All the Pop Culture References in Taylor Swift's New Album!

The internet lost it when global popstar Taylor Swift released not only her new album 'The Tortured Poets Department' at midnight but an extra fifteen songs!

Swifties across the World Wide Web have been sharing how they stayed up all night to find all the iconic literary and pop culture references in Swift's eleventh studio album. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by esther, bookstagram (@estherfungreads)

Here are some literary and pop culture references in Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department'.

Barbie's Ken

Image source: IMDb.

2023 was all about Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie', featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and Swift did not drop two collections of songs without referring to the iconic movie's characters!

Swift refers to the Ken dolls, played by various actors in the movie including Gosling, in her song 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys'

The singer writes, "He was my best friend down at the sandlot
I felt more when we played pretend
Than with all the Kens."

The Great Gatsby

 

American author F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' is also referred to by Swift in her new song 'So Long, London'

Fitzgerald's main character Jay Gatsby shows another character Nick the bright green lights across the water that represent his ex-lover Daisy.

Swift refers to these lights in her lyrics, "I saw, in my mind, ferry lights through the mist.
I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift
Pulled him in tighter each time he was driftin' away."

 

Charlie Puth 

Image source: IMDb.

The famous pop singer Charlie Puth was also referred to in Swift's title track 'The Tortured Poets Department'.

Swift wrote in the song, "You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate
We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist."

 

Puth is well-known for songs like 'We Don't Talk Anymore', 'Attention', 'See You Again', and others. 

Emily Dickinson's 'Wild nights-Wild nights!'

Image source: Literary Ladies Guide. 

If you love Emily Dickinson's poetry, Taylor Swift refers to Dickinson's poem 'Wild nights!'  in her song 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys'.

The lyrics go as follows, "Oh, here we go again
The voices in his head
Called the rain to end our days of wild."

 

The Secret Garden

 

Swift also refers to her favorite childhood classic 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

'The Secret Garden' is a story about Mary who is sent to live with her uncle and this is where she revives a a hidden garden for herself and her sick cousin. 

Swift writes in 'I Hate it Here', "I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind
People need a key to get to, the only one is mine
I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child."

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Swift's song 'The Albatross' refers to English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'

This literary classic features an albatross, representing the sailor's guilt in the poem. 

Swift uses the albatross in her song to represent the burden she presented for her partner, "Cross your thoughtless heart
Only liquor anoints you
She's the albatross
She is here to destroy you."

Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith

In the title track, Swift refers to two literary greats: Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and American poet and songwriter Patti Smith. 

She writes, "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith
This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we'rе modern idiots."

There is also a reference to a Manhattan hotel, the Chelsea Hotel, which housed great writers and artists, and both the artists mentioned in the song lived there. 

The Blue Nile's 'The Downtown Lights'

 

Swift refers to the song 'The Downtown Lights' by the Scottish band The Blue Nile in her song 'Guilty as Sin?'

Swift sings, "Drownin' in the Blue Nile
He sent me "Downtown Lights."

 

If you haven't listened to Taylor Swift's new album yet, check it out here!

 

Want the latest updates about your favorite celebrities? Join our FREE WhatsApp news channel and stay updated about your favorite idols and the GCC.