Taylor Swift reveals inspiration for 5 'Tortured Poets Department' songs on Amazon Music
Amazon Music has released a track-by-track commentary experience for Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department."
Fans can now listen to her 11th studio album with insight from The Chairman herself interspersed throughout the tracks, revealing the stories behind her lyrics.
Upon "TTPD's" release, Swift called the album "an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time — one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure." Two hours later, she revealed the previously announced 17 songs were not all she had to say about this era of her life and released another 15 tracks.
Thanks to Swifties, "TTPD" became Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day this weekend. Within three days, the 31-song record also became the most-streamed album globally in its first week on Amazon Music.
Our review:Why Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is hauntingly brilliant
Which songs did Taylor Swift share commentary for?
Swift only recorded intros for tracks that were among the original "TTPD" songs released midnight Friday.
She did voice notes for "Fortnight," "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys," "Florida!!!" "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" and "Clara Bow."
'Clara Bow' is Taylor Swift's commentary on the music industry
The history-making Grammy winner discusses what is behind the lyrics of some of her new tracks, revealing her inspirations and the themes in her new tunes.
On "Clara Bow," Swift said it was written "as a commentary on what I’ve seen in the industry that I’ve been in over time."
"I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘You know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist," she said.
She continued, "And then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her: ‘But you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.' And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as, like, you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you."
'Florida!!!' was inspired by what Taylor Swift saw on 'Dateline'
Swift also talks about her song "Florida!!!" which features Florence + The Machine.
In the intro, Swift said, "I’m always watching 'Dateline.' People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida."
Swift added that she thinks of Florida as a state where people can create a new identity and attempt to blend in. She said that after a heartbreak, part of her wanted to skip town and reinvent herself in the same way.
'Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me' reflects a society that loves 'to watch artists in pain'
In “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me," Swift explored the pressure that comes with fame and being in the public eye.
"What do we do to our writers and our artists and our creatives? We put them through hell," Swift says.
"We watch what they create, then we judge it," she says. "We love to watch artists in pain, often to the point where I think sometimes as a society we provoke that pain and we just watch what happens."
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How do I listen to the Amazon track-by-track Taylor Swift commentary?
The commentary is available to stream on Amazon Music.
Amazon Music customers can access the commentary tracks by asking Alexa, too, by saying, “Alexa, I’m a member of 'The Tortured Poets Department."
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY
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