In the opening verse of The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, Taylor Swift sings that she was a functioning alcoholic until nobody noticed her new aesthetic. 

They do now. 

In the album, a sprawling 31 tracks (that’s her signature 13 backward), Swift is the most unmasked (and turned on) she’s ever been. She’s done impressing the “wine moms” (even if the blood of fermented fruit is her drug of choice). Sung in a low register, the first 16 songs of TPD are primarily dark, twinkling synthy pop tunes, primarily written with long-term collaborator Jack Antonoff, with help from Aaron Dessner of The National. Dessner, whose Swift collabs are more of the folk music, indie variety, primarily encompass the latter half of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, a surprise bonus album dropped shortly after listeners finished streaming the original album at midnight (shout out to everyone else who got a notification from Spotify that they were in the first ten percent of streams). 

TPD racked up 891 million streams in its first week in the United States, setting a new record that surpasses the previous high of 746 million streams, achieved by Drake’s 25-track Scorpion in 2018. 

On the title track, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift sings about a love interest who “smoked and ate seven bars of chocolate.” Despite acknowledging that this person isn’t Dylan Thomas, and she isn’t Patti Smith (“This ain’t the Chelsea hotel, we’re modern idiots”), Swift is unabashedly captivated, which is why it’s so heartbreaking when deeper into the anthology side of the album, she’s realizing that this person needed her but needed drugs more.  

If the tabloids are to be believed, the “tattooed golden retriever” in question is the problematic charismatic Matty Healy of The 1975, who’s openly discussed seeking treatment for a heroin addiction. On “The Alchemy,” she finds a new lover who is into heroin, but this time, with an “e,” (heroine). It’s easy to simply say that she’s singing about drugs on TPD because she was linked to Healy in 2023 when it was primarily written, but looking to tabloid reports on her dating history to explain songwriting decisions is so tired. And, plus, while their recent “situationship” is captivating TikTok, the pair have at least known each other and supported one another’s work for a decade. 

So why is Swift getting so real and singing about the munchies and balancing love and addiction now? Is it that cannabis, set to be declassified, isn’t as shocking as it was when she was first involved with bad boys? No. 

It’s actually not the first time she’s covered substance use disorders; 2020’s “This Is Me Trying,” as discussed in Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, is about exactly that. Just no one noticed her new aesthetic! And now she’s totally out of fucks, even if she’s dropping the f-bomb more regularly than ever before. It’s not just drugs. TPD is not just love song after love song about an ex, as many reviews would have you believe. There’s line after line dissecting religion. She’s critical of her seemingly picture-perfect family, perhaps most shockingly, and even her fans. 

She’s levitating down the street in “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” like some vampire defanged to perform in the circus (The internet wants to know: Is she beefing with Olivia Rodrigo? What about the diss track allegedly about Kim Kardashian? You fools, if anything, she’s drumming up drama for Reputation: Taylor’s Version!). She’s very horny on “Guilty As Sin?” which continues the album’s investigation into sex and religion. She’s watching American Pie on the garage rock “So High School.” Post Malone contributes smokey vocals on “Fortnight,” and in the video, we get to see what Swift looks like with face tats. The whole thing is honestly a stoner’s delight. And it’s definitely an album for people in their 30s. On “Florida!!!” featuring Florence Welch, which is basically about escaping to the state to dispose of bodies, those that have been on top of you, Swift is observing that her friends “all smell like weed or little babies,” and on the gorgeous “Robin” she’s begging a lover to take her higher and higher while cackling “you look ridiculous,” like she’s Alabama from True Romance in the scene where she kills James Gandolfini with the help of hair spray. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is pop perfection, and Swift singing about crying a lot while remaining productive is as on-brand as it gets. This song will definitely be performed at the remaining 2024 Eras tour dates. 

