I have been a lifelong Swiftie and I can prove this with my ticket stub from the Speak Now tour in 2011. Because of this, I feel qualified to analyze and critique Taylor’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl”.
In my expert opinion, this album is so fun when there’s not someone in your ear saying how annoying Taylor Swift is. It’s full of songs written with a glitter gel pen; you can listen to these without having to truly care about what she’s saying. They sound good, she isn’t trying to be deep, and that’s not for everyone.
While I agree with the main critique that this album is lyrically simple and doesn’t require any brain cells to understand, I counter with her last four non-rerecorded albums. If you want to sit and decipher the meaning, that is what “folklore”, “evermore”, “Midnights” and “The Tortured Poets Department” is for. Let the girl have some simple fun!
The opener, “The Fate of Ophelia” gives you an idea what the vibe of the album is. In my opinion, this is a mix of “1989” and “reputation” with “Lover” level lyricism. It feels very Taylor Swift, but a grown up version.
The producers for this album also worked on “1989” which gave us some of her most iconic songs ever, and it also gives us something different than Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff who have worked with her on the last 4 albums. While I love what Dessner and Antonoff have done with her work, I enjoy the switch.
“Elizabeth Taylor”, “CANCELLED!” and “Father Figure” sound like they could be “reputation” vault tracks which speaks to the question: will we ever get those? Since Taylor has finally reclaimed her masters and officially owns all of her albums, she no longer has a need to rerecord her first album and reputation, so will she? Regardless, I’m obsessed with these tracks and the zero effs she seems to give. Are they the most lyrically brilliant? No. But they’re fun!!
The last track of the album, the titular “The Life of a Showgirl” is more of what I was expecting going into this record based on the visuals we were given. It speaks more to a musical theater, showgirl crowd with Sabrina Carpenter featuring on the song. The song paints the picture of what life for showgirls looks like while the rest of the songs on this album feel more aimed towards whatever Taylor wanted to write.
Towards the middle of the titular track, I started to be reminded of “The Other Side” from “The Greatest Showman”. The back and forth nature reminded me of this musical and I was finally getting those showgirl vibes. I was disappointed that it took until the last two minutes of the final track, but maybe I was missing the meaning of “The Life of a Showgirl”.
Like many others, I assumed that an album about showgirls would be jazzy or have that musical theater element to it, especially because of the visuals we were given. But, I think the way Taylor took it was genius. SHE is the showgirl and this is her life, she can literally write about anything.
Seven of the 12 tracks on this album are explicit which speaks to how Taylor has grown with her music. Oct. 24 marks the 20 year anniversary of her debut self-titled album and it’s very interesting to see how her style has progressed in these last two decades.
“The Life of a Showgirl” is truly not what I was expecting, but coming off of the 31 track depression album that was TTPD, I think she needed some fun, carefree glitter gel pen songs and that’s what she did. Will I say it’s my favorite album? No, I need more time with it. But it’s groovy and quintessentially Taylor Swift.
I think if anyone else had put out this album, the ratings would be through the roof, but because it’s Taylor Swift, the misogyny is already running rampant. Everyone loves to hate on her because she’s a successful woman. People expect so much from this person that they have a parasocial relationship with when it’s important to remember that you don’t personally know her and she doesn’t owe you anything.
Personally, while this isn’t the vibe that I envisioned, I think Taylor continues to put out incredible albums one after the other and I’m grateful she’s still making music after 20+ years. My top five tracks after one day of listening: 1. “CANCELLED!”, 2. “Elizabeth Taylor”, 3. “The Fate of Ophelia”, 4. “Opalite” and 5. “Father Figure”. These are subject to change.
While these songs are lyrically simple, that doesn’t mean there isn’t meaning behind them. “Father Figure” to me reads as a dig at Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta. Taylor repeats the line “I’ll protect the family” six times in the song which aligns with the six albums she had sold out from under her. She now owns these which could be shown in the line “You pulled the wrong trigger, this empire belongs to me”. She mentions making deals with the devil in this song and Scooter and Scott are certainly the devil in Taylor’s world.
“CANCELLED!” could be a nod at her friend Blake Lively who found herself at the center of a scandal during the filming of “It Ends with Us”. This song talks about how Taylor herself was cancelled and understands that feeling. It had me levitating with how amazing it was.
“Ruin the Friendship” is a bittersweet song with callbacks to “Red” and “Fearless” as Taylor mentions her lifelong friend Abigail and late friend Jeff. On “Red TV”, Taylor released a vault song titled “Forever Winter” which tells the story of Jeff Lang who passed away in 2010. “Ruin the Friendship” explains that life is too short and to tell those you love that you love them while still having an upbeat vibe.
“Actually Romantic” seems to be a diss track on Charli XCX whose song “Sympathy is a knife” is rumored to be about Taylor. Lyrics like “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick” is most likely what led to Taylor’s song. Charli is now married to George Daniel who is in the band The 1975 with Matty Healy, Taylor’s ex boyfriend. The feud between the singers has been public for a while but I was surprised to see Taylor drop something like a diss track saying how all the attention Charli gives her is actually romantic. Loved it!
All in all, for those who aren’t fans of the album and are vocal in their criticism or just don’t get the album like real fans do: keep complaining, it keeps my tour ticket prices lower. I’d also like to say, hating on Taylor Swift doesn’t make you deep.