Does Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department live up to the hype?

Taylor Swift's 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department is here.

It's twice as long as we expected, after Swift casually released a second part of the album just two hours after the release of the first half.

Less surprising is the news that it's packed with references for Swifties to obsess over, and sees the 34-year-old singer spit venom at a couple of ex-boyfriends while she unpacks the emotions that come with being one of the most popular (and wealthiest) people on the planet.

To help us understand the album's standing from a fan's perspective, we've asked RN Breakfast and Q&A host Patricia Karvelas and ABC News reporters Megan Macdonald, Grace McKinnon and Jessica Riga to unpack their feelings after a weekend of living with this 122-minute collection.

How has The Tortured Poets Department lived up to your expectations so far?

Patricia Karvelas: TTPD has exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high.

I passionately disagree with the naysayers who suggest Taylor Swift is too prolific and needs to take a break. No one puts Taylor in the corner. She is at her poetic songwriting peak and this album is the melding of the genres she's experimented in to deliver anthem after anthem of angsty, personal, raw storytelling.

I think history will judge this as one of her best albums and her artistry for writing lyrics is exceptional among her contemporaries.

Jessica Riga: I've fallen out of love with Taylor Swift in the past and bounced back, so with every new release I wonder when I might go cold again. But not today.

I prefer her more upbeat stuff, but I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying TTPD overall … but I have a lot of thoughts about the surprise double album, The Anthology.

Megan Macdonald: I had gathered from the visuals in the lead-up that TTPD was going to be an exploration of heartbreak and, as someone who enjoys "sad girl music", I have to say my expectations of TTPD have been well and truly met.

This album includes some of the saddest and most cutting lyrics I've heard from her. What has surprised me is the songs that include lyrics outlining depression and misery being accompanied with some of the most upbeat pop productions I've heard. Do we dance? Do we cry?

Grace McKinnon: Sad girl songs you can still dance to are my jam. This album delivered; it's giving hands in the air crying on the d-floor.

TTPD was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's my favourite albums – Midnights and Folklore – combined.

What's your favourite song on the album so far?

JR: So Long, London is such a stand-out. It was earmarked as soon as the track list was revealed as it's track five, which Swift usually sets aside for her most vulnerable entries.

It's devastating, but I smiled as soon as it started because it's so clever how her voice sounds like church bells ringing as a bride walks up the aisle.

It also has some of the most gut-wrenching lyrics on the album: "You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?/I died on the altar waitin' for the proof."

MM: At the time of writing. I'm really enjoying But Daddy I Love Him.

Regardless of who it is about, it delivers some of the most cutting lines about the public's opinion and expectations of her personal life.

Some personal favourites include: "All the wine moms are still holdin' out, but f*** 'em, it's over"; and my favourite one to witness people hearing for the first time: "I'm havin' his baby, No, I'm not, but you should see your faces." Priceless.

GM: So High School is my favourite. I'm instantly transported to my teenage bedroom dancing around to early Taylor Swift. I love this grown-up nostalgic nod to young love – it's the reason I replay Taylor's cringe-y teen albums. It's a song you know the words to on the first listen.

PK: This is an unfair question so I'll give you my top three.

My number one is But Daddy I Love Him. I feel like I'm speeding on a highway trapped in a fast car of Swift's unregulated emotions. The build in this song is incredible, the pace anthemic, the lyrics brazen and risky.

I'd rather burn my whole life down
Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin'
I'll tell you something 'bout my good name
It's mine alone to disgrace
I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing.

Swift takes on the Swifties and I'm here for it. Fake empathy is something I've been waiting to hear called out.

My number two pick is So Long, London which is the perfect break-up song.

My number three pick is Down Bad because it is the perfect pop anthem: It melds pop with heartbreak and those two are always a good mix.

Has anything about the album disappointed you?

JR: I wish she didn't release this as a secret double album, or there was more space given to the 16 tracks on The Tortured Poets Department before Swift dropped The Anthology.

I'm vibing with at least 10 songs on Tortured Poets, and yet nothing is really grabbing me (yet) on The Anthology. In my head, Swift diluted a strong album by releasing too much at once.

Fans slammed The New York Times' review in their Instagram comments because they wrote that the "sharpest" moments of Tortured Poets would have been "even more piercing in the absence of excess". I have to agree.

But the beauty with Swift's discography is that songs begin to resonate at different times, so I might feel differently once more time has passed.

GM: My gut reaction is to say, "CUT IT DOWN!" But after listening through, what would have made it better was time between TTPD albums. Dropping 31 songs on the same day makes it impossible to digest.

I wanted an album, not a novel. I was completely overwhelmed trying to enjoy the music, lyrics, references and themes. Releasing a flood of music at once meant I couldn't search for any songs to anchor to. I wouldn't cut the songs, but more time between albums is needed, please.

MM: When I saw thanK you aIMee (the lowercase and capitalisation is crucial here), I gasped.

