The Black Dog (song)

"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).

[1] She continued on it during the US leg of her Eras Tour in 2023, which heightened her fame while she was experiencing intense media reports on her personal life, including past romantic relationships with the English artists Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy.

[4][5][6] One such track which he produced with Swift was "The Black Dog", a song that she wrote and originally named "Old Habits Die Screaming" when first recording it at her phone.

The track was mixed by Serban Ghenea at Mixstar Studios in Virginia Beach, with assistance from Bryce Bordone, and it was mastered by Randy Merrill and Ryan Smith.

[16][17] The song is about the contrast of their griefs as a result of their breakup, which came with losing a location as well, a theme that was also explored in the fellow album track "So Long, London".

[21][22] At the end of the chorus, the production employs a tense shift in dynamics and crescendos when Swift sings the lyric, "Old habits die screaming", which also concludes the song altogether.

[23] Commenting on the lyric, a staff member from Slant Magazine believed that it was a twist on the phrase, "Old habits die hard", and relates to the "torture" themes of the album.

[29] Allaire Nuss of Entertainment Weekly described the song as "an understated, intimate funeral march for a love long gone",[30] while Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield wrote that it was a satirization of Swift's "post-breakup phone-stalker tendencies".

George Mills, a scholar in philosophy, wrote that the narrative was a "modernization of the black dog myths from folklore" and that the namesake bar indicated "the death of [Swift's] relationship".

[31] In Beats Per Minute, John Wohlmacher said that her character could be the black dog from the novel series Harry Potter named Grim, a misinterpreted "dark omen" whom he likens to the narrator on whether if she is an "avenger or protector when her ex hooks up with a much younger girl".

[10] "The Black Dog" also shares its name with a pub in Vauxhall, which gained public attraction from Swift's fans worldwide following its release and prompted discussions on whether the song's subject could be Alwyn or Healy.

[54][55] Bryan West from USA Today believed that she brought out an "emotional mashup" of both tracks,[55] while Billboard's Joe Lynch deemed it one of the eight best moments from the show.

[c] Writing for Billboard Philippines, Gabriel Saulog selected the song as one of the double album tracks that were triumphant in unveiling the schemes of Swift's mind and exemplified her known expertise in songwriting.

[23] Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine wrote that it showcased an effective technique of how her pitch or wording are controlled to highlight altered idioms, thinking that it enhanced parts of the writing quality.

Describing the track as angry and vindictive, The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick said that it was a "very strong" start for The Anthology and had a massive sound that could fit within the standard edition.

[23] In Stereogum, Tom Breihan wrote that the production style was reminiscent of immediate predecessors and well suited for Swift's "old-school Nashville-honed storytelling chops".