The Tortured Poets Department is “One Hell of a Drug”


When Taylor Swift changed her social media profile pictures to black and white and wore long black gloves at the 66th Annual Grammy awards, everyone expected Taylor Swift to announce the release of Reputation, her 2017 album. Swift has been rerecording her albums after manager Scooter Braun claimed rights to them in 2019, so this was the next logical step for her career. When the beloved artist mounted the stage, onlookers in the audience and at home held their breaths in anticipation of the news.

Read more

The Day the Music Died: The TikTok and UMG Debacle 

TikTok, the popular video app, has been a hub for musicians and music lovers alike since it appeared in app stores in 2016. Through the platform , users can lip sync to their favorite songs, create video edits of their favorite films and shows, participate in dance trends, and keep up with new music releases. Music is a fundamental feature of the app. What happens when artists can no longer promote their music with TikTok? What happens when users can no longer engage with popular artists? 

Read more

Revamped Skidmania Takes the Stage and Community by Storm

When eight p.m. rolled around on November 18 and 19, the house lights dimmed in the Arthur Zankel Music Center’s Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall. The chattery hum of the audience fizzled to a pregnant near-silence of anticipation. Written in this silence was a mutual understanding: this moment was special. And throughout the next two hours, the audience was musically transported fifty years into the past.

Read more

Midnights: Swiftly Taking Over the World

Midnights tells "the stories of 13 sleepless nights" that occurred throughout Swift's life. The album was released at midnight on October 21. Midnights gracefully speaks on themes of love, loss, anxiety and self-image, taking the listener through nights of insomnia-fueled anxieties that keep Swift awake. These themes are evident on tracks such as “Labyrinth” where Swift sings, “It only feels this raw right now / Lost in the labyrinth of my mind” and “Anti-Hero,” with the line, “I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.”

Read more

A Dive into the Black History of Country Music: Giving Credit Where it’s Due

If you picture a stereotypical country music band, you might call to mind a crew of musicians playing the banjo, a mandolin, the fiddle—maybe the harmonica, perhaps a pedal steel guitar—and someone on mic with a twangy Southern accent. While the specifics of your band may vary here or there, whether you realized it or not, your imaginary country band is most likely white.

Read more

One of Saratoga's Last Historically Black Organizations in Danger of Vanishing

The Frederick Allen Lodge is located within Saratoga Springs, NY in the Beekman Street Arts District: 69 Beekman St. It has historically been a fraternal organization that did charity for the Black community. Nowadays, it still holds those values and exists as a prominent social club and gathering space for the Black population in Saratoga Springs.

Read more

Album Review: Manic by Wage War

Fans waited over two years for this fourth venture from Ocala, FL metal band Wage War, and amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, it emerged into a world very different from that of their first three albums. As one might expect, this is reflected in the album itself, which takes a decidedly darker tone than their previous outings. Of course, singer Briton Bond and company are no strangers to discussing dark themes or negative emotions.

Read more

Waltz of My Mind, A Poem

And a one, two, three—

Down rabbit holes, I follow my Thoughts

ticking off all my faults

seemingly never coming to a halt.

Andante—

Treading above waves of uncertainty

the ocean exhales forcibly.

My heart pounds steadily, artfully.

Crescendo—

The line tries to voice the rhythm,

echoes of an imperfect cadence

cannot play to fill the musical chasm.

Fortissimo—

Conductor of my orchestra

cannot direct if the musicians

refuse to perform in harmony.

Fermata—

I try to forget, to mend

Myself with bandages of chords

only to remember the motif again.

Repeat sign.