Every time my favorite modern artists– Sabrina Carpenter, Lorde, ROLE MODEL, Zach Bryan, and of course Taylor Swift– release a brand new album at midnight, I will happily sacrifice a few hours of sleep to listen. Although sleep is a priority for me, I stayed up to celebrate Taylor Swift’s new album.
On August 12, Swift announced her twelfth studio album called “The Life of a Showgirl” on her partner Travis Kelce’s (alongside his brother Jason) podcast “New Heights.” The album was recorded while Swift was on the European leg of her legendary Eras Tour in 2024.
“I would be playing three shows in a row, I’d have three days off. I’d fly to Sweden to record,” Swift said on the podcast.
Prior to the release, all I felt was pure excitement: Swift is my number one most-listened- to artist. When midnight finally came, I hit play on the first track “The Fate of Ophelia” and jumped into the pool of unknown: a twelve-song album about what went on behind the said “showgirl’s” curtain. The album took a biographical approach, with Swift herself cast as the showgirl.
What I admire most about Swift is her dedication to read criticism and change her next record based on it. This new album is the shortest in her discography, at only forty-one minutes. Although a short album is not ideal for all, Swift made that choice with careful intentions. Her previous album “The Tortured Poets Department,” was two hours long. The lengthy duration was a central criticism– “It suffers from being too long,” a New Yorker critic said. Swift took that feedback and reduced the duration and tracklist for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Another strength in this record is her use of drums. This might seem foolish, because don’t all songs have drums? Surprisingly, her previous two records (The Tortured Poets Dept. and Midnights) lacked that essential instrument. They were both synth-based and every beat was made artificially. This record, however, had a strong essence of drums specifically on the tracks“Father Figure” and “Ruin the Friendship.” There was also a dominant use of electric guitar and bass– the instruments “Swifties” felt deprived of.
On this new album, the songs are the epitome of fun. The production lifts the mood, though there are some lyrics that have melancholic undertones– “I’d cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor/Tell me for real, do you think it’s forever?” Swift says, backed up by addicting drums and the powerful vocals on the song “Elizabeth Taylor.”
When I listened to the third track “Opalite” I could instantly picture myself ignoring the homework I had, and just getting up to dance in my messy room. I did not feel that way with the previous album; I could only imagine myself crawling into my bed after a long day and crying to the ballad “The Prophecy.”
Junior Talia Hird said, “This album is very fun and different from her last release. Even though I prefer the vibe of her previous records, like “Folklore”, this album does a good job of entertaining the listener.”
However, some parts of the album irked me. I couldn’t help but wince at certain lyrics that felt too out-of-touch, cringy, and explicit. On the second track, “Elizabeth Taylor”, Swift sings, “It doesn’t feel so glamorous to be me.” This line makes sense when considering her career and experiences, particularly her fight to reclaim ownership of her masters, and the sexism she faces, however, it is still an out-of-touch line. What’s not glamorous about being a billionaire, with an army of fans to back you up when you make a mistake? What’s not glamorous about owning a private jet and going anywhere you want?
I also found some lyrics to be plain millennial cringe. The song “Wi$h Li$t” has an abundance of lyrics that rub me the wrong way– “They want a contract with Real Madrid/They want that spring break that was f**** lit”. In comparison to her previous lyrics that touched people’s emotions, beliefs, complexities and problems; this falls through.
And, who knew that Taylor Swift and Charli XCX had problems? Fans speculate and lyrics almost confirm that Swift’s song “Actually Romantic” is about singer and producer Charli XCX. The lyric “Wrote me a song sayin’ it makes you sick to see my face/Some people might be offended/But it’s actually sweet” is apparently a response to XCX’s song “Sympathy is knife.” From writing songs about heartbreak, sexism, homophobia, and even grief, a “diss-track” takes a step down.
There are also some problems with accidental melodic plagiarism on the record. Fans on social media realized that the introduction of the track “Wood” sounded exactly like the intro to the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back”, with similar guitar rhythm and keys. This problem also appears on the title track “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)”. The chorus sounds similar to the Jonas Brother’s 2019 song “Cool.” These instances where melodies sound the same is a common problem that a lot of artists face unintentionally, but it makes the songs feel stale.
The good and the bad, the cringe and the genius are bound to happen in any new album. Oftentimes when I listen to one for the first time, my brain points out the misses instead of the milestones. For “The Tortured Poets Department,” I initially called it too sonically-cohesive featuring a lot of filler songs. But with time, I grew to love it. That album is my favorite Swift record to date.
A lot of other listeners experience that too. Music journalist, professor and co-host of the “Switched on Pop” podcast, Charlie Harding agrees with that experience of freshly listening to Swift’s work.
“I never understand a Taylor album the first time I hear it. I often don’t even like it on first listen. Two or three listens later and I realize it’s legendary.” Harding said.