Plus, we get to hear Swift sing the word “daddy” again. The stuff about the exes is largely interesting for Easter Eggs-obsessed fans (The Tortured Poets Department came out on April 19, the day before 4/20, but also the date that, in 1775, the Revolutionary War began as America declared its intentions to leave Britain, and both Healy and her ex of six years who apparently wanted to de-jewel her, are British). The track “So Long London” brings Miss Americana back home. What’s next, the critics and fans want to know. After seeing a video on IG of her singing along to Garth Brooks’s iconic “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” at a football game, I’m personally crossing my fingers that, as the country genre has become surprisingly cool in recent years, thanks to stars like Kacey Musgraves, who often sings about cannabis, as well, of course, as Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Swift collaborator Lana Del Rey’s forthcoming country album, Lasso, that Tay Tay will go back to her Tim McGraw lovin’ roots, and we’ll eventually get another country album. 13/10 stars for The Tortured Poets Department. 

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Travis and Jason Kelce—probably the most famous brothers to play recently in the NFL—discussed how weed-related suspensions can haunt players for years to come in a recent podcast. But for Travis it changed the course of his career, sending him on a path as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In a recent podcast New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, they discussed the year-long suspension that haunted Travis after he tested positive for THC in 2010 while playing for when Travis played college football for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. In 2013, the Dallas Cowboys passed on him in an interview while scouting for talent, he explained in the podcast.

After testing positive for THC in a drug test, was suspended the entire 2010 season for what the Bearcats called a “violation of team rules,” which was in fact failing a drug test for cannabis. When he tested positive, Travis was in New Orleans for the 2010 Sugar Bowl with Cincinnati. Not only was he judged and ridiculed for supposedly being immature for smoking pot, but it ended up having serious consequences at the NFL’s annual combine where they scout out new talent for future NFL stars. 

USA Today reported that while future Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid had faith in him, regardless of the failed drug test and subsequent suspension, “America’s Team”—the Dallas Cowboys—declined to accept him at the annual NFL combine in 2013, instead recruiting someone else. He recalled the course of events that year on the podcast, as his brother Jason pressed him for more details.

“At the combine, I had some bad interviews,” Travis said. “The Cowboys, they were kind of pressing me about having this red flag of missing a year—smoking weed. I don’t know if I was having a bad morning, I basically was just, I don’t even know if I want to say this.”

While Travis seemed reluctant to discuss it, Jason encouraged his brother to elaborate.

“It ended really fast,” Travis added. “I basically just said, ‘If you guys think I’m gonna be that kind of guy or you’re questioning if I’m still that person after everything that I’ve battled through to get to where I am now from missing a season, then you guys probably go somewhere else and pick somebody else.’ That is exactly what they did.”

So who did the Cowboys recruit instead of Kelce? The Cowboys ended up drafting tight end Gavin Escobar in the second round. He spent five seasons in the league, catching just 30 passes for 333 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2023, Travis caught 984 receiving yards, with 1,138 receiving yards in 2022.

Escobar ended up being the 47th overall pick in 2013, while Kelce fell to 63, the first selection of the third round, by the Kansas City Chiefs.

The episode was shared March 2 on social media.

Kelce’s Suspension Changed the Course of His Career

The brothers have discussed the 2010 suspension several times before. In an earlier podcast in December 2023, episode 231 of Bussin’ With the Boys, Travis mentioned his 2010 suspension and explained that it actually led him from switching positions as quarterback to tight end.

“What it did was it really kicked me into the tight end room,” Travis said. “I was still playing QB then. It was like, ‘Alright, you can come walk on the team, but we don’t need a quarterback. You can just be an athlete on scout team for a year, we’ll figure it out.’”

The tight end acknowledged how much things have changed. Travis in particular has opened up before about how common pot is for NFL players, and how they typically get away with it despite drug tests.

In June 2023, Travis estimated that up to 80% of players in the NFL smoke pot. “If you just stop [smoking weed] in the middle of July, you’re fine,” he said. “A lot of guys stop a week before and they still pass [drug tests] because everybody’s working out in the heat and sweating their tail off. Nobody’s really getting hit for it anymore.”

