Taylor Swift dropped her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department and of course, everyone can’t stop talking about it. It’s filled with metaphors and confessional tales about her fling with The 1975’s Matty Healy, the end of her long-term relationship with Joe Alwyn, and her ever-growing, untamable fame. As per usual, she digs deep, opening up about some of her inner struggles within her songwriting. Her single from the album, “Fortnight", which features Post Malone, is no exception. In the song, she has a lyric about being a “functioning alcoholic,” which aligns with comments she made recently about giving up drinking during her Eras tour.
“Fortnight” sets the tone for the album, bringing up themes of controversial love and inevitable heartbreak. It also references a rare Taylor Swift reference to alcoholism, which is a theme that the singer has yet to explore. In the song, she sings:
I was a functioning alcoholic, 'Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic.
Swift has made reference to alcohol use plenty of times in her later work. For example, in “Delicate,” she says “We can’t make any promises now, can we babe, but you can make me a drink” and in “Death By A Thousand Cuts” she laments “I get drunk, but it's not enough.” However, this is the first time the singer seems to reflect negatively on her own alcohol use in the wake of heartbreak, even going as far as to call herself an alcoholic. It’s a brave move, and especially because she opens the album with the song.
This negative look on drinking aligns with her comments towards drinking on tour. During her 2023 interview for Time Person of the Year, she admitted to giving up alcohol while she was in the midst of the Eras tour. While she had fun during the Grammys and rewarded herself with a drink or two, in general, she is sober during her nationwide tour. She said:
Doing that show with a hangover. I don’t want to know that world.
Even if Swift decides to be sober on tour, she hasn’t given up alcohol for good. After the first leg of the Eras tour wrapped, she celebrated with a glass of wine, which was super relatable. She also chugged a beer while watching boyfriend Travis Kelce win the Super Bowl, and seemed to be having some boozy fun at Coachella this year. Swift has had a straight-laced reputation (no pun intended), but I wouldn’t underestimate her ability to also be the life of the party. It seems like she's been able to strike up a healthy balance, at least in the last year, and hopefully this continues as we enter a new Taylor Swift era.
While Swift is likely not an alcoholic and the lyric is more metaphorical than literal, her relationship with drinking and sobriety is something she rarely discusses, and really showcases that she is digging even deeper in The Tortured Poets Department. The album might be her most personal yet, which is certainly saying something. She is known for her diaristic lyrics, and this time around she’s not holding anything back. Swifties are going crazy with memes and theories while dissecting her latest discography, and it’s truly remarkable how open she is despite Swift’s immeasurable notoriety.
This lyric in “Fortnight” is just one of many confessional lyrics in The Tortured Poets Department, which is now available to stream on Spotify or Apple Music. You can also see her astounding concert performance in her film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which is now streaming for Disney+ subscribers. The “Bejeweled” singer always has something new up her sleeve, so make sure to consult our feature on new Taylor Swift music and other projects for Swifties to look forward to.
