Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Songs as TV Couples: ‘Veronica Mars,’ ‘IWTV’ & More
Would you like Swooon in your inbox? Signup for our Swooon! newsletter!
Taylor Swift‘s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, has finally hit the airwaves. Like past album drops, Swifties have been decoding all the lyrics from this latest chapter of Swift’s music career.
This album, in particular, is bursting at the seams with emotional turmoil, angst, and longing. Swift doubled down on her feelings by releasing a follow-up to TTPD just hours later with 15 extra songs.
Right away, we couldn’t help but think of certain TV couples when listening to lyrics from “Fortnight,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and more. From Mad Men‘s Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) to Interview With the Vampire‘s Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid), these onscreen pairs coincide perfectly with these new tracks.
Scroll down to see which TV couples we’ve associated with songs from The Tortured Poets Department.
Fiona & Jimmy/Steve (Shameless) -- 'loml'
Fiona (Emmy Rossum) and Jimmy/Steve (Justin Chatwin) could have had it all. Their relationship burned bright and fast in the first few seasons of Shameless. Fiona opened her heart up to Jimmy/Steve, and he promised to never leave her. And yet, that’s exactly what he did. Was it all just, as Swift sings, a “get-love-quick scheme?”
When Jimmy/Steve left, he created a hole in Fiona’s life. He returned in Season 5, and these “rekindled flames” fell back into orbit. Jimmy/Steve wanted her back, but Fiona knew she couldn’t trust herself. “You have to let me go. You have to let me let you go,” she cried. Despite the love she still felt for him, Fiona couldn’t let Jimmy/Steve have her heart. Jimmy/Steve was the love of her life, but he was also the loss of her life.
Love & Joe (You) -- 'Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?'
Joe (Penn Badgley) puts Love (Victoria Pedretti) on such a pedestal in the beginning of their relationship. When she turned out to be just as flawed as him, Joe didn’t want her anymore. Love would have been perfectly content “wolfing” it with Joe and excusing a little murder if they had to, but once he turned his eye to someone else, Love showed her rage.
“Who’s afraid of little old me? / Well you should be” screams Love Quinn. Love almost beat Joe at his own game, but he got the upper hand in the end. Just like Swift sings “at all costs, keep your good name,” Joe framed Love for the Madre Linda murders that he committed and killed her with her own aconite poison.
Louis & Lestat (Interview With the Vampire) -- 'Fortnight'
“I love you, it’s ruining my life” should be tattooed on Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid). Their love affair was intense and all-consuming for a time before it all crumbled in a flurry of toxicity. Lyrics like “Now you’re in my backyard, turned into good neighbors / Your wife waters flowers / I wanna kill her” could be read in Lestat’s point-of-view. After seemingly killing him, Louis and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) have fled to Europe in Season 2 where Louis will meet Armand (Assad Zaman). Louis and Armand have been committed to each other for decades, which would surely infuriate the possessive Lestat.
Lucy & Stephen (Tell Me Lies) -- 'Down Bad'
If you look up “down bad” in the dictionary, Lucy’s (Grace Van Patten) name will be there. Even though Stephen (Jackson White) is toxic and the ultimate gaslighter, Lucy just can’t stay away.
“Now I’m down bad, cryin’ at the gym / Everything comes out teenage petulance / F**k it if I can’t have him / I might just die, it would make no difference” is exactly how Lucy behaved in the first season of Tell Me Lies. She became a horrible version of herself trying to convince Stephen to feel the same way about her. Hopefully, she’ll come to her senses in Season 2.
Don & Betty (Mad Men) -- 'So Long, London'
Betty (January Jones) gave Don (Jon Hamm) the traditional life with a family and seemingly perfect home outside Manhattan. Don repeatedly cheated on Betty and had no regard for her feelings when they were married.
These lyrics easily could come from Betty’s mind: “I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift / Pulled him in tighter each time he was driftin’ away / My spine split from carrying us up the hill.”
Betty tried to keep her marriage together, but in the end, she knew it was useless. “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” is a line made for Betty. She spent so many years fighting for a man who just easily walked away and found someone else.
Belly & Conrad (The Summer I Turned Pretty) -- 'I Can Do It With a Broken Heart'
Belly (Lola Tung) and Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) devastating breakup dominated The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2. Conrad’s grief over his mother consumed him, which led to his split from Belly. Belly tried to wrap her head around how their relationship fell apart and Conrad’s true feeling for her similar to how Swift writes, “He said he’d love me all his life / But that life was too short / Breaking down, I hit the floor.”
Belly charged on with her broken heart and tried her best when she had to be around Conrad. She even moved on with his brother, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). However, the Season 2 finale proved that Belly and Conrad are still very much in love with each other — even if they won’t admit it.
Damon & Elena (The Vampire Diaries) -- 'I Can Fix Him, No Really I Can'
The Vampire Diaries music team probably would have used “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” in the first two seasons of the show if it had been out then.
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) returned to Mystic Falls to stir up trouble. Everyone warned Elena (Nina Dobrev) to stay away, but she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. These Swift lyrics — “They shake their heads saying, ‘God, help her’ when I tell ’em he’s my man” and “Trust me, I can handle me a dangerous man” — should be on Elena’s tombstone.
Daisy & Billy (Daisy Jones & The Six) -- 'Clara Bow'
“Clara Bow” is really about one woman and her relationship with fame. Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) is a total Clara Bow-type, and her relationship with Billy (Sam Claflin) became more complicated as the band’s notoriety increased.
