“I have been afflicted with a terminal uniqueness / I’ve been dying just from trying to seem cool.” These introspective lines from ‘Eldest Daughter,’ a track on pop superstar Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, might just be her most unintentionally revealing. Her twelfth album, rather than showcasing true artistic innovation, reflects uniqueness primarily through its author’s unparalleled position as one of history’s biggest musicians, not in its sound or creative direction.
Coming off the monumental success of the Eras Tour — the highest-grossing tour of all time and a three-and-a-half-hour retrospective of her extensive discography — Showgirl was marketed as Swift’s deep dive into “life behind the curtains.” The Eras Tour served as a potent reminder of why Swift is so universally adored: her songs, though now penned by a recently crowned billionaire, possess an undeniable sincerity that resonates deeply with the common person, connecting with their soul through truly lived-in lyrics.
Swift herself has mentioned in recent interviews that Showgirl was designed to highlight her more “funny, feisty, flirty, tongue-in-cheek, and a little scandalous” personality traits, contrasting with her more profound 2024 collection, The Tortured Poets Department, which explored the deeper, more earnest facets of her inner life. Yet, a striking observation emerges: nearly every song on Showgirl seems to echo either earlier, more refined Taylor Swift tracks or the vibrant, fresh sound of recent Sabrina Carpenter releases (who, notably, also features on Showgirl‘s closing titular track).
The album is available for streaming on major music platforms.
This lack of fresh perspective is apparent from the very start of the tightly structured 41-minute album. The opener, ‘The Fate of Ophelia,’ immediately brings to mind Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a cultural reference that inadvertently recalls Swift’s own iconic pop culture moment from 2008’s ‘Love Story’ — “Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone” — a lyric capable of moving even the most stoic listener to the dance floor. Unfortunately, ‘Ophelia’ struggles with both originality and substance, as its clunky verses wander aimlessly through imagery of megaphones, towers, football teams, and dug-out graves.
Swift’s previous embrace of the jilted, fading star persona, famously explored in her polarizing 2017 album reputation, resurfaces on track two, ‘Elizabeth Taylor.’ While the instrumentation is rich and dynamic, it doesn’t stand out as a highlight from Showgirl, feeling more at home on one of her earlier records. Furthermore, this love song, much like many others on the album, fails to grant Swift or her muse any genuine depth or individuality. Lines like, “And if your letters ever said, ‘goodbye,’ I’d cry my eyes violet,” hint at Swift’s profound need for her muse, but the underlying ‘why’ remains elusive. The lyrics leave too much to the imagination, failing to detail what truly captivates her about this person.
Another love song later in the tracklist, ‘Wi$h Li$t,’ perhaps presents the most glaring instance of this lyrical superficiality. The song meanders through a list of materialistic desires and accolades that “they” crave, contrasting them with the domestic tranquility she supposedly embraces in the chorus: “I just want you/have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you.” Beyond the simple admission of finding a “best friend” who is “hot,” the lyrics never truly delve into the nuances of her dynamic with this individual, unlike the evocative descriptions found in earlier works such as 2019’s Lover, with its “dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear.” In fact, this theme of choosing love over materialism was more effectively conveyed in reputation‘s deep-cut, ‘King of my Heart,’ with the poignant lines: “Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff/ baby, all at once, this is enough.”
‘Wi$h Li$t’ also highlights the album’s confused thematic direction. While the promotional cycle for Showgirl clearly demonstrates Swift’s unwavering ambition to dominate the charts, evident in her release of 29 different CD versions in the first week, ‘Wi$h Li$t’ ironically sneers at those who covet Oscars and major sports contracts. The song’s lyrics also suggest a desire for privacy for herself and her muse. However, this sentiment feels contradictory, as the track immediately follows ‘Actually Romantic,’ a celebrity diss track that has, as intended, ignited widespread online discussion.
The subsequent tracks, ‘Wood’ and ‘CANCELLED!,’ further solidify Swift’s efforts to project an image of coolness. The former seems to be her attempt at mimicking Sabrina Carpenter’s suggestive dance numbers, while the latter sees Swift feigning a bold stance through a collection of phrases that were trendy years ago, such as: “Did you girlboss too close to the sun?”
A consistent positive throughout the album is Swift’s remarkable ability to craft undeniable earworms. The sweetly infectious ‘Opalite’ particularly excels, lingering in your mind and compelling you to move whenever it plays. The contributions from Swedish pop producers and legends Max Martin and Shellback introduce rich bass loops, adding a contemporary pop texture to what would otherwise be more conventional country-leaning songs.
Showgirl truly finds its stride when Swift allows her artistry to breathe. The most human moments on the record serve as powerful reminders of her legendary songwriting prowess. ‘Ruin The Friendship’ revisits Swift’s familiar territory of a high school crush, but with a poignant twist: she could never confess her romantic feelings for the song’s subject, who unexpectedly passed away after she left to pursue her musical dreams. The evocative Wurlitzers and horns on the sentimental ‘Honey,’ where Swift releases a past marked by passive-aggression and confusion in favor of peace and genuine love, are precisely the kind of musical elements that stir both sweet and bitter memories within the listener.
‘Father Figure,’ though written from the perspective of a patriarchal mogul preying on an ingenue, effectively demonstrates Swift’s talent for exploring the very human desires for power and the inherent appeal of vulnerability.
Ultimately, Showgirl reveals that Swift’s most effective songwriting comes from her basic instincts: to meticulously detail moments rooted in real experience and to masterfully craft phrases that perfectly capture those moments. Regardless of genre or production, this approach consistently yields her best work. In The Life of a Showgirl, however, she deviates from the potency of her own words, relying instead on the immense power of her celebrity status.
A YouTube video featuring music from ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is available for viewing.
The Life of a Showgirl is now available on major music platforms.