Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, was released on October 3, 2025, and if you have been online or on social media for any period of time over the last few weeks, you are well aware of some of the discourse surrounding this album. This release comes off the end of the Eras tour, which spanned for two years and broke the record to become the highest-grossing tour of all time, as well as the release of Swift’s 11th album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, in April of 2024. She announced this album on the New Heights podcast, which is hosted by her fiancé, Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason, and it was initially met with positive reactions.
Ever since the album dropped a few weeks ago, it has been met with incredibly mixed reviews, primarily negative ones. Some examples of reviews I’ve seen are ones from both Swifties and non-Swifties, saying that the album sounds soulless, A.I. generated, and that the lyrics don’t have enough depth compared to Tortured Poets Department. Many have claimed that the album is one of the worst she’s ever released and have taken to social media to make fun of the album, reverting to the classic insult that Swift’s music is “mediocre white girl music that lacks depth.” Mind you, this album has been out for barely a few weeks. Personally, I don’t feel the same way, but I do have some criticisms of my own.
what did taylor do well?
Looking back on what we as fans thought going into this album, it seems to be very different than what Swift has put out with these 12 songs. With the “showgirl” marketing and the various album covers, many fans were expecting a Broadway show, but not what happens behind the curtain. I think this album was marketed and named perfectly. It’s about the life of a showgirl, what happens when the stage lights are turned off and there’s no more glitz and glamour.
One example where we really see this theme shine through is in the second track titled “Elizabeth Taylor,” in which Swift compares herself and her life to that of the old Hollywood actress. On the surface, it may seem like she lives a very glamorous life, but what is overshadowed are the inner battles that she deals with on a daily basis, mainly centering around the criticism she gets from critics and the public. This has made some fans, myself included, wonder if this could’ve been a Reputation vault track, as it very much centers around the theme of the endless dogpiling of hate that Swift receives. This was especially prevalent in the time the album was released when it seemed as though the entire Internet turned against her. We can also see this theme in the final track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which features Sabrina Carpenter.
The other prevalent theme seen throughout this album is one of joy after finally finding true love. Swift writes multiple songs about how happy she is that she has found the love of her life after years of being discarded by men who weren’t good to her. This is seen in songs like “Opalite” (one of my personal favorites), “Honey,” and “The Fate of Ophelia,” in which Swift compares her treatment from past lovers, looks back on her life, and is grateful that she has found a person who loves and appreciates her for who she is. This is what I appreciate about this album the most: the duality of these themes and how they are translated into a fun, pop-y album that is overall really enjoyable to listen to.
My favorite tracks
It really is difficult for me to figure out what my favorite songs are from this album, because almost all of them are incredible in their own right. But I will say, ever since my first listen to the album, “Opalite” is the one that I loved straight from the get-go. It’s fun, upbeat, and has a significance that I only realized after I watched some of the interviews that Swift did to promote the album. Not only is Travis Kelce’s birthstone an opal, but it’s one that Swift and her mom have had a particular fondness for, and I absolutely adore that.
I’ve also been loving “Father Figure,” which many have theorized is about Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Records, who signed Swift when she was just a teenager. He sold her masters to Scooter Braun without her knowledge. This song tells the story of a young ingenue getting into the entertainment industry, and being taken under the wing of a man who promised to make her a big star, but has secret ulterior motives that she only realizes when it’s too late, and then the perspective shifts once she becomes a bigger star and her success is driven by herself and not by him. I loved how this song shifted perspectives and was almost an evolution throughout Swift’s career, and how she gained more ownership of her work and herself as an artist.
conclusion
In my personal opinion, The Life of a Showgirl is an album that you really have to listen and pay attention to in order to love it to the fullest. No, it is definitely not the worst album she’s ever put out, nor is it the start of her downfall. It is simply a continuation of an already amazing music career, and to love it is to have fun and share in the joy that Taylor Swift has decided to share with all of us.