Taylor Swift’s long awaited 12th studio album was released on Oct. 3, 2025, and has already broken records, selling 2.7 million copies in the U.S just in its’ first day. This is Taylor’s most successful release ever, and the “second-largest sales week for any album in the modern era.” However, despite its overwhelming success, the critics aren’t a fan of this album, and online chatter has been extremely critical of it. Has the fame of Taylor Swift made it so the quality of her albums are unimportant, or are people just overly critical of her work? Let’s compile some critics’ notes and find out.
While past Taylor Swift albums have been centered around reminiscing about ex-boyfriends, The Life of a Showgirl, more so focuses on the success of her relationship with Travis Kelce. This shift in muse comes through in the album, with songs such as “The Fate of Ophelia,” and “Wi$h Li$t.” The album also discusses what it’s like to be a showgirl and face internet backlash with the songs, “CANCELLED!” and “Eldest Daughter.” However, many found that her lyricism has sorely declined compared to the mastery she should have in her albums, Folklore and Evermore. She sings in “CANCELLED!” “Did you girl-boss too close to the sun?” and in “Eldest Daughter,” “I’m not a bad bitch / And this isn’t savage.”
Yet criticism of these lyrics have sourced extreme sexist conversation regarding Taylor’s musical abilities. According to the New Yorker, some online chatter has speculated that Joe Alwyn “was ghostwriting Swift’s songs all along,” which is extremely harmful as “given how much time Swift has spent fighting … to claim ownership of her own work.” Others also comment that Taylor can’t write without producer Jack Antonoff. This attempt to credit Taylor’s song writing abilities to the men of her life, is what she’s actively worked towards disproving her entire career. The album, which is a product of her finally being in a happy relationship, isn’t poor because she’s not working with the same men she has in her previous albums, but it could simply be not as powerful to an audience accustomed to hearing woeful songs that tug at their heartstrings.
Along with critics to its lyricism, The Life of a Showgirl, has been deemed “not really a new musical or thematic direction for Swift in the sense that Reputation (2017) or Folklore (2020) were.” Instead, it’s “a predictable continuation of her catalog.” The album quite honestly feels and sounds similar to Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department. Yet, this is Taylor Swift who excels in creating narratives that urges listeners to think about her work. The album has its own story to tell about where Taylor is at in her life currently, shaped into pop music with catchy refrains. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel nor I feel tries to. This can be taken positively and negatively. While it’s purely Taylor, “it has no bearing on the realities of life in 2025.” The songs are generic and lack “any of the incisive observations about love and relationships.”
When Taylor Swift has written over 250 songs, it’s hard to find value in work that doesn’t do anything new. The Life of a Showgirl feels more like “brand maintenance,” then brand progression. While sexist criticisms regarding her songwriting are counterintuitive, the album simply doesn’t bring enough to the world that’s necessary in a transformative period that is 2025. Nevertheless the album is and will continue to be undeniably a success. Personally, I’m glad that Taylor is releasing music representative of her present life, but I also simultaneously wish it was more innovative and pushed boundaries in ways similarly to what she’s done in the past.