Taylor Swift has released a bunch of playlists to tease the release of her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department. After a quick listen, Joe Alwyn appears to have copped a fair bit of shade, right to the jugular.
The playlists, which centre around the stages of heartbreak (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), feature a bunch of different Taylor bangers from various eras, grouped thematically.
What do Taylor Swift’s Playlists Mean?
Each of the playlists begins with a short voice note from Tay Tay herself — so we compiled them all for you.
Playlist #1: I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life
One of the spicer playlists, titled “I Love You, it’s Ruining My Life”, begins with the following voice note.
“Hey Apple Music, welcome to my I Love You, it’s Ruining my Life playlist,” it begins.
“This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion. Results may vary.”
And which particular song happens to make an appearance on this playlist? “Lover”, a tune famously thought to be written about ex Joe Alwyn.
Playlist #2: You Don’t Get To Tell Me About Sad
Another playlist, “You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad” also features an introductory voice note.
“These songs all have one thing in common: I wrote them while feeling anger.
“Over the years, I’ve learned that anger can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, but the healthiest way that it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it and then oftentimes, that helps me get past it.”
Playlist #3: Am I Allowed To Cry?
Next we have the “Am I Allowed to Cry?” playlist, which Taylor introduces by saying, “this playlist takes you through the songs that I’ve written when I was in the bargaining stage, times when you’re trying to make deals with yourself or someone that you care about.”
“You’re trying to make things better, you’re oftentimes feeling really desperate, because oftentimes we have a sort of gut intuition that tells us things are not going to go the way that we hope, which makes us more desperate, which makes us bargain more. Hope you enjoy the playlist.”
Playlist #4: Old Habits Die Screaming
The fourth is the “Old Habits Die Screaming” playlist.
“We’re going to be exploring the feelings of depression that often lace their way through my songs,” she begins.
“In times like these, I’ll write a song because I feel lonely or hopeless, and writing a song feels like the only way to process that intensity of an emotion.
“While these things are really hard to go through, I often feel like when I am listening to songs, or writing songs that deal with this intensity of loss and hopelessness, usually that’s in the phase where I’m close to getting past that feeling.”
Playlist #5: I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
When listening to the final playlist, titled “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”, fans hear Taylor state that this is the stage where we “finally find acceptance and can start moving forward from loss or heartbreak.
“These songs represent making room for more good in your life, making that choice. Because a lot of the time when we lose things we gain things too.”
The Tortured Poets Department album is set to drop in full on April 19. Read the biggest theories about this upcoming cultural moment here.
Lead Photo: Getty Images.
