Megan Brownell social media editor
On April 19, 2024, while fans were excitedly listening to Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” (TTPD), Swift surprised them at 2 a.m. EST with 15 more songs. Titled “TTPD: The Anthology,” Swift shared a secret second part of the album for listeners to enjoy.
While the original album ends on “Clara Bow,” this second half starts with “The Black Dog.” This song was a part of the four deluxe tracks already announced, as each one was a bonus track on four variants. These four all hit streaming in The Anthology, with the others being “The Manuscript,” “The Albatross,” and “The Bolter.”
Starting off strong, “The Black Dog” is definitely my favorite track. While it is hard to pick one, I always find myself going back to “The Black Dog.” This song follows the theme of her breakup singing about a bar called The Black Dog, where he goes with a new girl post-breakup. You can really hear the emotion in her voice the entire song, and the lyrics were crafted perfectly to tell the story.
The Anthology tracks almost all show off Swift’s incredible writing skills and even the perfect ways she sings those lyrics. “How Did It End?” is another great example of this fantastic writing. While the whole album shares Swift’s pain after breakups with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, this song leans into the tale of a couple coming to an end. It almost feels like a pull where she knows fans question how they ended, but you never really find out. The bridge in this song is what really does it for me. It shows why she is the queen of bridges, hearing so much emotion that makes you feel it yourself.
While many songs shared her pain, there was one in particular that stands out to show her current status. “So High School” sings all about how in love she is with current boyfriend, Travis Kelce. It is obvious it is one of Swift’s favorites too, being the only Anthology track to make the Eras Tour setlist. She even recently walked out to it at the Grammys opposed to her popular single “Fortnight.” It is a very adorable song, feeling so high school with the football player falling in love with her like her 2008 song “You Belong with Me.”
The entire album closes out with “The Manuscript.” Swift couldn’t have picked a better closing song for this album. One thing that was somewhat expressed with this album was that she had already moved on from this period in life and was more an album for the fans to share her story. This ending song fits it perfectly, as the song goes through starting a relationship, to the end, the hardships of that end, and eventually growing and being able to completely move on from it. The closing line is the cherry on top: “Now and then I reread the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.” This insinuates her being moved on and showing the growth that she has gained from those hardships.
Just when TTPD seemed perfect at midnight back in April, Swift made it even better with 15 more tracks as a 2 a.m. surprise. Even after being released for 10 months now, I still find myself going back to this album or skipping songs until I hit one from TTPD. They are incredible, and her songwriting was put on display beautifully in all 31 tracks. I give The Anthology a 10/10, and while this album has shown to not appeal to some people who just maybe aren’t huge fans, it appeals to those big fans who are more invested in Swift and that’s what I adore.