“You look like Stevie Nicks in ’75 / The hair and lips / The crowd goes wild at her fingertips” is so Daisy Jones coded. The weight of past traumas, her addiction, and falling in love with someone who would never choose her ultimately led to Daisy walking away from the band. The fame wasn’t worth her life in the end.
Logan & Veronica (Veronica Mars) -- 'But Daddy I Love Him'
There has never been a more perfect anthem for a TV couple than “But Daddy I Love Him” for Logan (Jason Dohring) and Veronica (Kristen Bell).
Their enemies-to-lovers arc turned into an epic love story. Veronica’s dad, Keith (Enrico Colantini), warned his daughter to stay away from bad boy Logan, but she never could. Swift’s lyrics “I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want” and “He was chaos, he was revelry” are straight from Logan and Veronica’s love story.
Carrie & Big (Sex and the City) -- 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys'
Sorry, Team Big fans. We don’t make the rules. Big (Chris Noth) tossed Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) like a useless toy for years. Even when he broke her heart by marrying Natasha (Bridget Moynahan), Carrie found herself still a puppet to Big’s puppet master.
As soon as Big pulled the string, Carrie fell right back into her Big addiction and obliterated her relationship with Aidan (John Corbett).
Rhaenyra & Daemon (House of the Dragon) -- 'Fresh Out the Slammer'
To unite the Targaryens with the Velaryons (and also to keep her away from Daemon), Viserys (Paddy Considine) helped orchestrate Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) marriage to Laenor (John MacMillan). But their marriage was just a partnership. Rhaenyra’s children were fathered by Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), but Laenor claimed them as his own.
As soon as Laenor was out of the picture and Rhaenyra was “fresh out the slammer,” she found her way to Daemon (Matt Smith). Basically, her first call was to her uncle, the man she wanted to be with all along.
Midge & Lenny (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) -- 'Florida!!!'
Florida was a key location in Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Lenny’s (Luke Kirby) relationship. Midge’s trip to Miami in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 3 and her night out with Lenny changed everything. Viewers saw the Category 5 level chemistry between them in Episode 5. Florida was the perfect escape. Midge was able to forget about her life in New York for a time and just live in the moment with Lenny. Florida (and Lenny) was “one hell of a drug,” and Midge let herself experience euphoria in the Sunshine State.
Olivia & Fitz (Scandal) -- 'Guilty as Sin'
For years, Olivia (Kerry Washington) and Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) had to keep their affair a secret. After all, he was the President of the United States. Keeping their relationship in the shadows for so long would make anyone question the if it was ever real.
Their feelings for each other were “fatal fantasies,” and they were forced to keep their “longings locked in lowеrcase inside a vault” until they just couldn’t any more. Even after stepping away from the White House, Olivia and Fitz “haunted” each other. Fitz was irrevocably in love with Olivia and did literally anything and everything for her. That’s why Swift’s “I choose you and me religiously” lyrics will hit Olitz fans hard.
Roman & Gerri (Succession) -- 'The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived'
This isn’t meant to shade Roman’s (Kieran Culkin) height in any way, this is solely about his relationship with Gerri (J. Smith Cameron). Regardless of how you felt about Roman and Gerri’s unconventional romance, they did build a bond over the course of Succession‘s run. But Roman had to tear it all down by betraying Gerri in the end. The Slime Puppy fired Gerri for the first time after his daddy told him to, and then again when she got a little too honest with him (i.e. calling him a “weak monarch).
Gerri’s reaction to Roman’s treachery can be summed up with these lyrics: “And in plain sight you hid / But you are what you did /And I’ll forget you, but I’ll never forgive / The smallest man who ever lived.”
Brooke & Lucas (One Tree Hill) -- 'The Tortured Poets Department'
Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) would be the captain of the Tortured Poets Department at Tree Hill High School. Brooke (Sophia Bush) and Lucas were never right for each other, and they both made mistakes throughout their relationship. They shared plenty of romantic moments during their happier times, but Lucas was always in search of another love story (ahem, Peyton). Brooke’s heart got broken in the process by the most tortured poet of Tree Hill.
Hawk & Tim (Fellow Travelers) -- 'The Black Dog'
Hawk (Matt Bomer) and Tim (Jonathan Bailey) met while working in Washington and kept their romantic relationship a secret from everyone during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Tim always longed for more with Hawk, who was determined to keep reputation intact. Hawk ended up marrying Lucy (Allison Williams) to maintain the status quo.
Tim could never truly move on from Hawk. No matter how hard he tried, once his heart was claimed, it was over for Skippy. Old habits die hard, right?
“I move through the world with a heart broken / My longing state unspoken / And I may never open up thе way I did for you” has Tim McLaughlin written all over it. All Tim ever wanted was for Hawk to acknowledge his love for him openly, and he didn’t get that until the very end of his life.
Lyla & Tim (Friday Night Lights) -- 'The Alchemy'
“The Alchemy” includes so many references to football, we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at the Friday Night Lights couples. Tim (Taylor Kitsch) and Lyla (Minka Kelly) had a forbidden romance from the start since Lyla was dating Tim’s best friend, Jason (Scott Porter). But Tim and Lyla’s chemistry just couldn’t be denied. Lyla was Tim’s first great love, and for a time, his heart was reserved just for her.
