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The Black Dog (song)

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This article is about the Taylor Swift song. For other songs, see Black dog (disambiguation) § Music.

"The Black Dog"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Tortured Poets Department
ReleasedApril 19, 2024 (2024-04-19)
Studio
GenrePost-industrial
Length3:58
LabelRepublic
Songwriter(s)
  • Taylor Swift
Producer(s)
Lyric video
"The Black Dog" on YouTube

"The Black Dog" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). She and Jack Antonoff produced the song, which is a slow-building post-industrial ballad instrumented by sparse piano. Its chorus contains a dynamic shift, crescendoing with multitracked vocal harmonies and thumping synth beats towards its conclusion. In the lyrics, Swift's character is heartbroken and resents an ex-partner after finding him with another woman at a bar called "the Black Dog".

The song was released as a bonus track for a physical edition of The Tortured Poets Department and as part of a double album edition subtitled The Anthology. A demo recording of it was released for limited-time download. "The Black Dog" peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 30 on charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It received a gold certification in Australia.

Music critics received "The Black Dog" with generally positive reviews: they praised its engaging narrative with clever lyrical details and the production for showcasing emotional vocals and a memorable chorus. Several reviewers considered the track a highlight from the double album or Swift's discography. Swift performed "The Black Dog" three times on the Eras Tour in 2024.

Background and composition

[edit]

Taylor Swift began working on her eleventh original studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, shortly after finishing her previous album, Midnights (2022). She continued developing it during the US leg of the Eras Tour throughout 2023.[1] Conceiving the album amidst her heightened fame brought by the Eras Tour and intense media reports on her personal life,[2] Swift described it as a "lifeline" for her.[3]

Swift wrote "The Black Dog" and produced it with Jack Antonoff; they both played piano on the song. She initially named the track "Old Habits Die Screaming".[4][5] Antonoff programmed the track and played various instruments on it: acoustic, bass, and electric guitars, drums, cello, vocoder, and multiple keyboards—the Mellotron, the Rhodes piano, and synths (Juno 6, Polysix, M1). Sean Hutchinson played additional drums and recorded his parts with Michael Riddleberger at Hutchinson Sound Studio in Brooklyn. Bobby Hawk played strings which were recorded by Jack Manning. "The Black Dog" was recorded by Oli Jacobs and Laura Sisk at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The track was mixed by Serban Ghenea at Mixstar Studios in Virginia Beach.[6]

"The Black Dog"
The production slowly builds up in the first chorus (sampled) and briefly crescendos with thumping synth beats and multitracked vocal harmonies when Swift sings "Old habits die screaming".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"The Black Dog" is a post-industrial ballad that runs for 3 minutes and 58 seconds.[7][8][9] It features a sparse piano-led arrangement[10][11] that begins in a slow pace and builds up for the rest of the length.[12][13] Josh Kurp of Uproxx believed that there was influences from the works of Phoebe Bridgers due to how the song intensifies towards the end.[13] The chorus briefly shifts in dynamics—the instruments build up into a crescendo and incorporate multitracked vocal harmonies and thumping synth beats when Swift sings the final words of the chorus, "Old habits die screaming", a twist on the popular idiom, "Old habits die hard".[11][14][15] John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute and Lynn Sharpe of Screen Rant considered the moment explosive,[7][14] while Consequence's Mary Sirosky thought of it as "energy, guitar, and drums [bursting] through at full volume before peeling back".[16] Critics also identified Swift's vocals on the moment as "sing-shout[ing]" and gasping.[17][18]

