Taylor Swift 'The Tortured Poets Department' Song Meanings and Easter Eggs

Jessica Sager

April 19, 2024 at 10:59 PM·15 min read

Taylor Swift

Swifties (and the rest of the world) assumed that the song meanings behind Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department would be about her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn, but it turns out, Matty Healy—with whom Swift briefly rebounded from Alwyn—is the subject of most of the tracks, though Travis Kelce gets his fair share of Easter eggs as well.

Part of why that's surprising is that the album title was seen initially as a reference to Alwyn's group chat with fellow actors Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. While Alwyn is addressed somewhat in the album, Healy is the main character here.

Swift confirmed it in her own way in a written prologue in the liner notes of her physical albums.

She writes in part:

"as you might all unfortunately recall, i had been struck with a case of a restricted humanity which explains my plea here today of temporary insanity.
you see, the pendulum swings. oh, the chaos it brings leads the caged beast to do the most curious things.
lovers spend years denying what's ill fated, resentment rotting away, galaxies we created
stars placed and glued, meticulously by hand, next to the ceiling fan
tried wishing on comets tried dimming the shine. tried to orbit his planet. some stars never align. and in one conversation. i tore down the whole sky
spring sprung forth with dazzling freedom hues then a crash from the skylight bursting through. something old, someone hallowed, who told me he could be brand new.
and so i was out of the oven and into the microwave. out of the slammer and into a tidal wave. how gallant to save the empress from her gilded tower swinging a sword he could barely lift but loneliness struck at that fateful hour

She later describes the fling as "a mutual manic phase" and "self-harm," adding, "It was house and then cardiac arrest ... a smirk creeps onto this poet's face because it's the worst men that i write best."

Find out the Tortured Poets Department song meanings and Tortured Poets Department Easter eggs.

"Fortnight" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift's first single from The Tortured Poets Department and a duet with Post Malone, "Fortnight" describes a fictional (or at least hypothetical) frustration with married life. Swifties have speculated that "Fortnight" is, in a way, Swift looking back at her fling with Healy or her relationship with Alwyn from the future.

"The Tortured Poets Department" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

The title track sure sounds a lot like a romance with Healy: She describes choosing a "cyclone" with a partner who she describes as a "tattooed golden retriever." Comparing themselves unfavorably to Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas, Swift jokes that she and her lover are "modern idiots."

She also references Lucy Dacus of boygenius and Jack Antonoff, singing, "But you tell Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave / And I had said that to Jack about you So I felt seen." Healy is friends with boygenius, so do the math, kids.

"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Perhaps a reference to the "shiny toy" from "Cruel Summer" off of Lover, "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" could refer to Alwyn breaking her heart or equally to Healy, as Swifties believe he ghosted her after a brief fling—and they had a past history dating back to around 2014, which she may references in her lines "Down at the sandlot / I felt more when / We played pretend."

"Down Bad" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Opening with an alien abduction, Swift really leans into the crazy on "Down Bad," describing a fling so fleeting she feels that anyone she knows will doubt that it was "cosmic love."

"So Long, London" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Remember "London Boy" from Lover? Well, if this track is any indication, Swift fell suffocated by the push-pull of her relationship with Alwyn. The song insinuates that he may have suffered from depression ("You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days"), which may have in turn led him to push her away and not commit fully: "So how much sad did you think I had, did you think I had in me? / How much tragedy? / Just how low did you think I’d go ‘fore I’d self implode? / ‘Fore I’d have to go be free?"

She also, as in "You're Losing Me," indicates that she wanted to get married, and he didn't, evidenced by lines like "I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free" and "You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof."

"But Daddy, I Love Him" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swifties have speculated that "But Daddy, I Love Him" is either about her ex Harry Styles, who was once photographed wearing a shirt with the Little Mermaid quote on it, or, more likely, about her short-lived but highly publicized rebound romance with Healy after she and Alwyn split. However, in this scenario, it isn't King Triton who's grounding Ariel for falling in love with Prince Eric: It's the public (and many of her own fans) for criticizing her relationship.

