Review of Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl
On October 3, Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl. Like many other swifties, I patiently stayed up Thursday night to give the new album a listen. I was a huge fan of The Tortured Poet’s Department, and I was anticipating her to release a similar moody theme album revealing the darker sides of Hollywood and the music industry.
Upon my first initial listen, I was quite surprised. The album is very lighthearted, many centering around her romance with Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce. And honestly, after all the heartbreak and hurt Swift has undergone in the years, it’s good that she is in a happy and healthy relationship. As a Shakespeare fan myself I was super excited to listen to “The Fate of Ophelia”, a nod to the classic Elizabethan play. She sings in the chorus, “You dug me out of my grave and /Saved my heart from the fate of / Ophelia (Ophеlia).” A large theme throughout this album is that her fiancee, Kelce, saved her from a broken heart and made her realize that she wants the white picket fence lifestyle. In a later track,Wi$h Li$t, she expresses these sentiments “I just want you, huh / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you.”
In Swift’s carefully crafted musical anthology, track five is often a particularly emotional and vulnerable song. For example, my favourite fifth track is “The Archer” from her Lover album. In “The Archer” explores her insecurities and anxieties, particularly ones surrounding romantic relationships. Many Swifties anticipated that “Eldest Daughter” The Life of a Showgirl fifth track would be a standout hit with raw lyricism. In reality, this song fell flat with several lyrics the internet immediately noticed and started making fun of. The chorus starts off with Swift singing “But I’m not a bad bitch / And this isn’t savage.” Many listeners were quite taken aback considering Swift’s previous lyrical excellence, think of Folklore and Evermore. One Instagram user shared their opinion stating “Do you think this is what millennials feel like listening to Brat?”
Embarrassingly, my favourite song on the album was “Wood.” Swift seems to have taken a page out of Sabrina Carpenter’s, who is featured on the title track “The Life of a Showgirl”, a book with overtly sexual lyrics about Kelce. The song starts out as a play on the superstition about not having to knock on wood, because she is in a happy and secure relationship, but wood quickly turns into an innuendo about something else. A user on X poked fun at the artist’s odd lyrics writing, “swifties when ariana sings about sex and doesn’t write it like ‘he stuck his long wood into my redwood forest and let his sap ferment my roots.’’’
Lyrically, The Life of a Showgirl is not Swift’s strongest album. Sound wise, there are several fun and upbeat tunes. But like many other Swifties, I have promised to love Taylor in sickness, health, and cringy lyrics, so I will give this album ⅗ stars.