There have been so many disappointed reviews of the new Taylor Swift album, it’s starting to feel a bit like a backlash – “Taylor Swift Has Given Fans a Lot. Is It Finally Too Much?” ran the headline of a New York Times piece this week. On the other hand, as the Times noted in that same piece, Spotify declared The Tortured Poets Department its “most-streamed album in a single day.”
These two facts may not be opposed. Many writers have complained that the Swift album is simply too long (two hours), with too many tracks. But too many tracks is precisely what leads to too many streams. As Laura Snapes wrote in the Guardian, “The inessential 31-track sprawl of TTPD just feels as though it feeds a streaming machine where volume is everything.”
My own problem with the release is less the number of songs than the paucity of musicians, given the resources and ambition behind the project. Many of the tracks feature Taylor Swift on vocals, and a single producer on most everything else – either Ja…
