“I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art.” This week, we’re doing a deep dive on “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024, Track 13), written by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff. A continuation of our Strong Women series, this episode goes line by line through one of Taylor’s most devastatingly relatable songs. We explore the rhetorical triangle of the I, the you, and the they; the “performative perkiness” of the chorus; why the poetry meter literally snaps to the beat of a performance; the crucial evidence hiding in drawers; and how dark humor becomes a coping mechanism. Whether you’re a Type A eldest daughter, a new mom, or anyone who has ever had to show up for work when their heart was broken, this one hits. Try and come for our job.

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• The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift (2024)
• The Eras Tour Concert Film / Documentary
• Moulin Rouge! (2001 film)
• Harley Quinn / Birds of Prey (2020 film)
• Barbie (2023 film)

• [02:17] Verse one: “She’s having the time of her life” — glittering prime, sequined stars, and the opening twist
• [08:23] Pre-chorus: “I’m a real tough kid” — internalizing what we’re told as little girls
• [20:23] The chorus: “I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday every day” — dark humor as coping
• [39:24] “Try and come for my job” — who is she talking to?
• [50:54] Why this is a twofer song: the sad version and the celebration version

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This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"Never be so kind, you forget to be clever; Never be so clever, you forget to be kind." We're celebrating Women's History Month the only way we know how: looking at strong women in Taylor Swift’s music. Jenn traces the wisdom and boldness Taylor inherited from her grandmother in "Marjorie" (evermore, 2020), Jodi unpacks the resilience hiding in plain sight throughout "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024), and Maansi makes the case that "Eldest Daughter" (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) is basically the anthem of every firstborn girl who had to figure it out before anyone else did. Plus: why the Iceland women's strike of 1975 worked, and why Taylor Swift might be the only person capable of organizing a global one.

Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Unlikable Female Characters, Anna Bogutskaya
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
• Play the Patriarchy, Reductress
• "The End of an Era" Documentary
• "Marjorie," evermore (2020)
• "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart," The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
• "Eldest Daughter," The Life of a Showgirl (2025)
• Iceland Women's Strike, 1975

Episode Highlights:

[00:34] Introduction to strong women

[05:59] "Marjorie," evermore (2020)

[16:03] "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart," The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

[23:42] "Eldest Daughter," The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

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Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

This week, we're going line by line through "Down Bad" from Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Jenn, Maansi, and Jodi unpack one of the album's most emotionally raw — and unexpectedly hilarious — songs, diving deep into its extended alien abduction metaphor, what it really means to be "down bad," and how Taylor uses sci-fi imagery to explore love bombing, power dynamics, and the messiest stages of heartbreak. We also discuss how this song connects to last week's Hero's Journey episode, why crying at the gym might be the most relatable lyric Taylor has ever written, and what the repetitive, fading outro says about the cycle of emotional abuse. Plus: cow mutilation, Kate McKinnon's SNL alien sketches, Thor and Natalie Portman, and The Other Boleyn Girl.

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Episode Highlights:

• [01:12] What does "down bad" actually mean? From Google's AI overview to Usher to Grease
• [05:50] Verse one line by line: Being beamed up, cosmic love, and the alien abduction metaphor
• [13:08] The chorus: Down bad, crying at the gym — from the cosmic to the devastatingly mundane
• [31:52] The chorus again: "Like I lost my twin" — Plato's soulmate theory and twin flames in Taylor's discography
• [34:18] The bridge: hostile takeovers, indecent exposures, and Close Encounters — loving all the red flags
• [36:20] "I'll build you a fort on some planet" — savior complex, desperation, and what fort-building actually means
• [43:35] The stages of grief in one song: is this processing, or just a very messy beginning of processing?
• [46:03] Getting to the purpose

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

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This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z

"She had a marvelous time ruining everything" This week, we're doing a Show and Tell episode on one of literature's most enduring narrative structures: the Hero's Journey. We explore three songs through the Hero's Journey lens: Maansi unpacks the cross-generational dual hero's story in "The Last Great American Dynasty" (Folklore, 2020), Jenn applies the framework to "Down Bad" (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024),and Jodi walks us through how "The Life of a Showgirl" (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) follows every classic beat, from the call to adventure to the triumphant (and pithy) return. Plus: the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hindu goddess Kali, The Traitors, and why Jodi thinks the bridge of "The Life of a Showgirl" might be Taylor's greatest bridge of all time.

