The detectives are out in full force as Taylor Swift has released her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Here’s one question they’ve devoted some time to:
Who Is Cassandra From Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department’ Album?
Some have connected the song title to Cassandra, a figure from Greek mythology. The Brooklyn Museum explains:
“The ravishing Cassandra, literally ‘she who entangles men,’ was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy. The god Apollo, enamored of her, granted her the power of prophecy but, when she rejected him, sabotaged that power with a curse that no one would believe her predictions. During the legendary Trojan War, she foresaw the Greek strategy of the Trojan horse, but her warnings were scorned. Cassandra later married the Greek hero Agamemnon and had visions of trouble for both of them. Her husband paid no heed and the two of them were murdered by Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s first wife.”
Indeed, that does line up with the song’s chorus, on which Swift sings, “So, they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst / And tried to tell the town / So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?”
The Tortured Poets Department is out now via Republic. Find more information here.