In August, Taylor Swift announced her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, on now-fiancé Travis Kelce and brother Jason’s podcast New Heights, describing it as “everything going on behind the curtain”. Written in between shows on the European leg of the Eras Tour, the album is a far cry from Swift’s previous album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024), which was a cathartic collection of poetry partnered with backing tracks. Visually and audibly The Life of a Showgirl is pure effervescence, from the sparkly teal and orange album artwork to the pop music contained within. The album’s main cover (there are many extra versions) is a modern take on Sir John Everett Millais’ Ophelia painting, which depicts Shakespeare’s Ophelia drowning in a stream. Swift’s version shows the artist wearing bedazzled showgirl costumery in a bathtub mostly covered in water. Swift described working with Max Martin and Shellback again for this album as “capturing lightning in a bottle”, traversing and weaving various musical genres including disco, soft-rock, synth-rock with her more widely known pop sound.
The album’s lyrics range from avoiding the metaphorical drowning of heartbreak, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Ophelia, to the kaleidoscopic ways in which one can describe their partners “magic wand”. A clear standout track on the album has to be “Elizabeth Taylor” with its vocally seductive verses and a chorus melody which nods to niche-fan-favourite album Reputation (2017). The track explores themes of love and the price of fame experienced by actress Elizabeth Taylor while also relating to Swift’s own comparable experiences.
While Swift is often known to bring particular flair to her songwriting, many of The Life of a Showgirl’s lyrics simply miss their mark. In “Wi$h Li$t’s” opening verse Swift describes those who “… want those bright lights and Balenci’ shades, and a fat ass with a baby face” lands awkwardly and lacks her usual nuance. As someone who in “Eldest Daughter” proclaims that “I’m not a bad bitch and this isn’t savage”, terms such as “fat ass” whisper a degree of savagery while simultaneously contradicting her usually grounded image. Additionally, in “Wi$h Li$t” the line “please, God, bring me a best friend who I think is hot” is overly simplistic, uncharacteristically vain and is lacking the usual poeticism typical of Swift’s songwriting. This is coming from the same person who penned, “Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism, like some kind of congressman?”
Many have observed savagery in the track “Actually Romantic” which is speculated to be a clapback to Charli XCX and her song from Brat (2024), “Sympathy is a Knife”, which references Charli’s insecurities around an unnamed woman (assumed to be Swift) dating her boyfriend’s bandmate and the extra attention that has been drawn to them. Swift has described “Actually Romantic” about when you learn someone has picked you as their rival without you realising. The internet has mostly assumed that person to be Charli XCX. While the song “Actually Romantic” is an absolute bop, featuring its pared-down pop-rock guitar, soft vocals and humorous lyrical undertones, it would be disappointing if Swift was attacking another female artist particularly one without the stratospheric reach that Swift herself has. The song itself is not lyrically mean-spirited after the first verse, however, given the seriousness with which fandoms interpret these situations and the ease in which contemporary culture turns to cancel culture, Swift, more than anyone, should have anticipated this reaction.
Swift’s track five songs are particularly anticipated by fans as they are more vulnerable and typically more sophisticated lyrically. Previous track five’s include “Tolerate It” (Evermore) with lyrics such as “I made you my temple, my mural, my sky, now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life”, and, “All Too Well’s” (Red) “He’s gonna say it’s love, you never called it what it was, ’til we were dead and gone and buried, check the pulse and come back swearin’ it’s the same, after three months in the grave”. The best The Life of a Showgirl’s track five, “Eldest Daughter”, has to offer still falls short of some of Swift’s standouts with “Every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter, so we all dressed up as wolves, and we looked fire”. It feels somewhat incomplete, never quite hitting its mark. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the ethereal blend of piano paired with Swift’s vocals in the chorus – beautiful.
While, The Life of a Showgirl contains fragments of glittering magic, the album as a whole does not soar to the high standard normally exhibited by Swift. The quality of production merged with the catchy melodies are not enough to carry the simple and unsophisticated lyrics Swift’s audience is not normally attuned to. The argument of it being a pop album therefor exempting it from being lyrically sophisticated is weak, especially when considering the monumental achievements that were 1989 (2014) and Lover (2019), where each track demonstrated lyrical and musical harmony. Swift’s most recent releases have been particularly divisive and unfortunately The Life of a Showgirl it seems will be added to that category.
Simone L 
Annisa 
Brooke