I understand these songs were written over a two-year period and may not reflect how she feels now, but considering she mentioned the Kim Kardashian feud in her Time magazine profile not long ago, it appears this topic still angers her.

I don't think she needs to keep reflecting this in her songs. Her work speaks for itself in my opinion. She's on top of her game right now and I think dredging up an old feud isn't necessary.

Who cops it worse: long-term ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn or recent fling Matty Healy?

JR: Is it naive of me to be surprised that Matty Healy has such a big presence on this album? Yes, there are countless references to marriage and babies that can be easily placed into the Joe Alwyn pile, but the album's title track, But Daddy I Love Him and I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) all sound like references to Healy.

When the album dropped Swift wrote, "This period of the author's life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up," so here's hoping we never hear about either of them ever again.

MM: Imagine being Joe Alwyn, realising a short-term relationship following their six years together was what spurred some of her most emotionally complex songs.

I think fans are realising that her relationship with Healy started, potentially on and off, a lot longer ago than many realise. The impact is palpable. I mean, listen to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and you will understand.

It's comforting to know that even a star like Swift can't escape the devastation of a situationship or ambiguous romance with a troubled musician.

Swift writing these emotionally complex songs about her relationships is why I enjoy her music so much. You can apply so many of her lyrics to times or people in your own life. I think the focus on the men she writes about can be distracting and isn't often a question that male singer-songwriters deal with.

PK: The decoding games are fun, and she's left us all the clues we desire. But I always hear Swift's lyrics as a reflection of her emotions rather than taking much interest in the men she's writing about.

When she sings about wasted youth, it's relatable for anyone who's invested their 20s in a relationship that goes nowhere, and those tracks are obviously all aimed at her long-term ex Joe Alwyn.

There are a disturbingly high number of songs about Healy and honestly whatever happened in that summer love affair seems completely unhinged, but he must be thanked for all the good material he has provided at the very least.

I'd be embarrassed to be Matty Healy after listening to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.

GM: Taylor can't tarnish Healy's reputation more than he can himself. Taylor says she knows he is chaos, but her name and reputation are her own to ruin for him.

Meanwhile Joe receives a short funeral and is called a "coward" in loml. Need another nail in the coffin? In How Did It End?, Taylor conducts a "post-mortem" and writes about "death rattle breathing … bereft and reeling, my beloved ghost and me … D-Y-I-N-G".

The Lover house has been burnt down and TTPD is the ashes.

What could have made the album better?

JR: A solid edit, which sounds harsh as the album has only been out for three days. But every artist needs to kill their darlings. If she released more than 30 songs, how many were actually cut in the end?

GM: In songwriting and content sometimes less is more. Give us space to enjoy TTPD before The Anthology release.

PK: This is going to be painful for me to admit but, in the spirit of a good Swift song, I'm going to embrace uncomfortable emotions and reveal that I think the second anthology part of the album needed an edit.

I liked the second part of the album dropping – but some of the songs needed to be omitted. I've said it. That was cathartic.

MM: I feel like this will become evident with more listens, but I believe the album could use some diversity amongst the tracks.

In saying that, Folklore is a favourite of mine, and you could argue the same with that album – so maybe it doesn't matter that we aren't getting a track that rivals Cruel Summer from Lover or Anti-Hero from Midnights. I'm still figuring it out.

What does The Tortured Poets Department tell us about Taylor Swift today?

JR: There's been so much criticism online about how she's (heaven forbid) a 34-year-old woman writing about the same themes as she was when she was younger, but that's the point.

She thought she had it all figured out, marriage and babies seemed closer than ever, and it still fell apart and she's pissed at how easy it is to feel reduced down to nothing and dealing with those same emotions of heartbreak.

MM: It tells me that she's not afraid to write about how she truly feels about being such a famous person. Hearing her critique elements of fame and her fandom across these lyrics made me really proud.

I think this is some of her most mature songwriting, it reflects a woman that has gone through some emotionally complex periods in her life – and obviously some gut-wrenching heartbreak – and what better way to process that pain than to turn it into art?

GM: Her life is her own. She lives in our spotlight but isn't afraid to call out the reciprocal toxic relationship between us.

PK: She is unapologetic about her status as the biggest artist in the world and has moved from girlhood to expressing the angst of a 20- or 30-something woman.

Final thoughts?

JR: I genuinely think this could win Taylor Swift's her fifth Grammy for album of the year. I didn't think Midnights really deserved the honour, but this has a strong chance – and it's going to piss a lot of people off.

PK: Swift is a truly intergenerational artist and continues to be, but it's time to admit that her music speaks to women in their 30s and 40s more than it does the tweens and teens

My own teenage daughter is way more interested in artists like SZA and I think that makes sense. I'm here for an aging Swift coming into her musical prime and rejecting her gatekeepers.

MM: I really hope, after listening, that Swift has an excellent therapist.

The Tortured Poets Department is out now.