On April 19 at midnight, Taylor Swift released an album titled THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. At 2 a.m., Swift released a surprise second album called THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY, which included all 16 songs from the original album plus a bonus 15 songs, totaling a tracklist of 31 songs. In this article, I will dive into the 15 bonus songs, highlighting some of my favorite lyrics, the rumored meanings, parallels between songs, and my analysis of each bonus track.

1. “The Black Dog”: Sharing a name with a variation of the TTPD vinyl record, the “Black Dog” acts as a metaphor for depression following the end of a relationship. The Black Dog is a real pub in London, which is located in the same city as the home of Swift’s past six-year boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. This track seems to be about the end of their relationship, with the repetition of the line “old habits die screaming,” implying that the intensity of the breakup as well as Swift’s tendency to gravitate toward the same kind of men who end up breaking her heart. She seems to be expressing her frustration with trying to break her habit of dating unworthy men. One line goes, “Six weeks of breathin’ clean air I still miss the smoke,” parallelling the lyric, “Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke,” from the song “Daylight” from the Lover album. This parallel indicates that while she once loved the smoke, or the painful parts of her relationship, and was able to consume them so that the air would be clear, she is now at the end of her road, no longer in the relationship but now missing her pain from her past relationship. The song ends on a heartbreaking note, with a shaky breath from Swift. 
2. “imgonnagetyouback”: The double meaning of “getting someone back” is used by Swift in this track as she sings, “Whether I’m gonna be your wife or gonna smash up your bike, I haven’t decided yet but I’m gonna get you back.” It is rumored that “imgonnagetyouback” is about Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975, as its title format resembles that of The 1975’s song “Fallingforyou.” The melody of this song is incredibly catchy, accompanied by angelic backing vocals, resembling the format of Swift’s song “Dress” from reputation. The lyric, “eras fadin’ into gray” referenced Swift’s previous more colorful ‘eras’ of music and how TTPD is her first gray-colored album.
3. “The Albatross”: Sonically resembling songs from Swift’s evermore album, this track provides commentary on both her relationship with Joe Alwyn and the public’s view on Swift’s dating habits. An albatross is an ocean bird that spends its first six years of life flying without ever touching land, which is the same amount of time that Swift spent with Alwyn. Metaphorically, the word albatross is used to describe something, often a problem, that continuously causes anxiety and makes it difficult to achieve something. By using this metaphor throughout the song, Swift comments on the public’s view of her and how she is viewed as a ‘serial dater’ and a ‘danger’ to men. The repetition of the lyric, “Wise men once said…” emphasizes the concept of men being warned about ‘destructive’ or ‘dangerous’ women, as Swift assures her female listeners that even though they may be painted as villains by men, those men are often the true villains. The Albatross is yet another vinyl variant of TTPD, showing that the concept of an albatross is a major recurring theme in the whole of TTPD.
4. “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus”: This track tells the story of a short-lived relationship full of betrayal and abandonment as Swift reflects on a past relationship and wonders what her past love may be doing now, living their life without her in it. This song is rumored to be about Matty Healy as well, due to the line, “Your hologram stumbled into my apartment hands in the hair of somebody in darkness named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” and Healy’s tendency to kiss fans, no matter their gender, on stage during his concerts. Additionally, the line “You needed me, but you needed drugs more” seems to reference Healy’s past with drug addiction. Swift notes that her growth was not appreciated by her partner in the relationship in question with the line, “If you wanna break my cold, cold heart just say, ‘I loved you the way that you were’,” implying that her past partner did not like the positive changes that she implemented in her life. This song includes a direct reference to the song “Maroon” from Swift’s album Midnights in the line, “Will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon,” comparable to the lyrics of “Maroon,” “And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (maroon).” This crossover likely indicates Swift’s consideration of whether or not her past lover will move on and forget their blind, passionate love, connoted by the color maroon.
5. “How Did It End?”: Directly commenting on the public’s hunger for the details of her personal love life, this song involves Swift singing about her lack of a private life. She writes: “Come one, come all, it’s happenin’ again… We must know how did it end?,” referencing her fans and the media’s need to know how and why her relationships have ended. Singing, “[We] fell victim to the interlopers’ glances, lost the game of chance, what are the chances?” Here, Swift implies that the downfall of her relationship with Alwyn was influenced by interlopers, or people who become involved in situations without invitation, who criticized their relationship. This song highlights the world’s obsession with gossip and the idea that people often do not care about the well-being of the people in the breakup, but only about the breakup and the drama surrounding it.
6. “So High School”: The most pop-like song on the album, the sonic style of “So High School” is reminiscent of the music from Swift’s earlier pop music eras. This song is rumored to be about Swift’s current beau, Travis Kelce, as the upbeat track seems to parallel her seemingly carefree relationship with Kelce. Other hints at the song being about Kelce include the line, “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle,” because Kelce is a football player on The Kansas City Chiefs team. Secondly, “You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her” references when Kelce said, in an interview before the two started dating, that he made a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it before attending one of Swift’s Era Tour concerts but was not able to give it to her. Finally, the line, “Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me?,” references a recently resurfaced interview of Kelce in 2016 in which he chose to kiss Swift in a game of Kiss, Marry, Kill.
