Here’s why Taylor Swift name-drops Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
Taylor Swift has name-dropped Patti Smith and the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas on her new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.
The star’s 11th studio album arrived today (April 19) and this morning Swift announced it is in fact a double album and she shared the remaining tracks.
Fans also took to social media to suggest that the record is about The 1975‘s Matty Healy. The pair were romantically linked for a short period time in 2023.
In the title track she makes reference to Smith and Thomas in the lyric: “I laughed in your face and said, ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel / We’re modern idiots.’”
It is thought that the title track refers to her relationship with Healy and her comment about Smith and Dylan refers to the 1975 frontman and herself in the sense that the pair should not take themselves so seriously and they are just “modern idiots”, according to Today.
As for the Chelsea Hotel, both Smith and Dylan once held a residence there with the former writing ‘Just Kids’ about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and their time in 1970s New York including their stay at the Chelsea Hotel.
In NME‘s three star review of Swift’s new album, it spoke further of Healy and Swift’s relationship on ‘But Daddy I Love Him’, which “seemingly exists as her response to the backlash against her brief relationship with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
“Their fleeting romance, which seems to be the muse for much of the record, triggered an explosive reaction from her fanbase who were distraught at Swift’s public association to the singer, given his slew of controversial comments (a few of which centred around her soon-to-be collaborator Ice Spice).”
On the title track Swift also gave Charlie Puth a shout out which caused a stir among her fans.
Following the LP’s release, Swift will resume her career-spanning ‘Eras Tour’ in Europe next month before heading to the UK and Ireland in June. Swift is due to play eight shows at Wembley Stadium in London this summer as part of the run, with support coming from Paramore.
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Damian Jones
NME
