The Black Dog

“The Black Dog” is the bonus track on The Tortured Poets Department variant of the same name. The “black dog” is a metaphor for depression.

Taylor Swift announced this bonus track as the fourth and final bonus track during her second night in Singapore on The Eras Tour.

‘The Black Dog’, the title after which the exclusive track is named, can be interpreted in many ways:

In a physical concept, as suggested by Taylor, ‘The Black Dog’ in its typology, serves as a nod to the stereotypical conventions in which English bars name themselves; in the case of the aforementioned title, it is a correlation to the idea of hunting, in this case, Taylor is the one that’s being ‘hunted’, by love

The idea of Taylor being prey is not a new theme, introduced in Taylor’s 2019 album, ’Lover’ when she states in the chorus of the fifth track ’The Archer’:

”I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey”

This connection only further serves the notion that this album is connected in theme to the breakup from Joe Alwyn as contrived through the stereotypical English bar naming and, as well, through the correlation to the ‘Lover’ album, an album alluded to be centered around the relationship with Joe Alwyn.

The ‘Black Dog’ is also a bar in London; the longtime residence of Alwyn's.

In a metaphysical concept, ‘The Black Dog’ is a fixture in British folklore, known by other monikers as ‘the grim’, it is said to foretell bad luck or death. A hellhound construed with being an Omen.