BIG POP GIRLS 2024

VertigoStick

VertigoStick

I gave Anything For Love a 7 (being very generous, looking back) because it does have the bones for a good song but it really is wasted space for something, anything that could've been as good as Houd1n1, Tra1n1ng Season, or I11usion.
 
Ana Raquel

Ana Raquel

she/her
The remix of I might say is by far the worst thing Charli has ever done to her career but the original is good enough to escape the first brat elimination (and that's coming from one of the ballad tankers!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: aux
aux

aux

he/him
The-Tortured-Poets-Department.png


11 x 1
@Bolton

HIGHEST
10 x 4 (@DJHazey, @ufint, @bad karma, @Slice of Life)

LOWEST
0 x 1 (@Verandi)

I remember listening to this track for the very first time, sitting on the same spot I’m sitting in right now, and thinking to myself “She’s going to get dragged for this”. I considered this for two reasons – one, I was talking about the album as a whole up to this point. I originally envisioned THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT to finally be her rock opus because I always imagine this and considering she has stopped doing pre-release singles, I’m always gaslighting myself it is finally the time. Alas, it wasn’t. I immediately knew that the record falling in the same soundscape of Midnights for these two songs at least would get her cooked.

The second reason was partly because of the sarcastic tone of the song. In case it wasn’t blatantly obvious, this track is dissing Matty Healy, a self-absorbed asshat, by satirising the sounds and lyrics of his band, The 1975, to write a song about their relationship. “The Tortured Poets Department” is written with the same stream-of-mind style that most of The 1975 tracks is (see: “Part of the Band”, a song also produced by Jack Antonoff). “The Tortured Poets Department” is produced with the same 1980s production that The 1975 simply can’t get enough of (see: “Heart Out”, “She’s American”, “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”, “Happiness”, etc.). Yes, I named one song from each of their albums to prove my point that they’re obsessed with these 80s inspired tracks.

Returning to the lyrics, I guess we will have to speak about the infamous line(s).

“You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate
We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist
I scratch your head, you fall asleep
Like a tattooed golden retriever”

Can I be honest? I still don’t see why this line caused such… discussion. It’s clearly painting a picture of how dumb these two were together. Is it clunky? Kind of? I think if someone else had sung this, say… [REDACTED FOR MY SAFETY]… The queers would’ve been like “Oh she’s so quirky XD” and that would’ve been the end of the discourse. In all honesty, the lyric makes complete sense within the stream-of-mind lyricism of the track.

As we’re talking lyrics still, I have to bring up the exquisite final verse.

“At dinner, you take my ring off my middle finger
And put it on the one people put wedding rings on
And that's the closest I've come to my heart exploding”

The last three lines… I’m sorry, but I understand why she wrote the songs she did after their relationship went the way it did. In all honesty, and I’ll get jumped for saying this probably, but I feel like people were doing the absolute most about this song when it dropped. It wouldn’t be a Taylor Swift release if that wasn’t the case, to be honest. I think the song is… good, and that’s it, really. There’s far better within this album and it’s a shame that so much of it got written off by [REDACTED] just for this song alone.

I will leave you with some lovely words from @Bolton, who gave this their 11: “I just really connected with this song. I think potentially having just broken up with my bf of 5 years who I lived with the line 'whos gonna hold you like me' just cut me up. Love the 1975 done via Taylor vibe. The Charlie Puth line is funny - pop music is not serious and surely she's just taking the piss out of herself for stanning someone ironically. The fact half the forum tore her a new one for this line but then go and post 'queen of pop' in the Addison Rae thread...ok.”





​
 
Last edited:
Laura Vanderbooben

Laura Vanderbooben

aux said:
the same 1980s production that The 1975 simply can’t get enough of (see: “Heart Out”, “She’s American”, “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”, “Happiness”, etc.). Yes, I named one song from each of their albums to prove my point that they’re obsessed with these 80s inspired tracks.
​
Click to expand...

And I'll take your word for it because it's not like I'd ever listen to verify!
 
-M-

-M-

Genuinely surprised that this is one of the first songs from TTPD to leave. I feel like it's one of the most straightforward pop songs on the record, and people keep complaining about the latter half of the album blurring into one, so I thought this would do comparatively better.
 
CIOB

CIOB

I get what she was going for with this one, but it’s in my album bottom 3 so I’m fine with it getting eliminated. Not necessarily before other songs that are still in (looking at you, Miss Jolene) but an overall score around 6 feels fair.
 
RJF

RJF

aux said:
The second reason was partly because of the sarcastic tone of the song. In case it wasn’t blatantly obvious, this track is dissing Matty Healy, a self-absorbed asshat, by satirising the sounds and lyrics of his band, The 1975, to write a song about their relationship. “The Tortured Poets Department” is written with the same stream-of-mind style that most of The 1975 tracks is (see: “Part of the Band”, a song also produced by Jack Antonoff). “The Tortured Poets Department” is produced with the same 1980s production that The 1975 simply can’t get enough of (see: “Heart Out”, “She’s American”, “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”, “Happiness”, etc.). Yes, I named one song from each of their albums to prove my point that they’re obsessed with these 80s inspired tracks.
Click to expand...
nn I'm sorry my hosting sister but this got floated in the thread a while back and I called bullshit on it then and I need to call bullshit on it now. This song satirises nothing, because Taylor and Jack have been similarly stuck in a never ending John Hughes credit sequence hell for albums now. Another reason to prefer her work with Aaron; he seems to force her to sing! Not just breathe over the sound of Tinkerbell being flyswatted over and over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top