The Alchemy

Last updated

"The Alchemy"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Tortured Poets Department
ReleasedApril 19, 2024 (2024-04-19)
Studio
Genre
Length3:16
Label Republic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Taylor Swift
  • Jack Antonoff
Lyric video
"The Alchemy" on YouTube

"The Alchemy" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Swift wrote and produced the track with Jack Antonoff. A pop rock track, "The Alchemy" uses extensive football imagery to describe a burgeoning romance after going through heartbreak. Some critics deemed the football imagery and metaphors weak, but some others praised the production elements. The track peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 25 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

Contents

Background and release

Swift started working on The Tortured Poets Department immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album, Midnights , to Republic Records for release in 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of the Eras Tour in 2023. [1] The album's conception took place when Swift's personal life continued to be a widely covered topic in the press. [2] She described The Tortured Poets Department as her "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make. [3] Republic Records released it on April 19, 2024; "The Alchemy" is 15th on the track list. [4] On May 12, 2024, Swift performed an acoustic guitar version of "The Alchemy" at the fourth Paris show of her Eras Tour. [5]

Music and lyrics

"The Alchemy" is a pop rock song [6] with R&B influences in its instrumentation, [7] composed of echoing drums and layered vocals. [8] Will Hodgkinson of The Times wrote that it has a "dreamy, romantic" production. [6] The lyrics use extensive football imagery to describe starting a new relationship. [9] [10] Time's Shannon Carlin wrote that the track's placement near the end of the standard album shows that Swift's character is willing to "fight again with this new one-of-a-kind guy" after detailing ex-lovers on the preceding tracks ("These blokes warm the benches/ We've been on a winning streak"). [11] Lauren Huff of Entertainment Weekly agreed, saying that "The Alchemy", placed after "songs about heartache so bad that Swift compares it to 'cardiac arrest' in her epilogue", signaled a "good kind" of madness, of falling in love. [12] The song's lyrics also appear to draw a parallel between the chemicals released by the brain when playing a sport and those released when one is in love. [13] Swift's character tells her new lover that she is willing to be all in ("So when I touch down/ Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team") and admits that she does not have another choice ("Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?"). [11] The song also features details of the lover winning a football match ("Shirts off, and your friends lift you up, over their heads"). [14] In the bridge, Swift's character asserts: "Where's the trophy? He just comes, running over to me." [11] Many publications interpreted "The Alchemy" to be about Swift's relationship with the football player Travis Kelce. [11] [12] [15]

Reception

Criticisms of the song mostly took issue with its lyrics. Some critics, such as The Atlantic's Spencer Kornharber, [16] Slate's Carl Wilson, [17] and Beats Per Minute's John Wohlmacher, considered the football imagery in the lyrics weak, "terrible", and "tossed-off". [7] The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick said the track contains "cheesy sports puns". [18] Writing for the Financial Times , Ludovic Hunter-Tilney said that the song was one of the "repetitive" tracks and opined that the title was used incorrectly. [19] Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times described the song as "weightless". [20] Sputnikmusic 's Hugh G. Paddles argued that "The Alchemy" is an "otherwise effervescent and personally charged" track but criticized the "faux-narcotic slurred delivery" mentioning a drug reference near the ending lines. [21] More positive reviews focused on the production. Wohlmacher praised the sound as "[laid] back and elegant" and said that the "mood of the composition" makes up for the lyrics. [7] Hodgkinson gave the song a five-star rating: "It's excellent — epic but intimate, like the final scene in a blockbuster." [6] Ranking all 31 tracks, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard placed "The Alchemy" at 21, calling it a "glittering love song". [22] Alex Hopper of American Songwriter described the track as "sauntering, sexy". [23]

Following its release, "The Alchemy" debuted and peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, where the song and tracks from the album made Swift the first artist to occupy the top 14 of the chart. [24] [25] In Australia, it opened at its peak of number 18 on the ARIA Singles Chart and made her the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29. [26] [27] Elsewhere, "The Alchemy" reached number 19 on the Billboard Global 200 [28] and charted within the countries of New Zealand (19), [29] Canada (21), [30] Portugal (41), [31] Switzerland (46), [32] Sweden (65), [33] and France (157). [34] It also peaked at number 23 on the United Kingdom's Audio Streaming Chart [35] and number 39 on Greece's International Top 100 Digital Singles. [36]

Personnel

Charts

Chart performance for "The Alchemy"
Chart (2024)Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) [26] 18
Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [30] 21
France (SNEP) [34] 157
Global 200 ( Billboard ) [28] 19
Greece International (IFPI) [36] 39
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [29] 19
Portugal (AFP) [31] 41
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [33] 65
Swiss Streaming (Schweizer Hitparade) [32] 46
UK Streaming (OCC) [35] 23
US Billboard Hot 100 [24] 13

Related Research Articles

The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by Billboard magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recording act is remembered for its "number ones" that outperformed all other albums during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, acquiring its existing name in March 1992. Its previous names include the Billboard Top LPs (1961–1972), Billboard Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), Billboard Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and Billboard Top Pop Albums (1985–1992).

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References

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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 April 19, 2024.
  3. ↑ Bonner, Mehera (February 16, 2024). "Taylor Swift Reveals Bonus Track Title and New Album Cover for The Tortured Poets Department". Cosmopolitan . Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  4. ↑ "As The Tortured Poets Department drops, here's all Taylor Swift's albums ranked by sales". Music Week . April 19, 2024. Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Travis Kelce Attends Taylor Swift's 4th Eras Tour Show in Paris". People . May 12, 2024. Archived from the original on May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
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  9. ↑ Zoladz, Lindsay (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's New Album, The Tortured Poets Department, Could Use an Editor: Review" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  10. ↑ Chiu, Melody (April 19, 2024). "Is Taylor Swift's 'The Alchemy' About Travis Kelce? See the Lyrical Football References". People . Archived from the original on May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Carlin, Shannon (April 19, 2024). "Why Swifties Are Convinced 'The Alchemy' Is About Travis Kelce". Time . Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
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  13. ↑ Miyashita, Nina; Waterhouse, Jonah (April 24, 2024). "All the hidden meanings in Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" album". Vogue Australia. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  14. ↑ O'Connor, Roisin (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift appears to share first song about boyfriend Travis Kelce". The Independent . Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  15. ↑ Bowenbank, Starr (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift Gushes Over Her and Travis Kelce's Relationship on 'The Alchemy' and 'So High School'". InStyle . Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  16. ↑ Kornhaber, Spencer (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift Is Having Quality-Control Issues" . The Atlantic . Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  17. ↑ Wilson, Carl (April 19, 2024). "The Problem With Taylor Swift's New Album". Slate . ISSN   1091-2339. Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  18. ↑ McCormick, Neil (April 22, 2024). "Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department: a sharp, savage attack on her British exes". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  19. ↑ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department review — heartbreak inspires anguish, anger and a career highlight". Financial Times . Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  20. ↑ Zoladz, Lindsay (April 23, 2024). "On 'The Tortured Poets Department,' Taylor Swift Could Use an Editor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  21. ↑ Puddles, Hugh G. (April 22, 2024). "Review: Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department". Sputnikmusic . Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
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  23. ↑ Hopper, Alex (April 19, 2024). "The Gloves are off on Taylor Swift's Double Album, The Tortured Poets Department". American Songwriter . Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
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