7. “I Hate It Here”: This song emulates the yearning that many feel to live in a different place or time, or with a different mind. Singing, “I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind,” Swift highlights the feeling of being overwhelmed by real life and escaping into one’s daydreams. Once again, this song echoes the recurring theme throughout TTPD of feeling stuck in a relationship, especially with the line “This place made me feel worthless”. Both sonically and lyrically, this song is similar to “the lakes” from Swift’s folklore album, in which she sings of escaping to the lakes “where the poets went to die” because she does not belong in modern society. Swift also mentions that “Nostalgia is a mind’s trick,” making it clear that people often romanticize the past despite the terrors that have occurred, and that we must not let that romanticism cloud our realities.
8. “thanK you aIMee”: With the title reading ‘thank you aimee’ but with the K-I-M capitalized, this track is clearly Swift’s clap back at Kim Kardashian. Swift and Kardashian have a rocky past due to Kanye and Swift’s conflicts and Kardashian’s involvement and harassment of young Swift. This song has a sweet and happy melody contrasted with very intense and revengeful lyrics. While Swift is taking a jab at Kardashian for bullying her, Swift recognizes that without Kardashian, she would not be where she is today. This thankfulness is indicated in the lines, “There wouldn’t be this if there hadn’t been you” and “I can’t forgive the way you made me feel… But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.” Referencing Kardashian’s child, North West, who is a fan of Swift, she sings, “And one day, your kid comes home singin’ a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”
9. “I Look In People’s Windows”: Reminiscing on a past relationship and wondering what could have been, Swift sings about hoping to run into her past lover again. She sings, “I look in people’s windows in case you’re at their table, what if your eyes looked up and met mine one more time?,” focusing on feelings of a lost connection and the hope of seeing someone again to maybe re-spark the flame. The chorus, “I look through people’s windows” resembles lyrics from “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from Lover, when Swift sings, “I look through the windows of this love even though we boarded them up.” This resemblance emphasizes the duality of peeking back into the past whether that is by digging up memories or using people watching as an excuse to look for a past lover out and about.
10. “The Prophecy”: In this track, Swift sings of her feelings of inadequacy and her yearning for a different fate. Stating, “Thought I caught lightning in a bottle, oh, but it’s gone again,” Swift sounds desperate in her search for love, wondering if it is her destiny to be alone forever, begging the prophets of her life to change her prophecy. She confronts the fact that she feels that she is running out of faith in her life, feeling unstable and crumbling under her fate.
11. “Cassandra”: Using the story of Cassandra of Troy, an ancient prophetess who was cursed by her ex-lover Apollo to never be believed despite always delivering accurate prophecies, Swift sings about feeling disbelieved and isolated. Again, Swift references Kim Kardashian, singing, “Cause that’s where I was when I got the call,” bringing up an infamous phone call from 2016. The phone call was between Swift and Kanye and was edited by Kardashian to make it seem like Swift approved of an inappropriate lyric in one of Kanye’s songs, even though she did not. The unedited version of the phone call was later released, revealing that Swift was telling the truth the whole time and Kardashian had edited the clip. This is highlighted in the line, “I regret to say do you believe me now?,” as many did not believe her until the unedited call was released. Additionally, the line, “So they filled my cell with snakes” references Kardashian calling Swift a snake after leaking the edited phone call and receiving backlash from Swift. Finally, in the bridge, Swift refers to the Kardashian family, singing, “The family, the pure greed” and “Blood’s thick but nothin’ like a payroll,” telling of the Kardashian’s wealth and betrayal of her.
12. “Peter”: Alluding to the story of Peter and Wendy from the story “Peter Pan,” Swift sings from the perspective of Wendy losing Peter, comparing a past relationship of hers to the story. Peter and Wendy are brought up in Swift’s song “cardigan” from the folklore album, with the line, “Tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy.” The chorus of “Peter” goes, “You said you were gonna grow up then you were gonna come find me,” with repetition of these lyrics, alluding to Neverland from the story of “Peter Pan” and how those who lived there, including Peter, never grew up. The lyric, “Lost to the Lost Boys chapter of your life,” references the Lost Boys from “Peter Pan,” a group of boys who live in Neverland and stay children forever. As for this track’s relation to Swift’s life, it is rumored that this song could be about Healy, as he nearly dated Swift in 2014, but could not because of his drug addiction struggles. The chorus of the song implies that she thought he would come back to her later in life as a healed person, but he never did.
13. “The Bolter”: Yet another song named the same as a TTPD vinyl variant, this track discusses Swift both literally and figuratively ‘bolting.’ Swift has been seen running out of and into her house many times to escape the paparazzi and the public’s eye and criticism. Figuratively, Swift uses the word ‘bolting’ to describe how she runs away as quickly as possible from her problems and relationships.
14. “Robin”: With a sweet melody, Swift sings of a child’s world filled with innocence and imagination in this track. She gives the sentiment of trying to protect children’s innocence and hope, similar to “Never Grow Up” from Swift’s Speak Now album, with the line, “Buried down deep and out of your reach the secret we all vowed to keep it from you in sweetness.” The song is rumored to be about Arron Dessner’s child named Robin. Dessner is a musical collaborator with Swift on this song and many others.
15. “The Manuscript”: Ending the album, this final track is sans-chorus, and is instead just verses in a storytelling format. It is also the final variant of the TTPD album vinyl. The final line of the song and the entire album is, “Now and then I reread the manuscript but the story isn’t mine anymore,” implying that Swift sees her music as commemorations of moments in her life that are past. Additionally, through this song, she is giving her music to her fans so that they can go and interpret it to fit their own lives and experiences, not just hers.