Former tight end Martellus Bennett estimated that closer to “89 percent” of NFL players smoke pot, and former running back Ricky Williams, who was also suspended for smoking pot, suggested “at least 80%” of players did the same. Williams, Marshawn Lynch, Tiki Barber, Calvin Johnson, and others have also invested in pot-related companies.

This aligns with what is seen in other pro sports leagues like the NBA and MMA organizations like the UFC. 

Jason also recently announced his retirement from the NFL after playing for 13 seasons.

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On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined the Pod Save America podcast and revealed who her “dream blunt rotation” would be when asked. It was hypothetical, as she doesn’t smoke, and the senator kept things positive in her responses.

In what they called a special President’s Day edition episode Feb. 19, Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau (the former Barack Obama staffer, not the MCU actor) asked her about her push to deschedule pot, and also who she’s most and least likely to invite to a blunt rotation out of a list of pre-selected choices. 

The list of choices for the “dream blunt rotation” included politicians like President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as well as celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Taylor Swift.

Warren played along, not keeping things too serious, revealing that she could only pick one person for her dream rotation. “I’m just doing The Rock four times,” she said, laughing.

When Favreau asked about her “nightmare blunt rotation,” she was given the choices of her perceived opponents: Elon Musk, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Mark Zuckerberg. 

Warren declined to answer, keeping things classy.   

“I’m starting to feel a little sick,” she laughed. “That is really awful to contemplate.”

Earlier in the conversation, Favreau also asked her about a more serious topic—her recent push to deschedule cannabis, joining several other lawmakers. 

“You and other Democratic senators recently asked the Biden administration to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act—entirely—which would decriminalize it on a federal level. Have you heard back from DOJ or the DEA, or had any conversations with the administration about this?

“DEA?” She asked. “We’re pushing on them now. I want them to deschedule marijuana altogether. Look, if the Republicans didn’t block us, we’d run this through Congress. You just legalize it.

“There still could be regulations around it like there is around alcohol—you’ve got to be a certain age, you got to have certain disclosures about the potency and so on, I’m all for that,” Warren said. “But I really want to say to the DEA: Guys, come on. It is not 1958, and we don’t need to be terrified of this stuff. Let’s just deschedule it and go forward.” 

Pod Save America is hosted by former Obama aides Favreau, along with Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Push to Deschedule

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Warren discussed the push to deschedule cannabis fully rather than moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

“Right now marijuana is scheduled, it’s called, as a drug by the DEA at the same risk as heroin,” Warren said. “And that means not only is it illegal, you can’t even do research on it. It’s, so no—and what we’re saying in this letter is, ‘Guys get with it,’ at the DEA. It’s not 1954. More than half of all states have legalized marijuana.”

In a letter led by Warren and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), along with nine other Democrats including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) among others. 

The letter urges the DEA and Biden administration to deschedule cannabis altogether, recognizing that rescheduling to Schedule III would be a “significant step forward” but would not resolve the “worst harms of the current system.”

“Thus, the DEA should deschedule marijuana altogether. Marijuana’s placement in the CSA has had a devastating impact on our communities and is increasingly out of step with state law and public opinion,” the legislators said in the letter dated Jan. 30.

Warren routinely calls for a just and equitable cannabis industry. But the biggest change possible would be removing cannabis entirely from the list of controlled substances.

Biden could use a boost this upcoming general election, given what’s at stake. A January survey, conducted by Lake Research Partners, revealed a number of key findings surrounding registered voters and attitudes surrounding cannabis, namely that Biden could boost his favorability by 11% among younger voters should cannabis move from Schedule I to Schedule III.

The survey demonstrated the support behind rescheduling cannabis, with 58% of participants showing support and 19% opposed. Researchers wrote that support also crossed most demographic lines, and no more than one-third of voters in any major subgroup was opposed to rescheduling. Young voters, those aged 18-25, showed the strongest levels of support for rescheduling at 65%, with nearly half indicating they felt strongly about the issue. Support was strong across age demographics, with seniors showing support by a double-digit margin.

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More than 123 million people tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs (and Taylor Swift) claim yet another Super Bowl triumph on Sunday, making it the most-watched television program in history.

