Everyone Taylor Swift alluded to on her new album, 'TTPD' - Los Angeles Times
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A guide to everyone Taylor Swift sings about in ‘Tortured Poets Department’ — and their reactions

Taylor Swift in a bejeweled body suit standing on a stage with a mic in one hand and looking to her right
Taylor Swift name-checked Kim Kardashian, Matty Healy, Travis Kelce and even Charlie Puth in her newest album.
(George Walker IV / Associated Press)
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Taylor Swift didn’t hold back on calling everyone out on her newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” and the reactions are rolling in.

The surprise double album was released in two parts on April 19, giving exuberant Swifties plenty of material to analyze — including multiple celebrity call-outs.

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian sitting alertly in a brown leather chair in a black jacket and top looking straight ahead
(Susan Walsh / Associated Press)
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Swift and Kardashian have a long-standing feud, which started with Swift and Ye back in the day and goes back to Kimye’s infamous doctored phone call, which appeared to prove Taylor had given consent for a nude wax figure of her to appear in Kanye’s “Famous” music video. TLDR: The call was edited, but Swift was ripped to shreds online anyway, an experience that inspired her now legendary “Reputation” album.

Swift isn’t quite letting Kardashian off the hook, and “TTPD’s” “thanK you aIMee” pointedly had the letters of Kardashian’s first name capitalized in the title.

Swift’s 11th studio LP, ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ released at midnight Eastern time, follows a busy period in the 34-year-old’s personal and professional spheres.

April 18, 2024

“And so I changed your name and any real defining clues / And one day, your kid comes home singin’ / A song that only us two is gonna know is about you,” Taylor wrote, apparently referencing daughter North West’s TikToks that have featured her songs in the past.

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Kardashian didn’t respond directly to the taunt, but she did post a throwback photo with Swift’s ex-best friend Karlie Kloss on mutual pal Derek Blasberg’s birthday. Whether it was a coincidence is anyone’s guess.

Matty Healy

Matty Healy playing a keyboard in concert in a black jacket with a funny look on his face
(Paul R. Giunta / Invision / Associated Press)

The 1975 frontman was the surprise “TTPD” guest star. He and the “Bejeweled” singer appeared to have had a short fling following her split from Joe Alwyn, but the lyrics in “TTPD” have led to speculation that the two were involved for far longer.

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The title track is particularly damning: “You left your typewriter at my apartment,” Swift sings, referencing Healy’s apparent penchant for the old-school device. (“Who uses typewriters anyway?” she later asks.)

Swift goes on to call him a “tattooed golden retriever” before describing his smoking habits.

“But you tell Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave / And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen,” she continues, referencing Boygenius member Lucy Dacus, who performed with Swift on the Eras tour, and her producer and bestie Jack Antonoff. Sounds super healthy and normal!

Taylor Swift released the 16-track “Tortured Poets Department” at the stroke of midnight on Friday — and surprised fans with 15 more songs two hours later. Here are the best songs from the double album.

April 19, 2024

And all that’s from just one song. “But Daddy I Love Him,” “Fresh Out the Slammer,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” all pile on the blame.

Healy responded coolly on Wednesday. “I haven’t really listened to that much of it,” the singer told paparazzi, “but I’m sure it’s good.”

His tone marks a stark difference from when he called dating Swift “emasculating.”

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His mom, Denise Welch, was similarly unbothered, saying on British talk show “Loose Women” that she “wasn’t aware [Swift] had an album out at all.”

Unlikely, considering “TTPD” just became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day, but whatever.

Joe Alwyn

Joe Alwyn standing in front of a leafy green background in a black jacket, white button-down shirt and black tie
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Just as fans predicted, Taylor’s ex-boyfriend of six years was spared little sympathy. Even the album title is supposedly a reference to the name of a group chat between the actor, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, called the “Tortured Man Club.”

“So Long, London” is Taylor’s most obvious hit at Alwyn, considering he inspired the track “London Boy” on her 2019 album “Lover.”

“I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out,” she sings about the end of their relationship. “I founded the club she’s heard great things about / I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath.”

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Released two hours after “The Tortured Poets Department” on Thursday night, Taylor Swift’s second set of new songs contains a handful of highlights.

April 19, 2024

It’s clear Alwyn promised Swift a lot more than what he gave her. In “LOML” she laments how “You s—-talked me under the table / Talkin’ rings and talkin’ cradles / I wish I could unrecall / How we almost had it all.”

The marriage references don’t stop. In “imgonnagetyouback,” Swift tries to decide “whether I’m gonna be your wife or gonna smash up your bike.”

Fans have also latched onto a line in “Fortnight,” which features Post Malone, as proof that Alwyn wasn’t always faithful to Swift. “My husband is cheating, I wanna kill him,” Swift sings.

According to a source, Alwyn “has listened to the album, and he is slightly disappointed, but not surprised at all.” Maybe he’s upset about Healy stealing his spotlight?

Travis Kelce

NFL star Travis Kelce speaks at a microphone while seated in his Kansas City Chiefs uniform
(Mark Brown / Getty Images )

Of course, Swift couldn’t leave current beau Kelce behind. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is the apparent subject of “The Alchemy” and “So High School,” both of which are riddled with football metaphors.

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“The greatest in the league / Where’s the trophy? / He just comes running over to me,” she sings in “The Alchemy,” referencing the couple’s viral kiss after Kelce‘s team won the Super Bowl in February.

“You know how to ball, I know Aristotle,” she added in “So High School.” “You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her,” she concludes in the song, alluding to how Kelce pursued her after seeing her perform on the Eras tour.

Taylor Swift’s new ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ album draws inspiration from her own breakups. What attracts us to songs about failed relationships?

April 19, 2024

“I have heard some of it, yes, and it is unbelievable,” Kelce said at a sports event in February, ahead of the album’s release. “I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops.”

He’s “very proud of her,” a source told E! News after the record dropped earlier this month.

“Travis is so supportive of the entire album,” the source continued, “and loves that he is a part of Taylor’s story.”

Kelce’s mom, Donna, even chimed in the conversation with her own praise. “I listened to the whole album, and I listened to it all morning long when it was released,” she told People this week.

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“I was just very impressed,” she said. “She is a very talented woman, and I think it is probably her best work.”

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth standing with a pleasant face in front of a blue background while wearing a black jacket and necklaces
(Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

Finally, in a seemingly random shout-out on the title track, Swift sings, “You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.”

Fans rushed into a frenzy online, flooding the “We Don’t Talk Anymore” singer’s social media with notifications about his name drop.

“literally honored lol,” he replied in the comments of a now-deleted Instagram post of the song.

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