Why the World Can’t Stop Crying to Taylor Swift’s Heartbreak Anthems

Fans eagerly anticipated Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which promised emotional turmoil. She delivered a double album.

The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift’s first single since the end of her six-year relationship, captures the rage, anguish, longing, and bewilderment that fans look for in a good breakup song.

She sang about holding her breath since her love left her, her heart shattering when he feigned to put a ring on her wedding finger, and him being the loss of her life – the type of anguish that listeners may avoid in real life but seek out in song.

Experts say it’s natural and often beneficial to connect with sorrowful music, and Taylor Swift even revealed her own theory in an Instagram post about the album.

This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page, she went on to say. “Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.

Something bad, but why does it feel so good?

If you’ve witnessed a performance of “All Too Well,” you’ll know that Swift enjoys scream-singing during the most sad moments.

Why does this feel so good? Catharsis and affirmation, according to Arianna Galligher, director of the Gabbe Well-Being Office and the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Program at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

It’s important to have a space to express more difficult emotions and feel safe because other people are going through the same thing, she said. Even if you aren’t going through a breakup right now, Dr. Jaryd Hiser, a psychotherapist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, says that tapping into past emotions can assist.

We all fall into this trap of avoidance of these emotions, he said. To be able to go back to those, think of it as a processing of that time. That process may lead to more acceptance of those experiences and that it is OK if you never fully feel OK about them, he added.

Music bringing peace

According to Hiser, music may play an important role in encouraging people who would not otherwise feel comfortable revisiting traumatic situations and feelings.

“I think of it as being a really easy way into mindfulness,” he told me. “If we were able to be mindful all the time, that would be great, but most of us can’t … tap into that.”

He prefers to work with patients on mindfulness by coupling it with activities they enjoy, because staying in the present is much simpler when you’re doing something you enjoy, he explains.

“Those types of things that can kind of draw us in and let us be with our emotions in that moment,” He said.

Heartbreak is Taylor Swift’s national anthem

According to Galligher, Swift’s success with breakup songs may be due to the nuance she incorporates into her composition.

While her work often contains themes of sadness and loss, she also incorporates notions of empowerment.

Swift writes in “Fresh Out the Slammer,” a song from her new album, about going from “daily disappearing for one glimpse of his smile” to claiming that she has learnt, she is free, and she will carry the lessons with her.

Galligher also noted that she does not always follow the pattern of the jilted ex with a nasty breakup song.

“A lot of her songs bring some balance to the conversation,” she explained. “And yes, [some songs] sort of highlight ‘this is why I’m setting a boundary,’ but there are often lyrics that speak to ‘here’s how I’ve grown and changed, what I’ve learned about myself, and maybe what I would do differently.'”

“I think that sort of balanced exploration is a healthy model,” he remarked.

Swift even contextualized the album in an Instagram post, stating that the expressing of emotions in the songs does not imply that there is still a villain and a hero.

“There is nothing to avenge and no scores to settle after the wounds have healed. And, upon further study, a good many of them proved to be self-inflicted,” she wrote.

How much is too much?

As comforting, powerful, and touching as breakup songs are, Galligher believes there might be too much of a good thing.

“If we steep in it for too long, it starts to impact our ability to function, and that’s certainly a reason to pause and maybe visit with some other types of music,” she went on to say.

Check in with loved ones and yourself about how you’re dealing, especially if you’re already struggling, Hiser advised. If you experience suicide thoughts, call your therapist or 988, he said.

But, in reality, I believe that music serves as a channel for most people to access and occasionally process their own feelings, Galligher states. Allowing space for those emotions to be present is really important, and music can really help us tap into that.