That’s useful grist for recently published research examining how watching the same thing can bring people together. 

It is known as the “theory of the collective mind,” which refers to the human ability to take in a collective perspective. 

Garriy Shteynberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, published the research on the theory last year, and recently expounded upon the scholarship in a piece published last month.

“Theory of mind research has traditionally focused on the ascription of mental states to a single individual. Here, we introduce a theory of collective mind: the ascription of a unified mental state to a group of agents with convergent experiences. Rather than differentiation between one’s personal perspective and that of another agent, a theory of collective mind requires perspectival unification across agents,” Shteynberg and his colleagues wrote in the study’s abstract last year.

“We review recent scholarship across the cognitive sciences concerning the conceptual foundations of collective mind representations and their empirical induction through the synchronous arrival of shared information. Research suggests that representations of a collective mind cause psychological amplification of co-attended stimuli, create relational bonds, and increase cooperation, among co-attendees.”

In his piece last month, Shteynberg noted the relevance of such research, given the increased polarization and decline in institutional trust in the United States. 

“Only about 1 in 4 Americans said that they had trust in the nation’s institutions in 2023 – with big business (1 in 7), television news (1 in 7) and Congress (1 in 12) scraping the very bottom,” he wrote.

“While institutional trust is decreasing, political polarization is increasing. The majority of Republicans (72%) and Democrats (64%) think of each other as more immoral than other Americans – a nearly 30% rise from 2016 to 2022. When compared with similar democracies, the United States has exhibited the largest increase in animus toward the opposing political party over the past 40 years.”

In a context in which we can’t agree on anything where, Shteynberg wonders, does that leave us? 

“When public trust and political consensus disappear, what remains? This question has occupied my research for the past 20 years, both as a scholar trained in social anthropology, organizational science and social cognition and as a professor of psychology,” he said.

“Researchers don’t have all the answers, but it seems that even in the absence of public trust and agreement, people can share experiences. Whether watching a spelling bee or a football game, ‘we’ still exist if ‘we’ can witness it together.”

Shteynberg goes on to explain that he and his colleagues have been driven to explore the “foundation of collective mind,” saying that what they study in the lab “is shared attention, instances when people experience the world with others.”

Those lab experiments, he says, underscore the value of “shared experiences,” saying they “amplify psychological and behavioral reactions to the world” in adults.

“My colleagues and I find that compared with attending to the world alone, or at different times than others, synchronous attention with others yields stronger memories, deeper emotions and firmer motivations. Studies show that seeing words together renders them more memorable, watching sad movies together makes them sadder, and focusing together on shared goals increases efforts toward their pursuit. Sharing attention to the behavior of others yields more imitation of that behavior,” he says.

“Critically, those experiencing something with you need not be physically present. Although in some experiments participants sit side by side, in other studies participants believe they are attending together from different lab rooms or even across the nation. Irrespective of the location, the sense that ‘we are attending’ to something together at the same time – as compared with in solitude or on your own schedule – amplifies the experience.”

Shteynberg highlights two examples of disparate sizes –– watching a movie in a theater or watching the Super Bowl –– as important instances of shared experiences with Americans, who are increasingly isolated in a society that conducts more and more business online.

“Before the advent of the internet, Americans shared attention broadly – they watched the same nightly news together, even if they did not always agree whether it was good or bad. Today, with people’s attention divided into media silos, there are more obstacles than ever to sharing attention with those with whom you disagree,” he says. “And yet, even when we can no longer agree on what ‘we’ believe, sharing attention to the basic sights and sounds of our world connects us. These moments can be relatively small, like watching a movie in the theater, or large, like watching the Super Bowl. However, remembering that we are sharing such experiences with Americans of all political persuasions is important.”

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Is Taylor Swift making a sneaky weed reference with her new song, “Lavender Haze”? We investigate her new music and its meaning.

The post Taylor Swift sparks new album’s mood with ‘Lavender Haze’ appeared first on Leafly.

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