Taylor Swift’s ‘TTPD’ Pains Listeners Imagining Her Pretending to Be Fine: ‘As An Empath, This Album Hurts Me’

Taylor Swift no doubt dropped one of her most emotional album to date. The Tortured Poets Department said it all - especially with the word tortured there.

So while fans and friends are happy she dropped new music, many are also pained by her revelations.

Some said their emotions have gone out of whack when they placed themselves into Taylor Swift's shoes.

Kaleigh Teller Cannot Imagine What Taylor Swift Went Through

For example, Keleigh Teller is aware of how tough Taylor Swift is, as her best friend. However, imagining her friend's struggles, many of which are chronicled in Taylor's most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department made her rethink just how tough her friend is. She said it's painful to imagine and see.

Indeed, when Keleigh recently inquired about the fans' favorite TTPD song, she shared her personal inspiration for "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart."

When a fan chose the song as their top pick, Keleigh said, "As a friend, this one hurts so much," on her April 19 TikTok. "She goes on stage sad or happy it's so incredible." 

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With the lyrics, it's easier now to see what exactly was going through Swift's heart and mind when she was out there entertaining fans after her breakup with her six-year partner Joe Alwyn in the spring of 2023. It can be recalled that this breakup happened soon after her massive Eras tour began.

She croons in the chorus of the song, "All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, 'More' / I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks / 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart." 

Fans Say Album Wrecked Them

It's not just Kaleigh.

The 31 tracks on The Tortured Poets Department do, in fact, frequently lean toward melancholy and some fans are naturally affected. A fan commented on Keleigh's video, "As an empath, this album wrecked me."

So many others agreed, arguing that these songs are meant for girls AND women to hear and relate to.

Swift herself more or less could have anticipated this response.

The "Cruel Summer" singer discussed the album's darker overtones in an exclusive TTPD analysis that was made available for Amazon Music.

"It's a very fatalistic album," she said, "in that there are lots of very dramatic lines about life or death. 'I love you, it's ruining my life.' These are very hyperbolic, dramatic things to say. It's that kind of album." 

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