In anticipation of her upcoming album “The Tortured Poets Department” which comes out on April 19, Taylor Swift released five curated playlists on Apple Music representing each of the five stages of grief.
The twist? Each playlist consists exclusively of Swift’s catalog, making the move a reflection on — or a reframing of — her most recent love story that ended in heartbreak.
This was world-shattering for Swifties — including myself — because it kind of disrupts every bit of Swift lore that was assumed to be canon, while also being genius promo.
Each playlist was also introduced with a voice note by Swift entitled “A Message From Taylor,” which only sent me deeper down the rabbit hole.
Baby, let the games begin!
1. I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life Songs
The first stage covered is denial, with Swift opening the playlist by saying, “This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion. Results may vary.”
The playlist then goes directly into the song “Lavender Haze” off “Midnights,” which contains the lyrics “All they keep asking me/Is if I’m gonna be your bride” and “No, deal the 1950s shit they want from me.”
These lyrics feel especially illuminating after Swift released the “Midnights” vault track “You’re Losing Me” shortly after her breakup with ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
“And I wouldn’t marry me either/A pathological people-pleaser/Who only wanted you to see her,” Swift sings on “You’re Losing Me.”
“Lover” is also on this playlist — I’ll let you put those pieces together.
2. You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad Songs
“These songs all have one thing in common, I wrote them while feeling anger. Over the years, I’ve learned that anger can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, but the healthiest way it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it and then oftentimes that helps me get past it,” Swift said while introducing the anger stage.
I have always thought “folklore” and “evermore” were a little more autobiographical than Swift has let on, and “exile (feat. Bon Iver),” “illicit affairs,” “mad woman” and “tolerate it” being included on this playlist makes a lot of sense in hindsight.
“This playlist takes you through the songs that I’ve written when I was in the bargaining stage,” Swift explained. “Times when you’re trying to make deals with yourself or someone that you care about. You’re trying to make things better. You’re oftentimes feeling really desperate because oftentimes we have a sort of gut intuition that tells us things are not going to go the way that we hope.”
“Peace” is featured on this playlist, which makes the lyrics “Give you my wild, give you a child” very sad now.
This playlist also contains so many “Lover” songs, which also makes me feel vindicated for my “Taylor Swift songs about J*e that are filled with anxiety” list on my phone.
4. Old Habits Die Screaming Songs
This playlist sees Swift diving into the “feelings of depression that often lace their way” through her songs.
Featured songs include “my tears ricochet,” “epiphany,” “hoax,” “champagne problems” and “right where you left me.”
“You’re Losing Me” also finds its home on this playlist — featuring the lyrics, “How can you say that you love someone you can’t tell is dying?”
5. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart Songs
Swift describes the last playlist as “where we finally find acceptance and can start moving forward from loss or heartbreak,” and includes songs like “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “closure.”
“These songs represent making room for more good in your life. Making that choice because a lot of the time when we lose things, we gain things too,” Swift explained.
Swift said it best on this playlist, “Long story short, it was the wrong guy.”
