Billy Corgan Defends Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' Album Length

Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan questioned people who have criticized Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department's album length.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Corgan commended the global pop star's ambition and defended her lengthy project.

"Taylor Swift is one of the most gifted pop artists of all time. How is it a bad thing that she's releasing more music? I can't follow that ... You can go on Spotify and just skip it," Corgan told the publication.

Corgan then compared Swift's album to his band's similarly long project – Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts – an album in three parts.

"People complained about the length of my last album, Atum. I thought, Well, just go make your own playlist," the "1979" singer said. "Just listen to the record one time - rag over the six or 10 songs you like and make your own record. Why is this such a strange concept? Have some sense of proportionality. This hyperbolic thing - 'They ruined Star Wars. My God, this is all too much for me to process' - it's all a bit childish."

In comparison, Swift's original The Tortured Poets Department has a total playing time of 65 minutes and eight seconds. Meanwhile, the anthology, which contains 15 additional songs like "So High School" and "Thank You Aimee," runs for two hours, two minutes, and 21 seconds.

Swift's The Tortured Poets Department is the third longest album in terms of the first original release. Speak Now is the longest, at 67 minutes and 29 seconds, and Red is second at 65 minutes and nine seconds, a second longer than The Tortured Poets Department.

However, The Anthology version of The Tortured Poets Department is the longest of Swift's album releases because of its more than two-hour playing time.

Swift explained the reason for her lengthy album, saying that it resulted from her work in the past two years.

"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. I'd written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore... it's all yours." Swift wrote on Instagram.

Tags

Taylor Swift, Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins