Midnights

For the most part, Taylor Swift’s various eras have been distinctive and well-defined. There were her country beginnings, a crossover to both sharp pop and global superstardom, the era of cozy indie folk she briefly detoured into with the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and a deeper embrace of throwback synth pop on 2022’s Midnights, to name just a few. The era presented in Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, is harder to pin down. Produced with long-time collaborators Jack Antonoff and the National's Aaron Dessner, the album pulls from Swift’s previous phases rather than introducing any new overarching identity or sound, with songs loosely connected by scenes from a bitter, messy breakup.

For the most part, Taylor Swift’s various eras have been distinctive and well-defined. There were her country beginnings, a crossover to both sharp pop and global superstardom, the era of cozy indie folk she briefly detoured into with the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and a deeper embrace of throwback synth pop on 2022’s Midnights, to name just a few. The era presented in Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, is harder to pin down. Produced with long-time collaborators Jack Antonoff and the National's Aaron Dessner, the album pulls from Swift’s previous phases rather than introducing any new overarching identity or sound, with songs loosely connected by scenes from a bitter, messy breakup.