Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on April 19th, and her songs include some famous names in the lyrics.
Swift has mentioned famous names in her songs before, most famously quoting Leonardo DiCaprio in The Man, but she also uses their stories as a storytelling device. Sometimes.
Her latest album is filled with songs with titles after proper nouns, including “Robin,” “Cassandra,” “Peter,” “Chloe, Sam, Sophia, Marcus” and “Thank You, I'm Me.” However, none of them fully states the full meaning. The names of the people she's referring to (but do fans have theories!)?
In TTPD, Swift explicitly names at least 10 celebrities, bands, and historical figures. How they are referred to is explained below.
dylan thomas
One of the first names mentioned on this album was Dylan Thomas. Thomas was a 20th century Welsh poet known for “Don't be gentle on that good night”.
I laughed in your face and said,
“You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith.”
As part of the chorus, Swift sings that she and her lover are “modern fools” not to be confused with famous poets and rockers.
Patti Smith
Smith and Thomas both lived at New York's Chelsea Hotel at different times, Smith wrote in his 2010 memoir, Just Kids.
Swift specifically mentions hotels in the following lines:
“You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith.”
This is not the Chelsea Hotel
Smith was born ten years before Thomas died. She is a singer-songwriter and poet associated with the punk rock movement, but is also famous for her writing work.
In her memoir, she chronicles her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe in the summer of 1969, when they took up residence at New York's Chelsea Hotel.
In his memoir, Smith mentions Thomas, who spent his final days there before dying in a New York hospital in 1953, and his influence on the space.
Charlie Puth
Seemingly innocuous enough, Swift references another pop artist, Charlie Puth, in the album's title song.
We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.
Puth first rose to fame on YouTube, writing Wiz Khalifa's smash hit “See You Again” for the Fast & Furious 7 soundtrack in memory of actor Paul Walker.
Since then, he has released several big hits including “One Call Away,” “Marvin Gaye,” and “We Don't Talk Anymore.”
At a much-talked-about performance in New York City in 2022, Puth called Swift a “huge inspiration” and performed some of her songs.
He also released a song called “Tears On My Piano,” which he admitted was inspired by Swift's song “Teardrops On My Guitar.”
Lucy (Dacus?)
It's not entirely clear who Lucy Swift is referring to in the song, but fans are speculating that it's musician Lucy Dacus of Boygenius fame.
Sometimes I wonder if you're gonna mess with me
But you told Lucy that if I left, you would kill yourself.
Fans believe Swift is singing about Dacus here. Dacus and Swift's rumored ex-boyfriend Matti Healy were spotted standing close together at a show on the Elas Tour in May. Healy and Dacus reportedly had a public falling out on X (formerly known as Twitter) several months later.
Jack (Antonoff?)
In the album's second song, Swift also reveals that she spoke to her friend “Jack.”
And I said that about you to Jack, so I felt seen.
Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be that way
Because we're crazy.
It's safe to assume she's referring to her close friend and collaborator Jack Antonoff. Click here for a timeline of their friendship over the years.
blue nile
Not to be confused with the jewelry store of the same name, Swift references Scottish band The Blue Nile in her song “Guilty as Sin.”
“Drowning in the Blue Nile,
He sent me “Downtown Lights.”
I haven't heard it for a while. ”
The band released the song “The Downtown Lights” as part of their second album, Huts, in 1989, the year Swift was born.
clara bow
Swift dedicates the entire song to Clara Bow, an early Hollywood actor who rose to fame during the silent film era and then successfully transitioned into “talkie films.”
Bowe was known as the original “It Girl” and was the subject of much tabloid coverage at the time.
In this light you look like Clara Bow, remarkable
all of you lifedid you know that you can be chosen like a rose?
For more information on Bowe's life and interviews with her surviving family about Swift's new song, click here.
stevie nicks
Swift also sings about Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks in the song “Clara Bow.”
Her hair and lips look like Stevie Nicks in 1975.
Crowds go wild at her fingertips, half moonlight, full eclipse
Ahead of the album's April 19 release, Swift dropped a hint that she'll be mentioning Nicks on the album. A tambourine similar to the one used by the Knicks was on display at a Spotify pop-up in Los Angeles, draped in white lace.
Nicks also wrote an introductory poem for the Target edition of TTPD.
start line
In The Black Dog, which is also a London bar, Swift mentions Pennsylvania band The Starting Line.
And when someone plays The Start Line, I hope that's the case with The Black Dog,
And you jump up and say, “But she's too young to know this song!”
aristotle
In “So High School,” Swift outlines a “bittersweet” romance reminiscent of her high school days, with appropriate references to schoolwork.
You know how to throw a ball, I know Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived from 384 to 322 BC.
He was of course known for his philosophy, but he also made significant contributions to science. High school students often learn about Aristotle when learning about the three main techniques of rhetoric: ethos, pathos, and logos.
cassandra
In the song “Cassandra,” Swift appears to reference a story from Greek mythology.
When the truth comes out, it will be quiet
So they killed Cassandra first.
because she feared the worst
In Greek mythology, Cassandra (or Cassandra) was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo. He doomed her to make her true prophecies but never to be believed. It has generally been used more recently as a rhetorical device to indicate when someone makes a true prediction (usually about an impending disaster) but is not believed.
The reference also describes a bust that was on display at Spotify's “TTPD” library pop-up in Los Angeles.
Some fans believe the song is actually a roundabout reference to Kim Kardashian.
