Montana Fans Rejoice! Taylor Swift Debuts Double Album

...but it has no sunny love songs and it's not edgy pop.

This weekend YouTube tantalized new and darker songs by Taylor Swift, from the album The Tortured Poets Department.  This opens a new era in her music career.

While almost all the new songs on YouTube were lyric videos, "Fortnight" includes Post Malone in a trippy black-and-white tribute to silent films.  In a really cool special effect, Swift wipes make up off her face to reveal tattoos.  You can see a profile of her in a spread of loose papers on a road.  What little color highlights paper on fire in an office.

This is a much darker era of songs from the megastar.  The multi-layered sound resonates with unsettling lyrics.  "Fortnight" has "I wanna kill her" and later him, plus "I love you, it's ruining my life."

The song "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" is disturbing with nearly every line, with the reassurance "You should be."

"Guilty as Sin" has the lines "...falling back into the hedge maze / Oh what a way to die" and "Without ever touching his skin / How can I be guilty as sin?"

"Clara Bow", named for the silent film star, has the lyric "It's hell on earth to be heavenly / Them's the breaks they don't come gently."

If you go onto YouTube, the new songs should be easy to find.  You may have likely heard them already.  Other YouTubers have already given their analysis.

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My Speculation on Swift's New Album

Recently I found videos about "Intrusive Thoughts", those unwanted, violent, even evil daydreams that can arise from anything we experience.

Tortured Poets Department may be the culmination of intrusive thoughts Swift had over years, gathered and set to melodies.

Why is Taylor Swift having intrusive thoughts?  She just completed a spectacular Eras tour, is a billionaire and dates a Super Bowl tight end.  Why should she have any angst?

Perhaps TTPD is a therapy for her that she will capitalize upon, that lets the millions of Swifties know that they are not alone; she has these feelings and anxieties too.  And like Star Wars fans, they will absolutely eat it all up.