The lyrics depicts Swift pursuing her ex-partner after realizing that she can still track his phone.[17] She observes him at a bar called "The Black Dog", obsessing over what he could be doing there.[17] Swift sees him trying to seduce a girl who is too young to recognize a song by the Starting Line playing on the jukebox.[8] Heartbroken and deceived to the point of hiring a priest to get rid of her demons, she confesses that she has an inability to understand how he got over her.[19][20] In the climax, Swift wishes her ex-partner the worst time possible.[21] Critics and Swift's fans interpreted the song's title as a term for depression[a] or a pub in Vauxhall, London,[b] which gained public attraction following its release.[26] Wohlmacher said that the narrative evoked the titular black dog from the novel series Harry Potter.[7] Rolling Stone's journalist Rob Sheffield believed that the song was about revenge led by a "quasi-stalker [...] whose friends really need to confiscate her phone for the night".[10] Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine thought the "Old habits die screaming" line alluded to the album's themes of "torture".[11] For Kaitlyn Huamani of the Los Angeles Times, the line implied that Swift is having a tough time moving on from the relationship.[27]

Release and commercial performance

[edit]

On February 4, 2024, Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and its release date on April 19.[28] During the lead-up, four limited-time physical editions of the album were released one at a time for pre-order, each titled after a corresponding bonus track—the last edition included "The Black Dog" and was named after it.[29] Two hours after The Tortured Poets Department and its physical editions were released under Republic Records, the song became digitally available as part of a double album edition subtitled The Anthology, where it appears as the 17th track.[30][31][32] The first demo recording of the song was also released on May 16 in a limited-time digital edition of the album.[33] On June 21, 2024, Swift performed the track in a mashup with her songs "Come Back... Be Here" (2012) and "Maroon" (2022) at the London stop of the Eras Tour. She sang it two more times on the tour, as part of mashups with her songs "Exile" (2020) at a Warsaw show on August 3 and "Haunted" (2010) at a New Orleans show on October 25.[34]

Upon the release of The Anthology, "The Black Dog" opened and peaked of number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[35] In Australia, it reached number 25 on the ARIA Singles Chart and helped made Swift the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29.[36][37] It is also where the song received a gold certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[38] Elsewhere, "The Black Dog" peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Global 200[39] and debuted within the national charts of Canada (26),[40] New Zealand (26),[41] Portugal (67),[42] and Switzerland (95).[43] On other charts, the song reached Greece's International Top 100 Digital Singles chart (58),[44] Sweden's Heatseeker chart (1),[45] and the United Kingdom's audio streaming (30)[46] and sales charts (61).[47]

Critical reception

[edit]

Following its release, "The Black Dog" garnered a positive reception from critics in reviews of the double album and in lists of Swift's and Antonoff's repertoires. The production received positive reviews. Sirosky considered the song a "welcome addition" to Swift's piano ballads and the momentary moments of change in volume outstanding.[16] Viswanath thought it was a great track where Antonoff assisted Swift in expressing "her post-breakup frustrations over epic guitar stabs", which he described as if her album Folklore (2020) included musical elements of punk rock.[22] Nate Jones of Vulture opined that "The Black Dog" had a "throwback vibe" which he enjoyed.[48] Kurp believed that the track builds up into a "cathartic" and rewarding conclusion,[13] while Willman lauded the progressive acension into an "emo climax" as its best part.[21] Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph wrote that "The Black Dog" contained a "big sound" that could have fit within the original album.[49] Tom Breihan of Stereogum found that the musical style from Swift's recent works complemented well with her "Nashville-honed storytelling chops".[50] For Keefe, he thought that Antonoff was successful in "[subverting] expectations" on the song in that he applied musical techniques that highlighted the dynamism of the production.[11]

The lyrical content of the song was a subject of praise. Critics found the story and its details clever,[51][11][52] compelling,[51] "comforting",[23] and strikingly relatable.[27] Callie Ahlgrim of Business Insider said that Swift's storytelling was wonderfully in her style and described it as "modern yet classic, aching yet righteous, existential yet specific" She also thought it presented her ability to transform the locations of depicted heartbreak "into sacred ground".[53] The concept was commended as well: Sheffield considered it a "classic Nashville-worthy premise",[8] Tyler Foggatt from The New Yorker stated that it was a remarkably simple one that could make someone mad,[19] and Jason Lipshutz from Billboard believed that it was "universal": "who hasn't wondered if they can trust their own memories, once someone else breaks that trust?"[20] For Willman, he said that the concept would immediately engage fans and added that the track was a great song regarding people's experiences with other songs.[21]

