Current:Home > InvestThe most Taylor Swift song ever: 'I Can Do it With a Broken Heart' (track 13 on 'TTPD') -WealthRoots Academy
The most Taylor Swift song ever: 'I Can Do it With a Broken Heart' (track 13 on 'TTPD')
View
Date:2025-04-12 03:49:53
Taylor Swift, the new poet laureate of pop, released her 11th album and with it a song that is so quintessentially Taylor.
Swift is an expert at Trojan horse songs: Lyrics that cut hidden beneath an innocuous, upbeat melody.
Enter “I Can Do it With a Broken Heart,” the 13th track of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
With fluttering synths and an electro-pop beat, it’s structured as one of Swift’s trademark glistening pop gems. But in the lyrics, Swift travels through the most potent psychological exploration of “the show must go on” since Smokey Robinson and The Miracles described “The Tears of a Clown” in 1967.
Swift unfurls the anguish she hid while remaining very visible the past year during her historic, world-spanning Eras Tour: “I’m a real tough kid,” Swift sings, defiant as ever. “They said baby, gotta fake it til you make it … and I did.”
But the song achieves liftoff with the dichotomy of Swift’s honeyed voice and her chant-singing, “I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day.”
It’s a clever entry into the complexity of mental health, and Swift, she of limitless ambition, flips her sorrow into something constructive, a Superwoman unbowed by pesky things like misery.
More:Taylor Swift name-drops Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas on new song. Here’s why
“I cry a lot but I am so productive,” she chirps, tongue firmly in cheek. “It’s an art … you know you’re good when you can do it with a broken heart.”
Read on for the full lyrics in what’s sure to be Swift's next signature song.
'I Can Do it With a Broken Heart' lyrics
I can read your mind
She’s having the time of her life
There in her glittering prime
The lights refract sequin stars
Off her silhouette every night
I can show you lies
'Cause I’m a real tough kid
I can handle my shit
They said, “Babe you gotta fake it til you make it”
And I did
Lights, camera, bitch smile
Even when you want to die
He said he’d love me all his life
But that life was too short
Breaking down I hit the floor
All the pieces of me shattered
As the crowd was chanting, “MORE!”
I was grinning like I’m winning
I was hitting my marks
‘Cause I can do it with a broken heart
I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday
Every day
I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me
Like the plague
I cry a lot but I am so productive
It’s an art
You know you’re good when you even can do it
With a broken heart
I can hold my breath
I’ve been doing it since he left
I keep finding his things in drawers
Crucial evidence I didn’t imagine the whole thing
I’m sure I can pass this test
Cause I’m a real tough kid
I can handle my shit
They said, “babe you gotta fake it til you make it”
And I did
Lights, camera, bitch smile
In stilettos for miles
He said he’d love me for all time
But that time was quite short
Breaking down I hit the floor
All the pieces of me shattered
As the crowd was chanting, “MORE!”
I was grinning like I’m winning
I was hitting my marks
‘cause I can do it with a broken heart
I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday
Every day
I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me
Like the plague
I cry a lot but I am so productive
It’s an art
You know you’re good when you can even do it
With a broken heart
You know you’re good when you can even do it
With a broken heart
You know you’re good
And I’m good
‘Cause I’m miserable
And nobody even knows
Try and come for my job
veryGood! (67)
Related
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- College football coaches' compensation: Washington assistant got nearly $1 million raise
- Iranian foreign minister denies Iran's involvement in Red Sea drone attack
- Hungary qualifies for Euro 2024 with own-goal in stoppage time in match marred by violence
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Need help with holiday shopping? Google wants you to use artificial intelligence
- AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa
- Northwestern president says Braun’s support for players prompted school to lift ‘interim’ label
- Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
- Los Angeles freeway closed after fire will reopen by Tuesday, ahead of schedule, governor says
Ranking
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Texas man arrested in killings of aunt and her mother, sexual assault of his cousin, authorities say
- Washington police search for couple they say disappeared under suspicious circumstance
- Matson’s journey as UNC’s 23-year-old field hockey coach reaches the brink of another NCAA title
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Iowa teen convicted in beating death of Spanish teacher gets life in prison: I wish I could go back and stop myself
- Supreme Court leaves in place pause on Florida law banning kids from drag shows
- Story of a devastating wildfire that reads ‘like a thriller’ wins Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize
Recommendation
Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
RSV is straining some hospitals, and US officials are releasing more shots for newborns
Central Park carriage driver charged with animal abuse after horse collapsed and died
Kaitlin Armstrong found guilty in shooting death of pro cyclist Anna Mo Wilson
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
How Maren Morris Has Been Privately Supporting Kyle Richards Amid Mauricio Umansky Separation
Texas man arrested in killings of aunt and her mother, sexual assault of his cousin, authorities say
Officials name a new president for Mississippi’s largest historically Black university