The Taylor Swift Album Therapy Phenomenon explained

I interrupt your regular scheduled disability and cancer survivorship programming to bring you this timely explanation of a recently discovered form of therapy, consisting of listening to a Taylor Swift Album from start to finish and repeating as needed. 

On April 19th, Taylor Swift released her much anticipated eleventh album, The Tortured Poet's Department, triggering a wave of dramatic listening parties, two-hour-long cry sessions, and a flood of PTO requests. With thirty-one tracks and a paradoxical theme of love, loss, betrayal, and losing one's mind amid shades of gray grief, it's no wonder Swifties across the world restocked their bedside tissues and dove headfirst into countless theories based on the clues Taylor and her team sprinkle into everything from her clothing to her social media posts before an album release. Hidden lyrics and secret messages have us rolling out our murder boards to make connections to past music, potential collaborators, and what events may have inspired the tracklist. 

Besides sending her listeners on a scavenger hunt, Taylor often writes lyrics that read like an eighteenth-century poem Emily Dickinson would covet. Her raw, unfiltered emotion pours onto those little notepads she famously keeps in every handbag and hotel nightstand for when inspiration strikes. Those words are then masterfully strung together by producers like Jack Antonoff (The Bleachers) and Aaron Dessner ( The National), creating magic for our ears. It's clear from her lyrics that she wears her heart on her sleeve, and when it's broken, we are all going on that journey with her, from anger to sadness and finally a healing state that feels like clarity. 

There is something freeing about listening to a song that is so much more than just a bop. The lyrics cut deep enough to let all your feelings bubble over, no matter how deep you've buried them. Sure, it's sad, but it's cathartic too. She writes about things we've never thought to speak out loud for fear we might be judged or misunderstood. Sure, she has a beautiful voice, and her music is catchy, but if you only listen at a surface level without reading through her lyrics, you are doing yourself a disservice and missing the point. It's poetry to a beat. It's therapy via Spotify. 

Happily married women shed tears in bathtubs while drinking wine straight from the bottle as they listen to the soundtrack to someone else's life. Perhaps it's the way she so beautifully details heartbreak in a way that even those who have never experienced it can understand. She is the ultimate storyteller. And the stories are so good that you can't help but immerse yourself in her world of enchantment and quill-ink pen inspired songs. 

With a discography that spans eighteen years, her catalog has something for virtually anything that is troubling you. Medicine for Your Soul, prescribed by Dr. Taylor Allison Swift, who received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Fine Arts honoris causa) in 2022 from NYU for being "one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation."

If all of this isn't enough to make you a Swiftie here are a few more reasons: She took on a very public fight for her masters, has supported the LGBTIQA+ community over the years, and sued a radio host who sexually assaulted her, seeking only $1 in damages, as the goal was simply to bring to light what happens to women all too often. And her quiet donations to various causes worldwide, from cancer treatments to earthquake relief to animal shelters, are in the millions. She could teach us all a little something about speaking up for what is right and ours. Be kind, but take no shit. 

Everyone needs an emotional release every so often. Everyone needs to feel something deeply, even if it isn't theirs.

And "Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?"