Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, has finally landed on streaming platforms, and it’s definitely the type of return only a megastar could make. With a massive promotional tour underway, including Late Night stints on Graham Norton and Jimmy Fallon, TLOAS has been sufficiently hyped in the lead-up to its release, and celebrated in its post. With multiple wittily titled variants, a series of seductive photoshoots and even a movie, fans tuned in excited to hear what Taylor herself has called her “most authentic era yet.”
Produced by Max Martin (of the Reputation era) and Shellback, fans who might have expected Swift’s return to maximalist pop will be surprised. After the complexity and nuances displayed on The Tortured Poets Department soundtrack and its subsequent anthology, TLOAS is a return to simplicity in many ways—but a good album nonetheless.
Opening track ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ is without a doubt the album’s strongest. Reimagining the doomed heroine of Shakespeare’s work, Swift transforms this woman’s fate into something entirely different to the original. Hamlet’s Ophelia is often portrayed as a woman drowning under the weight of emotions, with Swift using this as a metaphor to say she’s escaped that particular curse. Featuring Fleetwood Mac-style drumrolls, it’s worth noting that it’s clear from the get-go that TLOAS will lean heavily on iconic tracks.
Then comes the melodramatic ‘Elizabeth Taylor’, in which she links her own story to that of a Hollywood starlet who was loved, then unloved, then loved again. With impactful glamour and scorching sonic decisions, Swift has come at this album with an edge previously missing in her work. ‘Father Figure’, interpolating George Michael’s famous track, relies on the idea that Swift is the dominant character in the music industry – which is extremely hard to dispute these days. But she doesn’t miss a moment to remind the audience that she is capable of acting like the men of the industry, such as the lyric “you’ll be sleeping with the fishes before you even know you’re drowning.” It’s undeniably sardonic, threatening and representative of the power she knows she possesses.
‘Opalite’ is also relatively strong, and possibly is the first love-style track on the album. Dissecting her struggles in past relationships and referencing advice from her family about love, the track also cleverly links back to past music, including ‘Daylight’ from Lover. In its romantic, breezy chords and ABBA-style harmonies, Swift exemplifies loved-up pop bliss.
‘Eldest Daughter’ and ‘Ruin the Friendship‘ are definite vibe shifts, and while they’re the central tracks of the album, they don’t feel as cohesive as the rest. Swift has written about high school a lot, including allusions to it on TTPD, but the references back to a younger self feel less relevant here to this album’s central themes. However, the production on both is enticing even if the cutthroat lyrics in ‘Eldest Daughter’ don’t 100% hit the mark.
‘Actually Romantic’, described as a “love letter to someone who hates you”, features a choppy, addictive production that complements the lyrics well. There are rumours about who it might be about – but we’re not here to speculate! It’s very tongue-in-cheek and, like a lot of the later tracks on Life of A Showgirl, more explicit than Taylor’s past music. For a fanbase that has grown up with Taylor, these more mature references are both entertaining and fun.
‘Wi$h Li$t’ brings listeners directly back to the Travis romance theme, with Swift singing about her ideal ‘wish list’ compared to that of other people. Swift said in an interview that the song makes her feel like she’s “flying through the clouds”, and it’s easy to tell why. With the chorus discussing how she wants “a driveway with a basketball hoop” and “to be left alone”, ‘Wi$h Li$t’ is a clear sign that this is a new Taylor era – one who is much more about settling down than chasing fame. It’s a great way to kick off this part of the album, which is full of upbeat pop vibes, compelling beats and gleeful lyricism.
‘Wood’ is particularly that, and has had the internet in hysterics with its lyrics like “redwood tree it ain’t hard to see / his love was the key that opened my thighs.” In the light of a recent public engagement too, perhaps the rightfully most talked about lyric is “I don’t need to catch a bouquet / to know a hard rock is on the way.” They’re complemented by catchy instrumentals, including funk-pop guitar riffs throughout. One is, however, left wondering if Swift was aiming to recreate the Sabrina Carpenter effect, though it’s unclear if this lands in the same seamless manner.
‘CANCELLED!’ is expectedly one of the most eyebrow-raising tracks of the album. In the chorus, Taylor sings “good thing I like my friends cancelled / I like them cloaked in Gucci and in scandal.” It sounds a lot like Lorde’s ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ but not in a negative way. While it’s definitely an interesting decision to include this, Swift embraces the sharp edges of reinvention with a sympathetic lens towards her contemporaries who have wound up in cancellable situations.
‘Honey’ brings listeners back to the domestic bliss theme. Here, Swift redefines pet names that are often used in passive-aggressive scenarios, emphasising how, when they’re used by the right person, it feels endearing and special instead. It’s another example of how Travis Kelce represents safety and security for the star. With its glitter-gel-pen energy and piano progressions at the start mirroring her track ‘the 1’, it’s super cute.
Closing and title track ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ makes for a stunning end to the album. Featuring Sabrina Carpenter, both the lyric video and lyrics themselves echo the Eras Tour. Ending with a literal “that’s our show, goodnight!” it’s obvious that after this album, Swift is ready to step into a new era in her life after the tour’s immense success (and now this accompanying album).
Now it’s just up to fans to see where she might go next, but she is undoubtedly dazzling audiences in this Showgirl phase.
