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Taylor Swift’s love affair with wine continues on The Tortured Poets Department

19 April 2024 By James Evison

The world’s greatest wine influencer has delivered again with her 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department. db scans all the lyrics and discovers how wine continues to play a critical role in her songwriting.

At midnight last night, hundreds of millions of Swifties across the world eagerly took to music streaming platforms to discover what she had to say about past relationships and friendships. For the drinks business, there was only one concern: wine.

As previously discussed on db, there are numerous references to wine throughout the Swift collection of albums. Indeed, she sings “August slipped away like a bottle of wine”, on ‘August’ from her album Folklore and on ‘Champagne Problems’ on Evermore she sings ‘Dom Pérignon, you brought it’.

She may have most recently been photographed drinking a bottle of canned Tequila RTD, but wine is definitely Swift’s first love, if her songs, comments, social media posts and films are anything to go by.

Indeed, it’s arguable that she is the world’s biggest wine influencer, boosting sales on any bottle she is pictured drinking. And we weren’t disappointed with her latest album’s continued referencing of wine. Below are the top highlights.

Fortnight

First stop in the booze references is in the opening track – and single – of the album, featuring artist Post Malone. Swift sings: “I was a functioning alcoholic/
‘Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic.”

This isn’t feeling promising, but things are about to get better.

Florida!!!

Wine takes centre stage in the haunting, Lana Del Rey-inspired collaboration with Florence & The Machine, and it is Florence Welch who sings the first lyrics relating to wine on the album: “Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine/Well, me and my ghosts, wе had a hell of a time.”

It’s a great first reference to wine, and is delivered in Welch’s standard, soaring pitch.

The Alchemy

Then on the second to last track, Swift delivers perhaps the most powerful moment relating to wine on the album.

Delivered in a circular fashion, opening and then ending the song with a brooding, ghostly outro, she sings: “This happens once every few lifetimes/These chemicals hit me like white wine.”

It’s a highly memorable moment on the album, and it’s difficult to not imagine many people listening to the song across this summer, reaching for a cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Anthology

But what we didn’t know was only a few hours after the release of the album, Swift was going to hit social media and announce another 15 additional songs had been published, creating a ‘secret’ double album: The Tortured Poets Department: Anthology.

She wrote at 2am (a time mentioned in several Swift songs, including I Wish You Would on her multiple Grammy award-winning 1989) : “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 instalment of TTPD: The Anthology … And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.”

Here, she continues her journey through the world of booze and bars in several songs, including “The Black Dog” which makes reference to a mythological bar.