The Life of a Showgirl
What’s a girl gonna do after the record-smashing Eras Tour? Well, its success sparked the flame inside Taylor Swift that led to her reunion with former collaborators Max Martin and Shellback for her 12th full-length *The Life of a Showgirl*. “I’ve never been more proud of anything than I am of the Eras Tour,” Swift says. “And I just thought, ‘I want to make an album that I’m that proud of.’ And that was the catalyst for this record and calling up Max and saying, ‘Do you guys want to do this? I’ll come to you.’” Indeed, in a very showgirl manner, Swift flew back and forth to Sweden between stops on her European leg—remember, the singer-songwriter believes “jet lag is a choice”—to join Martin and Shellback, Swift’s co-writers and producers on some of the most memorable and popular hits of her career (“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “22,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Don’t Blame Me,” and “Delicate,” to name a few). The result? A confident, dazzling, at times elegant, at times cheeky, at times sensual pop explosion that examines Swift’s relationships and her fame, which is both deeply personal yet extremely relatable...mostly. (The struggles of “Elizabeth Taylor”—with its thumping rock vibes—can understandably be reserved for the uber-famous showgirls in the room.) On the album’s first single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift dips back into the Shakespearean well that earned her crossover success and adoring fans. And once again, she turns the Bard’s tale into a romance rather than a tragedy. But this time, it’s more mature and fierce—as the acceptant heroine resigns herself to solitude before the hero ever comes around: “I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I/Right before you lit my sky up.” Her muses, of course, will be well-dissected. The aforementioned savior in “Ophelia” is most likely Swift’s husband-to-be, the three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce. (She did, after all, announce the album on his podcast.) And he *probably* has a few more cuts dedicated to him—the most direct being the saucy, ’70s-funk-infused “Wood” and its “new heights of manhood” revelation. Surprisingly, “Actually Romantic,” with its semi-stripped-down production, deals not with a lover but with a certain hater. “You think I’m tacky, baby/Stop talking dirty to me/It sounded nasty but it feels like you’re flirting with me/I mind my business, God’s my witness that I don’t provoke it/It’s kind of making me wet,” Swift teases. And “Father Figure” pays homage to George Michael with Swift’s breathy vocals, ending with a menacing act of betrayal by a protégé: “You made a deal with this devil/Turns out my dick’s bigger/You want a fight, you found it/I got the place surrounded.” Importantly, though, remove Swift’s own potential inspirations and you get what she does best: making dizzying and vibrant songs that speak to universal emotions through her storytelling. The buoyant “Opalite” shows two people finding each other at the right time; baroque-pop “Wi$h Li$t” portrays someone who knows what her heart desires. And “Eldest Daughter,” the famous track 5—generally one of Swift’s most vulnerable on each of her albums—reveals a promise of devotion. Swift ends the record on its title track, an epic duet with Sabrina Carpenter where the women volley back and forth about a girl named Kitty, perhaps alluding to their own places in the world. “And all the headshots on the walls of the dance hall are of the bitches who wish I’d hurry up and die/But I’m immortal now, baby dolls, I couldn’t if I tried,” Swift sings proudly. In other words, as she’s proven time and time again, she’ll never go out of style.
Taylor Swift has an identity crisis on her 12th album The Life Of A Showgirl, never quite reaching the dizzying heights of her previous work.
On Taylor Swift's 12th album she's less interested in making grand statements and more concerned with capturing fleeting feelings - to radically diminishing returns.
Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' combines new, exciting sonic turns with incisive storytelling.
There’s a leaner version of this album hiding in plain sight: an EP-length run that offers more than chatter on a feed.
Taylor Swift – consummate showgirl that she is - is fresh off the press from the most immense tour in musical history, yet is still capable of heading
The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift album review by Sam Franzini for Northern Transmissions. The LP is out today via Republic and DSPs
Far from the Max Martin-assisted pop juggernaut fans expected, this soft-rock paean to domestic bliss is slight on tunes and still seethes with grievance. And the less said about her fiance’s ‘magic wand’, the better
Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl review: An album that has everything and nothing all at once
The Life of a Showgirl gives us romance and wit, but it lacks the drama of her earlier music
The Life of a Showgirl: Actually Romantic lyrics take aim unnamed pop star who called Swift a ‘Boring Barbie’
A record this weird should be more interesting, surely. Album New Music review by Joe Muggs