The title of Taylor Swift<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department<\/em>, hinted there\u2019d be plenty of literary references<\/a> throughout her new songs.<\/p>\n To the dismay of recovering English majors<\/a> everywhere, that\u2019s not quite how things played out, but there are still plenty of name-drops \u2014 and even a couple of nods to classic literature.<\/p>\n On the title track alone, Swift alludes to fellow musicians Charlie Puth<\/strong> and Patti Smith<\/strong> as well as her pal and collaborator Jack Antonoff<\/strong> and the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas<\/strong>. The standard edition\u2019s closing track, meanwhile, is named after Clara Bow<\/strong>, the silent film actress who was known as the first \u201cit girl.\u201d<\/p>\n While poetry fans may be disappointed by the lack of actual poem content on TTPD<\/em>, the album includes enough shout-outs and Easter eggs to keep Swifties busy for at least the next week or two.<\/p>\n Keep scrolling for all the name-drops on The Tortured Poets Department<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cGuilty as Sin?\u201d opens with the line, \u201cDrowning in the Blue Nile,\u201d but this is not a reference to the Nile River tributary that runs through Ethiopia and Sudan. The Blue Nile was a Scottish synthpop band that was primarily active in the 1980s. In her song, Swift\u2019s narrator says that her love interest has sent her the Blue Nile track \u201cDowntown Lights,\u201d which she hadn\u2019t heard in a while. \u201cDowntown Lights\u201d was the only song the band ever charted in the United States. (It peaked at No. 10 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Modern Rock Tracks chart, which is now known as Alternative Airplay.)<\/p>\n One of the many names dropped on the title track is Puth\u2019s, who appears in the lyrics, \u201cYou smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate \/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans have already begun theorizing that the \u201cyou\u201d in question is Swift\u2019s ex Matty Healy<\/strong><\/a>, whose band The 1975 has a hit called \u201cChocolate.\u201d Healy also publicly praised a Puth song in 2018 via X.<\/p>\n The title track also includes a nod to New York City\u2019s famous Chelsea Hotel, which has housed many cultural luminaries over the years, including Smith (referenced in the same song), Bob Dylan<\/strong>, Leonard Cohen<\/strong>, Iggy Pop<\/strong>, Madonna<\/strong>, Jack Kerouac<\/strong> and many more. Cohen, who died in 2016 at age 82, famously wrote the song \u201cChelsea Hotel #2\u201d about his time in the building.<\/p>\n The standard edition of TTPD<\/em> ends with \u201cClara Bow,\u201d which references the silent film star of the same name. For a full breakdown of Bow\u2019s life and possible connections to Swift, see Us Weekly<\/em>\u2019s previous dissertation<\/a> on this topic.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re not Dylan Thomas \/ I\u2019m not Patti Smith \/ This ain\u2019t the Chelsea Hotel,\u201d Swift sings on the album\u2019s title track. Thomas was a Welsh poet who died in 1953 at age 39 after claiming he\u2019d had 18 whiskeys. At the time, he was staying at the Chelsea Hotel.<\/p>\n Swift doesn\u2019t say Antonoff\u2019s last name on \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department,\u201d but the clues are there in these lyrics: \u201cBut you tell Lucy you\u2019d kill yourself if I ever leave \/ And I had said that to Jack about you.\u201d Antonoff also cowrote the track with Swift.<\/p>\n The same \u201cTTPD\u201d line that references \u201cJack\u201d also mentions someone called Lucy, though it\u2019s not clear if there\u2019s a real person behind the name. Listeners who believe that the song is about Healy have already pointed to the rocker\u2019s recent dust-up with Boygenius member Lucy Dacus<\/strong>. In September 2023, Healy joked that he\u2019d told Dacus that her band\u2019s name inspired him to start a group with a name combining the word \u201cgirl\u201d and the R-slur. In response, Dacus tweeted, \u201cYou don\u2019t hear from me at all.\u201d Healy subsequently deactivated his X account.<\/p>\n Smith, the iconic singer-songwriter and author, appears in the chorus of the title track. In 2019, Smith defended Swift after she received criticism for not speaking out more about politics. \u201cShe\u2019s a pop star who\u2019s under tremendous scrutiny all the time, and one can\u2019t imagine what that\u2019s like,\u201d Smith told The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable to not be able to go anywhere, do anything, have messy hair. And I\u2019m sure that she\u2019s trying to do something good. She\u2019s not trying to do something bad. And if it influences some of her avid fans to open up their thoughts, what does it matter? Are we going to start measuring who\u2019s more authentic than who?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t agree that artists and musicians have more responsibility to speak out than anyone else,\u201d Smith continued. \u201cI think everybody has to be more active. Art is inspiring and art can really bring people together. A song can rally people, but it\u2019s not going to make change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Daddy I Love Him\u201d includes a dig at the \u201cSarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best\u201d who are \u201cclutching their pearls\u201d over the narrator\u2019s romantic choices. This doesn\u2019t appear to be a reference to anyone specific, though \u2014 just a general nod to Swift\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n \u201cYou look like Stevie Nicks in \u201975, the hair and lips,\u201d Swift sings on \u201cClara Bow,\u201d referencing the Fleetwood Mac singer. \u201cCrowd goes wild at her fingertips.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of TTPD<\/em>\u2019s release, Swift fans noticed a tambourine and scarf \u2014 two of Nicks\u2019 signature accessories \u2014 had been added to the album\u2019s pop-up<\/a> in Los Angeles.<\/p>\nThe Blue Nile<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Charlie Puth<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>The Chelsea Hotel<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Clara Bow<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Dylan Thomas<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Jack Antonoff<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Lucy<\/h3>\n
Patti Smith<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Sarahs and Hannahs<\/h3>\n
Thank You!<\/h3>\n
Stevie Nicks<\/h3>\n
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<\/div>Taylor Swift<\/h3>\n
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