USC Students underwhelmed by Taylor Swift’s new album.

Just last week, Swift delighted fans with the release of her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Unlike her previous work, this new record has a significantly longer tracklist and will be available as a double vinyl record. Many have criticized the album, saying it’s “boring” and “too long.”

First year econ major Lena Hwang offers her perspective on the album.

Lena Hwang: I’m not gonna lie, I listened to it and I thought it was pretty mediocre. I could not tell you any of the songs that stood out to me, which is kind of sad I am a huge Taylor Swift fan. I usually like a lot of her albums. I did Defend Midnight. Um, but this one, none of those songs made it onto any of my playlists.

On campus many self-proclaimed “Swifties” have not listened to the album yet, but sophomore public relations major Cal Miller shares why you should.

Cal Miller: I think it’ll break streaming records, but she’s definitely not trying to appeal to like, her like Fearless, 1989, Folklore, Midnight’s audience anymore. Um, I think it just feels very different than the first ten. ... I think that she’s just writing what feels authentic to her and then like letting the world hear what she’s been making ... I think that she’s just going to start publishing albums that are more authentic to where she’s at and like less what the world wants to hear.

Fans are criticizing Swift’s vinyl release because she promised 4 exclusive songs on the record, but ended up releasing the exclusive songs on her double album for the public to hear. Some fans feel ripped off, but Miller respects her marketing technique.

Miller: I mean, I already bought the vinyl. At the end of the day, she knows that people are probably going to buy them anyways, so I don’t really, I don’t know, I think that the marketing tactic is really smart and I feel like she’s kind of at a point where it’s not like people are going to send back the original, um, that they bought. So, I don’t know. I think she’s in a very different level where she doesn’t really have to follow the rules of everybody else and she can kind of just put out what she wants.

Annenberg radio sat down and interviewed longtime music and culture journalist Rachel Brodsky and got her opinions on the album

Rachel Brodsky: I don’t think it’s an example of Taylor Swift’s best work but I can see how this is where we would arrive in terms of her output. ... I just I find it long, unedited with like moments of true brilliance, like I think, like two of the best songs on the album are “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” and “But Daddy, I Love Him.” I think those are two really great songs. But like, in general it’s, it’s, I think it’s kind of a trudge and a slog.

Brodsky relates Swift’s starpower to the rise of internet, and compares her to some of the great music entities in pop culture.

Brodsky: It’s just that I think in Taylor world right now, more is more, more will guarantee more record sales more streams, because that’s the economic ... formula for success now is to release more. However, I think it’s very tricky. Overall, like, there, I don’t think there’s any real precedent for a pop star of of Taylor’s stature, at this point in history. I think like, you have the Beatles, you’d have Michael Jackson, you have Madonna, but I think with the sort of the power of social media and the internet, like Taylor has harnessed something that has never really existed before, and I think that’s brought up new, new challenges for her as she writes about.

She explains the pros and cons of having such a wide grip through her online presence.

Brodsky: But as someone who has become enormously successful, just in part because she’s such a savvy business person and harnessed social media and the Internet to like, create the biggest fan army that’s I think ever existed that they are with that comes the good and, and the bad. I mean, the good is you get this enormous economic power and but at the same, by the same token, you also land in this place that no one’s ever know, no one’s ever experienced, like, I don’t think anyone can really claim to know what it’s like to be her because no one’s ever been her.

And she has the chance to add more broken records to her collection. According to Billboard, “If the Tortured Poets Department debuts atop the billboard 200, it will mark Swift’s 14th no. 1 album, extending her record for the most among women. She would also tie Jay-Z for the most no. 1s among soloists.”

As the finals frump looming over campus reflects the feelings of the album, just remember to have a cruel summer.