This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Leeds chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

 An album review by a sceptical Swiftie.

Since her official debut in 2006, Taylor Swift’s albums have always had one thing going for them: lyricism. And while each of her albums all have their own merits, it was her 2020 folk/indie pop release Folklore (and its criminally underrated sister album Evermore) that cemented her as a leading songwriter of this generation.  

So, when Swift promised to deliver ‘Folklore storytelling’ in her anticipated new album The Life of a Showgirl, it is understandable that fans had high expectations for the lyrical content— expectations that clearly crashed and burned upon their first listen.  

Gone is the nuanced melancholy of the sister albums Folklore and Evermore, and the scattered vulnerability of her preceding project, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift’s latest album is upbeat and direct, with only rare glimmers of previous aches and pains glancing through.  

The album’s opening track and lead single, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, is one that seems to have escaped the wrath of some disappointed fans. Its upbeat pop production is paired with the overarching Shakespearean reference in a way that is almost reminiscent of her 2008 hit ‘Love Story’. The same can be said about songs such as ‘Opalite’ and ‘Elizabeth Taylor’, and, despite the controversy surrounding it, the speculated diss track, ‘Actually Romantic’, which blends humorous lyrics with an interesting sound. These feature compelling production and melodies that can be described as nothing other than a joy to listen to. 

Ironically, the album’s more polarising tracks are some of its lyrical standouts.  

‘Father Figure’, featuring an interpolation of the George Michael hit, has been a subject of much internet mockery due to the humorous line of ‘I’ll be your father figure / I drink that brown liquor / I can make deals with the devil because my dick’s bigger’. 

And yes, while it is very amusing that Taylor Swift is saying a bad word in her song, we should recognise that this song is cleverly satirising a seedy, ‘macho’ figure that Swift is singing from the perspective of. Speculated to portray Taylor’s experience with music executives in her youth, this song utilises imagery in a way that calls back to Taylor’s earlier works. With lines such as ‘I pay the check before it kisses the mahogany grain’ and ‘You’ll be swimming with the fishes before you know you’re drowning’, she manages to liken the music industry to the mafia, drawing out the parallels of corruption and betrayal.  

The same can be argued about the underappreciated track, ‘Ruin the Friendship’, in which Swift draws in the reader to a story of a tentative high school crush as she muses, ‘Would’ve been the best mistake / Should’ve kissed you anyway’. This fluffy, nostalgic imagery is undermined (in typical Taylor Swift fashion) by the song’s bridge: ‘But I whispered at the grave “Should’ve kissed you anyway.”’ 

 In a show of mature, reflective songwriting, Swift looks back on her past ‘almost-relationship’, providing the advice to ‘always ruin the friendship / Better that than regret it / For all time’ and to ‘always answer the question / Better that than to ask it / All your life’. This storytelling style, as well as the song’s production and melody, is so quintessentially Taylor Swift that it becomes shocking that fans who are mourning her old lyricism are not more invested in it.  

Despite these highlights, the album certainly has its pitfalls writing-wise.  

Songs like ‘Wi$h Li$t’, ‘Eldest Daughter’, and ‘Cancelled’ are delightful sonically speaking. However, they contain a slew of contemporary references that just come across as cringey and dated. Lines such as ‘Did you girlboss too close to the sun?’ (‘Cancelled’) and ‘I’m not a bad bitch / And this isn’t savage’ have been listed as the most notable offenders.  

The slang used in ‘Eldest Daughter’ is permanently clunky, aiming to emulate the speech of someone trying to keep up with the latest lingo. Swift clearly establishes this in her pre-chorus: ‘I have been afflicted by a terminal uniqueness / I’ve been dying just from trying to seem cool’. Although this is decidedly clever writing, it does not make the song any easier to listen to with a straight face.  

The ‘millennial cringe’ of it all is not the biggest problem with these songs. Instead, I would argue that Taylor Swift lost one of her greatest strengths within these lyrics: her ability to turn the personal into the universal. Lyrics of songs like ‘Wi$h Li$t’, with its references to luxury and dreams of suburban life, feel so specific to Swift’s experiences that she abandons her relatability. Simultaneously, the songs often feel shallow and flat, even those that ‘hit’ better sonically, like ‘Cancelled!’.

The Tortured Poets Department received a large amount of criticism for its messy composition, pretentious lyrics, and its overly vulnerable content—it was more of a diary than an album.  

Now, it seems as though Swift has overcorrected, producing several songs that sound good, but lack the lyrical complexity, nuances, and relatability of her previous work.  

This does not mean that Taylor Swift’s problem is that she simply cannot replicate Folklore: she was not trying to do that. Folklore is not the bar for songwriting excellence. Taylor Swift has proven her writing changes repeatedly, letting her make some straight-forward, catchy pop music is not beyond us as a society. It is just a shame that, in some instances, she trades lyrical complexity for an upbeat soundtrack, when 1989 has shown us she can deliver both.  

The Life of a Showgirl is certainly not Taylor Swift’s magnum opus. The album lacks a clear thesis statement and features some truly unlistenable lyrics. However, the album is sonically cohesive, and whilst it borrows plenty of ideas and inflexions from past records, it contains sounds that we have never heard from Swift before.  

So, whilst this album certainly will not wrestle its way into my top five, some of its songs will find their way into my headphones every now and again, and maybe that is okay. 

Editor: Ella Morgan

TAYLOR SWIFT’S THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL IS NO FOLKLORE: BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE?

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