… Ready for It? Taylor Swift is turning heads with her newest album release ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Last night swifties rejoiced as Taylor Swift released her long anticipated album “The Tortured Poets Department.” The two batches of releases encompass 31 songs, two hours and three minutes total, released at midnight and 2 a.m. eastern. This caused streaming services to be swarmed with Swift’s audience.

Tortured Poets has already broken the record for the most streamed album in a single day on Spotify and Amazon Music according to entertainment outlet Pop Base.

It leaves the question: do people think this album is “the one” or are people “shaking it off” as just okay’?

“It made me cry, truly life changing, [and] a lot better than I expected,” said Hailey Savage, a sophomore majoring in business, when asked her thoughts on the album. Savage said her favorite songs were “Fortnight” and “The Black Dog.”

“I think the album showcases a combination of changes she is making to her sound. Lyrical[ly] wise, it was a little more symbolic than her first few albums, which were much more like ‘this happened and then this happened,’” said Malia Tarazon, a junior majoring in biology who says she is a true swiftie.  “Production wise, I think it is a combination of the techno pop from ‘Midnights’ and the acoustic and cottage-core feeling that ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ have,” she added.

Discussing whether the album lives up to the anticipation, Tarazon said “I think during the initial listen I didn’t really know what to expect. Some songs I know will be growers, meaning I will probably like them the more I listen to them.  But there are also songs that I loved immediately.  I do think it lives up to the Swift hype!”

Swifties across the campus had different favorites from the album.

Ciara Gallagher, a sophomore majoring in economics listed her favorite songs are “So Long London,” because she felt it was different sonically than anything she’s done before, and “Peter,” because it’s a call back to a song on her favorite album – “Folklore.”

Echoing Tarazon, Gallagher added, “like most Taylor albums, I think it will grow on me with time and I was so impressed that she wrote a double album in the midst of her Era’s Tour.”

Olivia Bryant, a freshman majoring in business, was also very passionate about the album release. “I loved the new album! My favorite song so far is either ‘loml,’ ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me’ or ‘So Long, London.’”

Bryant believes that this album,”definitely lived up to past album releases because it turned into a double album drop.”

However, not all fans have such positive reactions to Swift’s new album. Some students shared mixed reactions to the artist’s new drop.

“I think Taylor Swift’s new album was okay, not as good as others in the past, but still, can’t complain that much,” Jackson Reese, a junior majoring in business administration said. "

Influencers on X, previously known as Twitter, also shared their thoughts on the release. Dave Portnoy, owner of pop-culture blog Barstool, commented on the song  “thanK you alMee,” “#ThanKyouaIMee is Taylor Swift’s magnum opus. A masterpiece! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Sing it Northwest!  SING IT!!!! [sic]”

Ex-football player Robert Griffin III poked in a little fun at the Travis Kelce and Swift romance that has swept the nation, posting on X,”There is no doubt that this Madden Cover would lead to the greatest selling Madden Game of all time.”

Swifties are counting down the days to another new album release. Taylor Swift fan or not, she is not going out of “style” anytime soon.