Swift's vocal performance on "The Black Dog" was positively received. Mary Kate Carr from The A.V. Club regarded the track as one of the instances on the double album where she expresses genuine emotion,[18] while Foggatt wrote that it best exmplified her pettiness and egotism.[19] Sharpe said that the small touches of the "fleeting burst of action" in the chorus and Swift's emotional gasping in the end were memorable enough to put the song as one of her favorite tracks from the double album.[14] Keefe wrote that "The Black Dog" showcased an effective technique of how her vocal register and wording are controlled to emphasize emotion, which he deemed beneficial for some of its writing.[54] The chorus was also praised. Ryan Fish of The Hollywood Reporter thought it was an "epic, screeching" one that would relish fans live,[12] while Sirosky viewed the melody to be in "classic Swift earworm style".[16] Jones said that it had a "big shout-y hook", which he believed was generally absent on the double album and was going to be screamed at shows by millennials.[48] As for McCormick, the hook was a "punchy" one.[49]

Ahlgrim,[55] Carr,[18] Huamani,[27] Kurp,[13] and Sheffield regarded "The Black Dog" as a highlight from the double album,[8] while Slate's Carl Wilson considered it one of the "worthwhile" cuts from The Anthology.[17] Carr and Kurp additionally lamented on the song's status as a bonus track.[18][13] It was included in rankings of all 31 tracks from the double album by Fish (6),[12] Sharpe (9),[14] and Lipshutz (13).[20] In Swift's discography, Willman selected "The Black Dog" among her 10 best songs,[21] and Jones and Sheffield ranked it as 50th and 96th, respectively, on their lists of her worst-to-best tracks.[48][52] Ahlgrim viewed the song as one of Swift's finest breakup tracks,[53] while Kurp believed that it was one of the best songs she ever wrote.[56] For Entertainment Weekly's Allaire Nuss, "The Black Dog" was one of the double album's tracks that belong within the higher ranks of Swift's catalog.[57] The editorial staff of Slant Magazine and Viswanath featured it on lists of Swift's and Antonoff's best collaborations with placements of 13th[11] and 50th,[22] respectively. Meanwhile, Consequence listed it as 245th on their ranking of Antonoff's worst-to-best-produced tracks.[16]

Personnel

[edit]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department ("The Black Dog" physical edition).[6]

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for "The Black Dog"
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[36] 25
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[40] 26
Global 200 (Billboard)[39] 26
Greece International (IFPI)[44] 58
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[41] 26
Portugal (AFP)[42] 67
Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[45] 1
Swiss Streaming (Schweizer Hitparade)[43] 95
UK Singles Sales (OCC)[47] 60
UK Streaming (OCC)[46] 31
US Billboard Hot 100[35] 25

Certification

[edit]
Certification for "The Black Dog"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[38] Gold 35,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Attributed to The New Yorker's Tyler Foggatt,[19] Slate's Carl Wilson,[17] and Variety's Chris Willman[21]
  2. ^ Attributed to Bustle's Jake Viswanath,[22] Clash's Lauren Webb,[23] CNN's Alli Rosenbloom,[24] and Vogue Australia's Jonah Waterhouse and Nina Miyashita[25]

References

[edit]
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  2. ^ Sisario, Ben (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Arrives With a Promotional Blitz". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
  3. ^ Wilkes, Emma (February 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift Says Writing New Album The Tortured Poets Department Was A 'Lifeline'". NME. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
  4. ^ Rossingol, Derrick (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology: Here Are The Full Album Credits With Songwriters". Uproxx. Archived from the original on April 27, 2024. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
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  6. ^ a b Swift, Taylor (2024). The Tortured Poets Department ("The Black Dog" edition CD liner notes). Republic Records, an imprint of Universal Music Group. 602465081367.
  7. ^ a b c Wohlmacher, John (April 23, 2024). "Album Review: Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department". Beats Per Minute. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
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