"I just learned these people only raise you to cage you / Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best / Clutching their pearls, sighing 'What a mess,'" she laments. Later she gripes, "I’ll tell you something right now / I’d rather burn my whole life down / Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning." (Girl, same! Irony, thy name is Swift!)

She adds, "I’ll tell you something about my good name / It’s mine alone to disgrace I don’t cater to all these vipers / God saved the most judgmental creeps who say they want what’s best for me / Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see." (Again, she clearly saw them if she's writing a song about it.) She closes with, "All the wine moms are still holding out, but f—k ‘em, it’s over."

Healy and Swift's relationship came under fire for a few reasons, notably his appearance on Adam Friedland's podcast in which he discussed watching Black women be "brutalized" in pornographic videos and laughing along as Friedland made racist remarks about Ice Spice (who, conveniently, would very quickly appear on Swift's remix to "Karma").

The "vipers" are likely a reference to Swift's infamous Snake Era, a la Reputation, when Kim Kardashian used the emoji in reference to the notorious recorded phone call between Swift and Kanye West. And the wine moms? Sorry to break it to you, Swifties, but a lot of those are, well, you.

"Fresh Out the Slammer" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

As referenced in the prologue, Swift describes getting out of her relationship with Alwyn as being "fresh out the slammer" and running right to Healy and freedom. Or maybe she was writing Oz fan fic. Who can really be sure?

"Florida!!!" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Featuring Florence + the Machine, "Florida!!!" is all about vice and escaping your problems and regrets in the hot swamp that is the Sunshine State. And, you know, probably some substances.

"Guilty as Sin" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Do emotional affairs count? That's the question in "Guilty as Sin," which is rife with Christ imagery as Swift fantasizes about another man (i.e., Healy) freeing her from a proverbial tomb in which she's trapped with her current partner (i.e., Alwyn).

She may also have revealed that Healy may be subject of "Labyrinth" from Midnights with the line "One slip I’m falling back into the hedge maze, oh what a way to die."

"Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

In the vein of "Look What You Made Me Do" and "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things," "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" evokes Swift's recurrent themes of revenge and self-victimization, as well as her internal struggles with fame.

"I was tame, I was gentle 'till the circus life made me mean," she laments, later adding that she became this way because it's how she was "trained." She also addresses the importance of her "good name" as she did in "But Daddy I Love Him." Sounds like the heat from her relationship with Healy really got to her.

"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift learns the hard way that we can't fix the worst men—and that sometimes when your friends warn you about a bad partner, you should listen.

"loml" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

In "loml," the abbreviation changes meaning from the usual "love of my life" to "loss of my life" as Swift describes being love-bombed by an old flame who swears he's cleaned up his act. She likely is singing to Healy when she describes the song's target as "Mr. Steal Your Girl then make her cry."

Incidentally, "loml" is the same abbreviation Healy once used to caption a photo of his ex FKA Twigs on Instagram—using the traditional meaning.

"I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift sings of the difficulties of plastering on a happy face for the public and fans when she's crumbling inside after a breakup of a short-lived relationship, likely with Healy—because, well, she was with Alwyn for six years.

"They said, 'Babe, you gotta fake it till you make it,' and I did / 'Lights, camera, bitch, smile / Even when you wanna die / He said he'd love me all his life," she sings. "But that life was too short / Breaking down, I hit the floor / All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting more / I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks / 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart."

While Swift grapples with the difficulty of putting on a brave face in the face of heartbreak (possibly during the early days of her Eras Tour), she also boasts about her ability to do so, cracking in the closing line, "Try and come for my job."

"The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Yikes! It sounds like Healy may have ghosted Swift, who previously sang about ghosting others in "Antihero" from Midnights, as she sings, "You tried to buy some pills / From a friend of friends of mine / They just ghosted you / Now you know what it feels like." She also claims that the man in question put rust on her "sparkling summer," which tracks with her and Healy's timeline.

What's more, the title may be a cheeky reference to Healy's height, speculation about which he's been publicly (and humorously, to be fair) frustrated.

