When Taylor Swift announced her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, the reaction from Swifties was euphoric. But has it fallen short of Taylor’s standards or are people simply hating for attention online?
With Swedish duo Max Martin and Shellback returning to produce the album — having been part of some of her biggest hits, such as "Blank Space" and "22" — the hype around the album was at a fever pitch. Taylor promised the album would be a “peek behind the curtain” of her life on the Eras Tour with “12 pop bangers”.
The final product, however, may not have been quite what fans expected.
The lead single and track one, "The Fate of Ophelia", is a catchy and smooth opener where Swift likens her experience in love to the character of Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The song may not be the upbeat bright pop many expected, but it has proven popular with over 300 million streams on Spotify.
The second track is "Elizabeth Taylor", a nod to one of the 20th century’s most decorated actresses. You would be forgiven for thinking that this might have been a vault track from Swift’s Reputation era, with the heavy drop into the chorus and the grungy tone of the melody.
"Opalite" is the third track — and this is the upbeat pop banger that fans were expecting from the album.
While other entries are more of a soft-pop genre, "Opalite" sticks out as a fun and memorable tune that easily gets stuck in one’s head.
"Father Figure" is an interpolation of George Michael’s 1987 hit, although the content of Swift’s song could not be more different. Swift cleverly subverts the meaning of a father figure in her struggle to reclaim the masters of her original albums that were sold to investors without her permission. She reveals how her triumph makes her the father figure, which is a point emphatically made with a memorable key change. At the climax of this moment, she sings, “This empire belongs to me”, which cements itself as arguably the most poignant moment in the album.
The next few tracks waver from the strong opening, as Swift meanders through glimpses of various moments of her private and professional life.
All Swifties know that track five usually requires a box of tissues, but "Eldest Daughter" doesn’t quite pull on the heartstrings the same way that previous songs, like "my tears ricochet" and "You’re On Your Own, Kid”, have done. The opening line, "Everyone’s so punk on the internet”, comes across as clunky and unlike the usual poetry of Swift.
However, Zoe Cross, Secretary of UniMelb Swifties’ Society, says that this fun, upbeat style is not something new to Swift's discography.
“I think one of the things that makes Taylor such an incredible songwriter, and part of the reason why she has dominated in this industry for so long, is her range as a songwriter and her ability to always do something different with each album,” Cross said.
Track six on the album is "Ruin the Friendship", which is the quintessential soft pop that would not sound out of place on Red.
President of the UniMelb Swifties’ Society Thomas Pham said: “It is heartfelt and wistful, but with a devastating twist. It should be a fave amongst Swifties, given its connection to Red vault track 'Forever Winter'.” This is because the song is rumoured to revisit the death of Jeff Lang, a high school friend who passed away after they went their separate ways.
It was "Actually Romantic" that made headlines for dividing the internet, as Swift calls out British artist Charli xcx in response to her hit from 2024’s BRAT, "Sympathy is a Knife".
A large number of fans criticised Swift for punching down on another artist who, in their opinion, was not directly attacking her but rather her place in the music industry.
The album ends with the titular track, "The Life of a Showgirl", and features Sabrina Carpenter in a song that sounds like it could feature as part of a musical soundtrack. The track reflects the highs and lows of being on the stage with the final curtain call incorporating audio from the final Eras Tour show in Vancouver during December 2024.
When you think ‘showgirl’, you might think of brass flourishes and orchestral movements that elicit the feeling of a glamorous and decadent existence. This is certainly not the overall tone of The Life of a Showgirl, nor is it the upbeat pop bangers like those on 1989.
And that is okay.
This is a highly fun and sneakily catchy album that has already grown quickly on fans and will continue to do so. It isn’t the poetry and lyrical sophistication that has been the hallmarks of some of Swift’s more recent work, but the cherry picking of out-of-context lyrics online doesn’t do the overall product justice.
The words of Swift from a well-known song in 2014 have never been more true.
Haters gonna hate … but I’m just gonna shake it off.
Rating: 7.5/10
