According to Apple Music, Taylor didn’t have in mind to explore the stages of grief when she wrote TTPD, she made the playlists AFTER seeing the fan theories and she changed it to the stages of heartbreak.

Fans may have been on to something when they theorized that Taylor Swift‘s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, was inspired by the five stages of grief. Ahead of the LP’s April 19 release, the popstar shared a quintet of playlists she personally curated for
Apple Music on Friday (April 5), each of them featuring songs from her first 10 albums representing a distinct phase of heartbreak.

Four of the playlists are named after the taglines of previously announced deluxe editions, with the fifth one dubbed “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” after one of the song titles on Tortured Poets. Firstly, the “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life” roundup features tracks such as “Style” and “Treacherous,” designed by the 14-time Grammy winner to embody the “denail” stage.
“This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion,” she said in a statement. “Results may vary.”
Secondly, anger is soundtracked by a playlist called “You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad,” including “Vigilante Shit,” “Bad Blood,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and more. “These songs all have one thing in common: I wrote them while feeling anger,” Swift
continued. “Over the years, I’ve learned that anger can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, but the healthiest way that it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it, and then oftentimes, that helps me get past it.”