"The Alchemy" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Kelce gets a love song in "The Alchemy," in which Swift insinuates that her past British lovers (Styles, Alwyn and Healy) were just "blokes" who "warmed the benches" for her new love and all his beer-guzzling championship glory.

However, there are references early in the lyrics that hint that at least for a moment, she thought those blokes were warming the bench for Healy: "Hey you, what if I told you we’re cool? / That child’s play back in school is forgiven under my rule / I haven’t come around in so long / But I’m making a comeback to where I belong."

Swift also references heroin explicitly in the song, and Healy previously battled an addiction to the opiate.

"Clara Bow" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift compares herself to the original Hollywood It Girl Clara Bow, as well as to Stevie Nicks, in this ode to making it big and struggling with the trappings and pressures of fame and success. She can wipe her tears with one of her billion dollars.

"The Black Dog" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

"The Black Dog" isn't a canine, but a bar where she and (likely) Alwyn would frequent together. The song is about him accidentally forgetting to turn off his location sharing with her and re-entering the dive where they made so many memories together. She also name-drops the band The Starting Line in the track, and we advise you to listen to them—they're stellar.

"imgonnagetyouback" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift is torn between getting revenge on an ex or getting him back. She mentions smashing a lover's bike, which might allude to Healy's lyric "all we need is my bike and your enormous house" from The 1975 song "Fallingforyou."

Ironically, the theme is similar to that of "Get Him Back" by Olivia Rodrigo—who had to give Swift a hefty percentage of royalties for her song "Deja Vu" after saying she was inspired by Swift yelling in the bridge of "Cruel Summer." (For the record, though, Rodrigo insists there's no beef.)

"The Albatross" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

A midtempo pop ballad that would've fit on Red, "The Albatross" warns of a woman bent on revenge and the man who embarks on a romance with her despite it. Featuring one of the lines she previewed, the lyrics include "One less temptress / One less dagger to sharpen / Locked me up in towers / But I'd visit in your dreams / And they tried to warn you about me."

She then turns into a rescuer for her lover, warning him that "Wise men once read fake news and they believed it" and saving him from "jackals" that "raised their hackles." The theme of the track is the risk anyone takes when they embark on relationship with Swift and the fish bowl she lives in, and it could apply to just about anyone.

"Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift hints that a lover cheated on her in her apartment, singing that she saw him with "hands in the hair of someone in darkness / Named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus" and then saw her "out with someone new / Who seems like he would have bullied you in school."

The hypothetical bully may be football star Kelce (with "seems like" being the key phrase here, as he's generally regarded as a nice guy), and the lover she sings to sounds like Healy, as she also hints at a drug problem and a relationship with an "Internet starlet," as he was linked to models and influencers in the past as well as currently with Gabriette Bechdel.

She also references her song "Maroon," which means he may have inspired that Midnights track as well.

"How Did It End?" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Possibly about Alwyn, "How Did It End?" is wistful song about a relationship that ended and the speculation about it afterward. She never disses the subject of the song, instead focusing on the slow death of a romance similar to "You're Losing Me," singing about "death rattle breathing" and a "post-mortem."

"So High School" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

A love ode likely to Kelce, "So High School" is about the crush and butterflies Swift feels when she looks at her partner, singing, "Truth, dare, spin bottles / You know how to ball, I know Aristotle / Teach me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto / It's true, swear, scouts honor / You knew what you wanted, and, boy, you got her."

She also references an interview Kelce did long before they met when he was asked to kiss, marry, or kill her. Cute!

"I Hate It Here" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift hints that hiding away in her relationship with Alwyn was painful for her, despite saying while they were together that they both chose to be private (especially since she was in her own self-imposed media exile during her Reputation era when she claimed to be "canceled within an inch of her life").

"You see I was a debutante in another life, but / Now I seem to be scared to go outside," she sings, then hints an emotional affair or fantasies of escaping: "I hate it here so I will go to / Secret gardens in my mind / People need a key to get to / The only one is mine."

