success, but at the end of the day, she's still the topic of conversation and if they don't want her to be so popular, why continue to discuss her?
Are we getting a reaction and podcast for the anthology? Or is it too difficult with copyright? I totally get it if it's not possible, but I just genuinely think your reactions/deep-dives to Taylor are some of the best out there!
Would love to see The Anthology reaction!
personally, with fortnight i took it as male love interest is emotionally married/ cheating with someone else and Taylor is emotionally married to male love interest, when she says he is cheating she knows that while she is in it for the long haul she knows he isn't.
and with guilty as sin? building up like waves, crashing over my grave is her referencing m*sterbating to the thought of him, finishing and passing out because of the rush
also love ur vids hope to see a part 2 ur amazing
🥰
Passing out? Girl wtf LMAO NO. It is describing an orgasm yes but the crashing over "my grave " as I took it is because she knows she shouodn't be fantasizing about another man, it has to do with the feelings of guilt and the feeling of 'impending doom' for the death of the relationship that had already ran its course.
@@priiifrg if that’s how u interpret it great, this was how I took it and after researching a lot of lyric sites like genius agree with what I said :)
This analysis was brilliant. Also, not to be weird, but you have lovely hands. 🙌
I would happily take a part 2 deep dive of the other songs! Personally my top 3 that I find myself listening to again are I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, Down Bad, and Fortnight.
I made it to the end. Your voice lowers my anxiety 😏. I also skip the sad ballads cause I don’t need to cry THAT much 😅. Who’s afraid of little old me is a fave and guilty as sin?
Please do The Anthology! You are awesome
thank you for your service king. i made it to the end and my top 3 of the regular album would have to be 1. fresh out the slammer 2. so long, london 3. down bad. honorable mentions from the anthology would be The Prophecy and and Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus!!!!
Great analysis ... I think Taylor and Matty knew each other for 10 years tho so it may have only been a romantic thing for a few weeks, they did know each other much longer so she might be referencing long term.
My theory about Fortnight is that the first verse and chorus are Joe coded… “forever running”. They are “married” but became estranged so they only talk about the weather and act like neighbours. She’s the wife that she wants to kill
The second verse chorus move to MH who’s waiting at the mailbox… becoming more than a “neighbour who ‘comments’… “together running” she wants to ‘kill’ her long term relationship and run away to Florida but it only lasts a Fortnight.
Made it to the end ❤ ya!
I also think that the alchemy sounds very similar to rose colored glasses by Miley Cyrus, it’s a beautiful vibe
I am still up at 4 am in America. Can't believe that I got to see this get posted.
“I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out” I took to mean like, she got in a relationship with him but didn’t feel included or wasn’t included in activities he had with friends and family, I see her staying “at the house by the Heath” as he went out and worked and had a life, and came home to “tolerate it” with her if you will
my current top 3 (i made it to the end😌)
but daddy I love him
so long, London
Florida!!!
You're the first person I've seen thats said what I was thinking re Florida!!!. She personified Joe as London - grey, dreary, depressing. Florida is her doing the same to Matty - Wild, seedy and sweaty lol I think loml is the best written, most crushing song on the album. But of this half of the album I find myself randomly singing 1 I can do it with a broken heart 2 Down Bad 3 Guilty as Sin.
Made it to the end! My top three are Down Bad, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart 💔 🎉
36:05 maybe the saying can't see the forest for the trees ?
You gotta take it further back in the relistening of old albums because Matty is woven into a bunch… especially folklore. They might have been fictional characters but based on her true feelings.
👑💜YOUNG ROYALS FOREVER BABY💜👑
Part 2 please
Hi Brad! I made it to the end
made it to the end and my top three of the standard album are my boy only breaks his fav toys, whos afraid of little old me, and guilty as sin?
Guilty as Sin… the verse is
“My bedsheets are ablaze 🔥
I screamed his name
Building up like waves
Crashing over my grave…”
I think the building waves are def an orgasm 😂
Hoping to get your reaction to the Anthology on your orher channel and a deep dive here.
“I’m hoping we can keep this under two hours.”
Video: 1:56:00
😂😂😂
Hi Brad, will you be uploading your reaction to the Anthology to CZcams or Patreon? Hope you’re having a great day💖