Current:Home > MyThe most Taylor Swift song ever: 'I Can Do it With a Broken Heart' (track 13 on 'TTPD') -Edge Finance Strategies
The most Taylor Swift song ever: 'I Can Do it With a Broken Heart' (track 13 on 'TTPD')
View
Date:2025-04-24 12:06:10
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! (49)
Related
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem stands by decision to kill dog, share it in new book
- How countries are using innovative technology to preserve ocean life
- Ex-NSA staffer gets 21 years for trying to sell defense information to 'friends' in Russia
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- A Plastics Plant Promised Pennsylvania Prosperity, but to Some Residents It’s Become a ‘Shockingly Bad’ Neighbor
- Iraqi social media influencer Um Fahad shot dead by motorbike gunman in Baghdad
- Ralph Lauren goes minimal for latest fashion show, with muted tones and a more intimate setting
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Louisiana Supreme Court rules for new City of St. George
Ranking
- Trump's 'stop
- Colleges across US seek to clear protest encampments by force or ultimatum as commencements approach
- Britney Spears settles legal battle with father Jamie Spears after conservatorship: Reports
- New Mexico reaches record settlement over natural gas flaring in the Permian Basin
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Person of interest sought in shooting on Navajo Nation in northern Arizona
- Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise to start a week full of earnings, Fed meeting
- Politicians and dog experts vilify South Dakota governor after she writes about killing her dog
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
Walmart's Summer Savings Are Here: Score Up to 77% Off on Home Appliances & More Refreshing Finds
Hyundai, BMW, Jaguar among 39,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
USA TODAY's investigative story on Mel Tucker wins Headliner Award. Tucker was later fired.
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
Tesla’s stock leaps on reports of Chinese approval for the company’s driving software
Milestone: 1st container ship arrives since Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
'You tip, we tip': Domino's to begin tipping customers who tip their delivery drivers