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harbinger | noun
har·bin·ger | \ˈhär-bən-jər\
1. one that initiates a major change: a person or thing that originates or helps open up a new activity, method, or technology; pioneer.
2. something that foreshadows a future event : something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come.
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On the day that Taylor Swift released her new album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), the first thing I did upon waking up was to open my Apple Music app and listen to the first song on the album.
For those who don’t know what’s going on – Taylor released a new double album on April 19. The second part, titled The Anthology, was a surprise, released just two hours after the first one, with 15 extra songs
The day before the launch, my friend showed me a TikTok video with a posted picture of the TTPD’s black and white cover. The backing song sounded strange, and mellow – a similar sound to her previous 2020 album Folklore where she explored escapism, empathy, nostalgia and romanticism.
I wondered if the track was genuine. But happily, it wasn’t a real leak – someone just wanted to gain popularity among Taylor’s fans by doing a miserable fake.
I played the album early in the morning while getting ready for school. The first song, Fortnight, features Post Malone, an American rapper who recently teamed up with Beyoncé in the song Levii’s Jeans on her album Cowboy Carter, released just a month before Swift’s.
The song, also the lead single from TTPD, was calming and saddening. Especially when Taylor sings “I love you, it’s ruining my life”, I got the impression of strong emotions and an attempt to escape from the inevitable reality.
For me, the album perfectly captures Taylor’s storytelling abilities. For example, in the song Florida!!! (featuring Florence and the Machine) she captures a new life after starting over with everything. She describes the special place where you can get your true self back.
Another song – a very dark one – Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, tells the story of a woman who faced a lot of pain in her past, but she challenges it by singing lyrics like “If you wanted me dead, you should’ve just said.” She makes a statement that language can influence reality.
Is TTPD worth recommending? I don’t know. One of my friends told me that Taylor’s latest is “definitely her most vulnerable, honest and heartbreaking record”. And that she perfectly “connects depressing synth-pop sounds”.
Many people are saying that many songs on the album sound the same, I think that the songs have a similar vibe, but each one tells a different story.
Born in 2008 in Warsaw, Poland, Klara joined Harbingers’ Magazine to cover international affairs, crime and music.
In the future, she plans to study ‘psychology, international politics, or criminology‘, preferably in the United States.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, dancing, listening to music and exploring the realm of pop culture, with a particular focus on how Broadway and West End create musical adaptations of classic Disney stories.
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