Culture chat: Is Taylor Swift’s new album too much?
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This week, we’re discussing Taylor Swift’s new album 'The Tortured Poets Department', which is already the most-streamed debut in Spotify history. Lilah is joined by music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and life-long Swiftie Taylor Nicole Rogers to discuss their picks for best and worst songs, whether Swift’s personal life gets in the way of the music, and where she’ll go next.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews on Apple, Spotify etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is available now on all streaming platforms.
– Ludovic’s four-star review of the album is here: https://on-ft-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/4bf6289
– Listen to our episode on the Eras tour, ‘Can Taylor Swift get any bigger?’ here or by searching in this feed.
– Jo Ellison’s column from 2023, ‘Why I believe in Taylor Swift’: https://on-ft-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/49S6Xdh
More or Less:
– Ludovic wants more rap beef, like the one happening between Drake, Rick Ross, Kendrick Lamar and more. You can read his article about the rap beef here.
– Taylor wants to see more summer pop bangers. Keep an eye out for Ludovic’s review of Dua Lipa’s upcoming album ‘Radical Optimism’, which lands next Friday.
– Follow Lilah on Instagram for some great springtime content.
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Clips this week are from Republic Records.
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