On Oct. 2, 2025, I was cozying up in my basement, anticipating the clock to strike midnight so the date would read Oct. 3, or as I remember it, the day Taylor Swift was dropping her brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
As I hit play, however, I was left staring at my screen in confusion. Despite countless re-listens, I just couldn’t bring myself to fall in love with Showgirl the way I had with every other Taylor Swift album.
As a life-long Swiftie, I’ve been a consumer of Swift’s music, merchandise, and tours. I could be found deciphering through Easter eggs and spiraling about the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) more often than not. Yet, The Life of a Showgirl fell short in almost every way it could have. The production felt sloppy, her lyrics scratched the surface of what I would call a love song, and some songs (shoutout “Wood”) left me in utter shock. This can’t be the same Taylor Swift I thought to myself.
Yet, it was.
After a year, I’ve come to terms with the fact that Showgirl just doesn’t cut it for me, so it’s safe to say I was apprehensive before the release of The Encore tracks. Spoiler alert: I was even more disappointed.
I appreciated the narrative arc in Babylon, a track which is written in second person and follows an ambitious small-town runaway who flees to seek more from life, but still keeps a lover close in his heart. Babylon finally gave us a moment of sunshine with the writing many of us fell in love with: relatable songwriting, love stories created through experiences and playful imagination, and lyrics which resonated with both “betty” and the writing from “Lover”.
That was about it though. On Cleveland! Swift sings about how Kelce loves her despite internet comments claiming she can’t dance or is annoying. And yes, while Taylor Swift has received an insurmountable amount of unnecessary hate in the past, I find it difficult to listen to her complain about petty internet hate after she quite literally reached billionaire status after The Eras Tour.
Patient Zero had yet another wordy bridge which felt unpolished, and Pink Clouding was just another track off The Life of a Showgirl.
While some Swifties might have loved both The Life of a Showgirl and The Encore, they just didn’t cut it for me, and it’s safe to say that while I might stream Folklore and Red almost every day, I won’t be streaming Swift’s newest music.