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Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
• The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins
• The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
• Star Wars (original trilogy)
• The Last Great American Dynasty (Folklore, 2020) — Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
• Down Bad (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024) — Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff
• The Life of a Showgirl (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) — Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback & Mathias Bielandt

Episode Highlights

00:36 Welcome and intro — what is the Hero's Journey (the Monomyth)?

17:43 The Last Great American Dynasty: Multiple hero's journeys in one song

31:57 Down Bad: The Hero's Journey when you're sent home against your will

43:56 The Life of a Showgirl: A textbook Hero's Journey

Follow AP Taylor Swift Podcast on Social!

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Libro.fm — Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here: tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in." This week, we're deep diving "hoax" from folklore (2020), written by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner. As a continuation of last week's Wuthering Heights episode, we go line by line through one of Taylor's most quietly devastating songs. We unpack the definition of "hoax" itself—humorous or malicious?—and find that the answer might be both. Along the way, we debate who's holding the twisted knife, trace religious undertones from the Lord's Prayer through "faithless love," connect Robert Burns and Of Mice and Men to Taylor's "best laid plan," and sit with the devastating wordplay of "my broken drum, you have beaten my heart." This is a song about betrayal by someone who knew exactly where it would hurt most—and the confusing, adult reality of choosing to stay anyway.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
• "To a Mouse," Robert Burns (1785)
• The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord's Prayer

Episode Highlights:

[00:25] Introduction to "hoax" and the definition of a hoax

[02:11] "My only one, my smoking gun, my eclipsed sun"

[08:48] "Stood on the cliffside screaming, give me a reason"

[13:36] "Don't want no other shade of blue but you"

[18:14] "My barren land, I am ash from your fire"

[22:32] "You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for?"

[29:23] "My kingdom come undone"

[34:24] Purpose: vulnerability weaponized, betrayal by someone who knew you best

[39:10] The Wuthering Heights of it all

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

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• Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift
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Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"Trust me, I can handle me a dangerous man" Can obsessive love survive across social classes, death, and generations? This week, we're diving into Emily Brontë's 1847 Gothic masterpiece, “Wuthering Heights,” to explore themes of revenge, class struggle, and the illusion of choice in a society that offered women precious few options. We connect three Taylor Swift songs to this brutal, beautiful tale of Catherine and Heathcliff's destructive passion and its ripple effects on the next generation. From unrequited longing to toxic attempts at redemption to the devastating reality of betrayal, we unpack why this novel feels both deeply romantic and disturbingly amoral.

Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë
• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
• Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• E23: Mad Women

Episode Highlights

[01:14] “Wuthering Heights” Intro

[10:52] “Foolish One,” Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

[21:36] “Hoax,” Evermore

[29:14] “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” The Tortured Poet’s Department

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

• TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift
• YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Link Tree →linktr.ee/aptaylorswift
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• Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"Only bought this dress so you could take it off." This week, we're deep diving "Dress" (reputation, 2017). We go line by line through this intimate friends-to-lovers anthem, exploring the transition from public persona to private moments, the dress as both armor and vulnerability, and why this song perfectly captures the spark that ignites a shift from friendship to something more. Join us as we unpack intentionality, agency, emotional nakedness, and discover why this song is the perfect soundtrack for choosing your person.

Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

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Mentioned in this episode:

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Summer I Turned Pretty (TV series)

Bridgerton (Episode 65 reference)

Episode Highlights:

[02:52] The title: What does the dress symbolize and represent?

[21:49] Taylor embracing more sensual lyrics

[46:44] Friends to lovers: The journey condensed in one song

[52:37] The dress as transition: From friends to lovers, the spark that initiates change

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z