Why The Life of a Showgirl is not Taylor Swift’s Worst Album 

Photo by Stephen Mease on Unsplash. 

Taylor Swift’s twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl was announced on August 14th, 2025 on Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights. Many fans (me included) were extremely excited for this release. This is Swift’s first album post the era’s tour and her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift has been in a seemingly happy and healthy relationship with American Football star, Travis Kelce since July of 2023, so it was extremely exciting thinking we might hear some happy, fun and upbeat love songs, since Swift’s music often mirrors her personal life. Within Swift’s previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, she wrote about her relationships with Actor Joe Alwyn, and Musician and lead singer of The 1975, Matty Healy. Many have theorized that although her relationship with Alwyn went for six years, it wasn’t a particularly happy or healthy relationship, judging by her previous albums, Tortured Poets Department, Midnights, Folklore and Evermore, albums that had some happy songs, but overall, definitely fit into the ‘sad girl aesthetic’ vibe. Tortured Poets Department, Midnights, Folklore and Evermore did extremely well, and produced many hits, but to many, it was quite clear that Swift was struggling, whether that was with fame, her relationship/s, or something completely private, we as fans, will never know the full truth. Swift stated in an interview with BBC Radio, “I used to have this dark fear that if I ever were truly happy and free, being myself and nurtured by a relationship, what happens if the writing just dries up?”

Photo by Jovan Vasiljevic on Unsplash.

On what should’ve been an exciting day, celebrating her new album, Taylor unfortunately was hit with plenty of criticism. Many believed that Taylor would release a super lyrically complex and emotional album, and when she “didn’t” many expressed their unhappiness online. The album consists of twelve songs,

1. The Fate Of Ophelia 
2. Elizabeth Taylor 
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure 
5. Eldest Daughter 
6. Ruin The Friendship 
7. Actually Romantic 
8. Wi$h Li$t 
9. Wood 
10. CANCELLED!
11. Honey 
12. The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter) 

Although many have stated that this album is meaningless, bubblegum pop, there are definitely more emotional aspects to this album. The songs Elizabeth Taylor, Father Figure, CANCELLED!, Actually Romantic, And Life of a Showgirl, all express themes of struggling with fame, betrayal, unrealistic expectations, being spoken about negatively by former friends, and being criticised by the media. Ruin The Friendship, the sixth track on the album, is about Taylor’s late friend Jeff Lang, who sadly passed away in 2010. The song expressed her regret of never making a romantic move when she had the chance, and regretting it for all time. Like many artists, Taylor’s music often reflects her personal life, so because she’s in a healthy relationship, she of course, has written about it within this album. In songs such as Fate of Ophelia, Opalite, Wi$h Li$t, and Honey, she expresses how Travis made her world brighter, how happy she is that everything fell into place after years of struggles, and the urge to settle down. Her song Wood, is also seemingly about Travis, and has a risque double meaning. Taylor states within the song that she doesn’t feel like she needs to “knock on wood” because she believes they’ll last, and the other meaning, well… I think you know what she’s talking about if you’re over a certain age. 

Maybe this album wasn’t as lyrically complex as some of her previous albums when she was going through hard times, but it was not an inherently bad album. It had a mix of fun pop songs and emotional songs. Really, something for everybody. “The rule of show business is, if it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping,” Swift said. She has always been a diverse artist, releasing all types of music and collaborating with artists from all different genres, but of course, you can never please everybody. Stating that this is her worst album because she isn’t depressed anymore is extremely concerning. It is a worry that some fans just want sad music, as if she hasn’t made enough of that already. She is still a person and is allowed to write about what is going on in her personal life, whether that is good, bad, or anything in between.