Mer

it can’t be. It’s stabilized at so many streams. All the criticism is around “ugh another song about her being the victim” or “she’s a billionaire” or “why is she everywhere” - but she’s barely even doing promo. She’s everywhere bc ppl write about her to get clicks. She’s not forcing anyone to consume anything - she’s basically dropped this album during a hiatus and barely said a word about it.

omg I came here to say exactly this 😭🤍

this is why i switched from Apple Music to Tidal. Last.FM integration natively + the hi res

ooh i still don't have a clear frontrunner, since I've mostly been looping the album front to back over and over LMAO. My top 5 are all between 70-90 steams per song and: 1. So Long, London 2. Fortnight 3. Who's Afraid... 4. Florida 5. Fresh Out The Slammer

1. Mariners Apartment Complex 2. Heroin 3. Cruel World 4. A&W 5. Candy Necklace

I have literally listened to nothing else but this album this week. I already have scrobbled it 1,000 times. It's soooo good. I hate all the critics and Twitter warriors fighting about her being "too much" or "too rich" or "too big." The music is not about being a billionaire or being a beloved popstar, it's raw and real. I don't think I've clicked and related with an album this much since Red and NFR!

Also I NEED the anthology on vinyl bc I think that album is going to be the soundtrack so hot, rainy summer evenings

no that's literally what he's saying idk why Taylor has Gay Truthers when this man is literally like "I identify as straight but..." in every damn interview LOL. I mean good for him. I wouldn't date him if he was. But still, good for you Matty.

i'm pretty sure he identifies as straight - he said so in his Chicken Shop Interview last year.

it's also interesting because Sam could be a boys name or a girls name. i def think it could be Matty, but honestly, I don't think she'd really go there? IDK. It would seem a bit low - I know there's no need to publicly come out anymore - but I also don't think she'd be so brazen about someone else's (especially an ex's) sexuality? In this case I feel like she may want any speculation to purely be about her and not about Joe/Matty (obviously there should be no speculation at all though, I think that's her biggest hope LOL). I need to properly read the "Peter" lyrics but I think that one's basically about Matty Healy promising to come get her 10 years later in 2014, and royal fucking it up in 2024.

ok thisssssss one is iffy bc like who is she outing if not herself...like i'm not even gonna go there bc i love the song but WHAT is she trying to say with "your hologram stumbled into my apartment/hands in the hair of somebody in the darkness/named Chloe Or Sam Or Sophia or Marcus"

I fuck you not I saw a gaylor say TTPD is about Phoebe Bridgers in FULL seriousness. Their entire world has been turned upside down bc their entire narrative was “if Taylor’s so happy with Joe - why is she writing all these lustful songs?” And now that Taylor’s basically confirmed them to be about Matty Healy, who she’s waited for since 2014, they’re in panic.

Current album ranking Red TTPD [standard + anthology as one album] (recency bias) 1989 folklore Speak Now Midnights (her most inconsistent for me, but the songs that hit hit) evermore Lover (Cruel Summer carries) Reputation Fearless Taylor Swift

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/04/22/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-review-critics-swifties/73416410007/ this review wins.

Well…UMG makes money off Taylor’s success and she owns her own music, so it was fully within her right. The only thing was, I think UMG wanted her to hold rank so they could co-negotiate for more money for all the music UMG owns, but Taylor probably decided she was gonna do what’s best for her in this business.

i feel like UMG is mad at her over the TikTok thing. I just saw a reddit post that said the merch was not distributed by UMG and instead by TaylorNation. I have a feeling she's going to break away.

Anyways 140million on Spotify on Day 3 is pretty crazy. I totally figured she’d be under 100 million by day 2 with how inaccessible this album appeared to me. I’m guessing it’ll taper to below 100m by tomorrow

ya OOW was a highlight. Christopher Rowe is just not that good

I don’t think the fans are leaving tho. The album is still outperforming midnights by a good margin - and even the GP doesn’t seem that annoyed by her. It seems to be just the critics and Stan twitter

that’s dumb bc this “standard” version review still talks about the anthology tracks

Sputnik gave her a 4.5/5 (90/100) tho. Her most acclaimed album by them: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/88481/Taylor-Swift-The-Tortured-Poets-Department-Anthology/

oh sorry - quality of reviews is absolutely not why I think they failed lmao. I think they failed bc they suck at SEO and couldn’t get ad money bc of it. They have no ability to build a solid audience. I visit their site quite a bit given my love of music, and never have I been prompted to give them my email address for any sort of newsletter or “recapturing” campaign. Since all their content is also ungated, AFAIK, they also have no supplementary revenue stream. The only spikes in their audience (I just checked) is when they publish a controversial review on an album with a huge fan base, and that’s a horrible SEO strategy for long term success/bringing advertisers imo.

I got my first cardigan!

A negative review gets more clicks. Outrage gets more clicks. I work in SEO, this is textbook - and Pitchfork as a platform failed anyways. They’ll be folded into GQ by end of year.

not to be mean, but I assume whoever doesn’t understand the genius of this album has had the most boring romantic life ever.