Peter KrauseWelcome to the hallowed halls of the Tortured Poets Department.
Taylor SwiftThe 34-year-old released her 11th studio album on Friday, April 19, featuring 31 songs, including one succinctly titled “Peter.” Krause, 58, jokingly responded to the track in an online post Video are circulating on social media.
“I can’t believe she wrote that about me,” she said 9-1-1 the actor joked while reading the lyrics. “Well, you know, it’s about the whole thing about being a scene stealer.”
Swift’s song “Peter” was co-written Aaron Dessner and appears in the second half of her TTPD Double album.
Don Arnold/TAS24/Getty Images Taylor Swift has kept fans (and Us Weekly staff) busy with the release of 31 songs across two versions of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift, 34, released TTPD on Friday, April 19, releasing the first 16 songs at midnight EST. Two hours later, she announced and released The Tortured […]
“Forgive me, Peter / My lost fearless leader / In cabinets like cedar / Preserved from when we were children,” Swift sings. “Is it something I did? / The goddess of timing / She once found us beguiling / She said she would try. Peter, did she lie? / My ribs feel the same way they do.”
She continues in the chorus: “You said you would grow up / Then you would come and find me / Said you would grow up / Then you would come and find me… Words from the mouths of babes / Promises oceans deep / But never keep.”
Although Swift hasn’t revealed her lyrical inspiration, it’s believed that “Peter” is based on it JM Barrieis a game Peter Pan which primarily inspired the Disney film of the same name. Her phrase “lost fearless leader” could refer to Peter Pan’s Band of Lost Boys, with “you wanted to grow up” corresponding to the character wanting to stay young forever.
Swift previously mentioned Peter Pan in her 2020 song “Cardigan,” singing, “Trying to change the ending / Peter loses Wendy, I knew you / Leavin’ like a father / Running like a water, I / And when you.” are young, they assume. “You don’t know anything.”
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Before “The Tortured Poets Department” was ever a glimmer in Taylor Swift’s eye, the singer peppered her music with references to classic literature. Back in 2006, Swift included a reference to Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” in the song “The Outside” from her self-titled debut album. “I tried to […]
In a “Making of ‘Cardigan'” for YouTube’s Vevo, Swift described her songwriting process and the inspiration for her lyrics. (“Cardigan” was also produced by Dessner, 48.)
“Taylor developed intentional character arcs and recurring themes in the songs that show who is singing about whom,” says a footnote, linking “Cardigan” to her teenage love triangle starring the fictional James, Betty and August. “It’s like this even happened in their town and it affected them all differently.”
She added at the time: “I was inspired by the feeling of isolation and how it can be either liberating or terrifying and how it makes you remember the past.”
While “Cardigan,” a folklore Track, tells the story of a fictional separation, The Tortured Poets Department is seemingly inspired by Swift’s real life. Many of the LP’s songs were inspired by their respective splits Joe Alwynwho she dated between 2016 and 2023, and Matty Healy, their brief affair the following spring. There are even two or three tracks that point to her current boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
“This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up,” Swift wrote via Instagram on Friday. “There is nothing to revenge, no scores to settle, once the wounds have healed.”
The Tortured Poets Department is out now.