"thanK you aIMee" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

A diss track likely aimed at Kardashian (Swift isn't exactly subtle with her capitalization here), "thanK you aIMee" compares the reality starlet to a high school bully, lashing out with lines like "Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman / But she used to say she wished that you were dead."

Still, Swift insists she's doing fine now, thanking "Aimee" for inspiring "a thousand songs that you find uncool," adding, "I built a legacy which you can't undo / But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth / That there wouldn't be this, if there hadn't been you ... And maybe you've reframed it / And in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue / I don't think you've changed much / And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues." Can you hear the hissing?

"I Look In People's Windows" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Perhaps a wistful look back at her romances with Alwyn or Healy, Swift sings, "I look in people's windows / Transfixed by rose golden glows." In "Daylight" from Lover, she describes love as being "golden," and in "I Look In People's Windows," she mentions trains—which Alwyn has been seen riding and which Healy references in the 1975 song "About You."

"The Prophecy" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Another reference to "throttle" as in "So High School," billionaire Swift laments, "Please / I've been on my knees / Change the prophecy / Don't want money / Just someone who wants my company." It may be a sign of missing Alwyn, who, for better or worse, didn't care about her fame or money (see Midnights' "Sweet Nothing"), but is vague enough to be about simply being lonely.

"Cassandra" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Rife with imagery from Greek mythology, "Cassandra" references the prophet who was cursed to never be believed. It's yet another diss track likely aimed at the Kardashians ("so they filled my cell with snakes") and West, referencing his "Sunday Service" phase: "They knew, they knew, they knew the whole time / That I was onto something / The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line / They all said nothing / Blood's thick but nothing like a payroll / Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul."

It's been nearly 15 years since the VMAs incident and almost a decade since Swift's 2016 "cancellation."

"Peter" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

A song about a man with Peter Pan syndrome, Swift sings, "You said you were gonna grow up and then you'd come find me / Words from the mouths of babes / Promises oceans deep / But never to keep." She sings of an old love from when she and her partner were 25 and split, but wanted to reunite later, only to not work out yet again. That's the same age she and Healy were in 2014 when they were first linked.

Interestingly, she also mentioned "Peter losing Wendy" in "cardigan" in folklore.

"The Bolter" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Swift sings of a series of romances that start out in secrecy, only to end with Swift to bolt out the door, hence her "best mates" nicknaming her "The Bolter." There are references to "Getaway Car" from Reputation, widely believed to be about her fling with Tom Hiddleston after her split from Calvin Harris as she sings, "Started with a kiss / 'Oh, we must stop meeting like this' / But it always ends up with a town car speeding / Out the drive one evenin' / Ended with the slam of a door / But she's got the best stories / You can be sure / That as she was leaving / It felt like freedom."

"Robin" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

Another bird! This time, it's a nostalgic look at childhood, with Swift perhaps singing to her younger self and her dreams and "learning to bounce back just like your trampoline" after the world gets "cruel and mean." She also hints at being trained to be a people pleaser (which she references in "But Daddy I Love Him" and explicitly in "You're Losing Me" from Midnights), singing, "But now we'll curtail your curiosity in sweetness."

"The Manuscript" Song Meaning and Easter Eggs

In "The Manuscript," Swift sings of what's left of a "torrid affair" with an older man who took advantage of her youth and naivete: "In the age of him, she wished she was 30" and "She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years / Everything had been above board / She wasn't sure."

Swift famously dated Jake Gyllenhaal when she was 20 to his 29 and John Mayer when she was 19 to his 32. Looking back at those relationships, she says she regressed: "Afterwards she only ate kids' cereal / And couldn't sleep unless it was in her mother's bed / Then she dated boys who were her own age / With dart boards on the backs of their doors." After she split from Gyllenhaal and Mayer, she dated younger guys including Conor Kennedy (who was still in high school) and Styles.

Perhaps leaning the narrative towards Gyllenhaal? She played an author in her All Too Well (Taylor's Version) short film.

Next, Taylor Swift Trivia Questions and Answers

News

Life

Entertainment

Finance

Sports

New on Yahoo