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On Oct. 3, 2025, Taylor Swift released her long-anticipated 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. Announced in early August in an appearance on her fiancé’s podcast, “New Heights,” this twelve-track record was proudly promoted by Swift herself, through explaining her writing process and personal thoughts in the featured episode. This is an unprecedented move from Swift, who has consistently shielded herself in secretive silence during all of her previous album rollouts. Yet, it’s the most the pop star has openly hyped up one of her own works, creating fan expectations that were higher than ever before.
The album was exclusively produced by the Swedish legend duo Max Martin and Shellback, who are best known for their previous collaborations on Swift’s “pop perfection” records, Red (2012), 1989 (2014), and Reputation (2017). In contrast with the strictly lyrical focus on 2020 albums folklore and evermore and last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, Swift made it clear that The Life of a Showgirl embraces the effervescence of glitter gel pen songs, a complete pivot from her most recent work. She stated that her main goal of the album was creating “melodies so infectious that you’re almost angry” at them and “lyrics that are just as vivid, but crisp and focused and completely intentional.”
“I know the pressure I’m putting on the record by saying that, but I don’t care ‘cause I love it that much. And I’m so proud of it.”
Taylor Swift on New Heights
The record initially received mixed reviews from critics, with some praise for its catchy melodies, but it has mostly faced harsh negative feedback. In no more than a few hours of the album’s arrival, social media started relentlessly mocking lyrics that “lack depth” and calling it “millennial cringe.” Public commentary spewed strong criticism and hatred towards Swift’s work, with fans and skeptics alike going so far as to deem it her worst album yet.
I’ve been a devoted Swiftie for nearly five years. I’m in the top 0.001% of her listeners on Spotify, I went to the Eras Tour, and I can say that I’ve never heard a Taylor Swift song or album that I didn’t like. Even so, I have to be honest and say that I was really underwhelmed by this album after the first couple listens. The album I had in mind after listening to all of the promo simply didn’t match up to what I heard, making it a less-than-enjoyable album in my mind for the first few listens—and unfortunately making me temporarily fall for the hate.
The night of the album’s release, I went to a listening party with around 10 other girls, a group of both fans and casual listeners. As the others shared their thoughts on each song, I could tell that my opinions on the album were becoming skewed based on theirs, and the group’s consensus was that the album was not up to par with our expectations. Feeling deeply discouraged after this first impression, I looked online to see what others had to say about it, in hopes of my disappointed feelings being validated. As I expected, people on social media were hating like never before—a tale as old as time when it comes to any Swift release.
It wasn’t until two days after release night when I finally built up the courage to give the album another chance. Listening to each song while pausing to analyze the lyrics in depth gave me the opportunity to actually process the album and formulate my own opinions, while staying as detached as I could from the perceptions of everyone else around me.
I continued to listen to the album at any chance I got, letting it grow on me while appreciating the novelty of a brand-new album rather than comparing it with her past work and letting my expectations seep into my thought process. Before I knew it, I fell in love with the album, soon learning that my favorite tracks are “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Father Figure,” “Wi$h Li$t,” and “Ruin the Friendship.” Almost two weeks later, I can say that I’ve grown to love the album for what it is—a fun, upbeat album that’s incredibly danceable but still has Swift’s signature raw lyricism. Are some of the lyrics questionable and a bit corny? Yes. But honestly, I think it adds to the camp essence of the theatrical showgirl theme.
Looking back on my first impression of the album, I can recognize that my narrow expectations I had fantasized about, of a 1989 2.0 with folklore-esque lyricism, may have been an impediment to listening to the music for what it is. It made me realize that having detailed anticipations is ultimately detrimental to enjoying new music, especially when fans speculate about what certain songs may sound like or be about beforehand. As a naturally stubborn-minded person myself, it can be hard for me to go into things with an open mind, but I think that’s exactly what this album needed from us as listeners. For any Swiftie who can’t seem to get into the album, my advice would be to try to reframe your perspective on the album by listening to it with a fresh mind, clear of any external criticism or fears of any anticipatory hopes being crushed.
It is important to also remember that this is Swift’s personal work and it is perfectly fine that not everyone likes it—as she’s said before, she doesn’t make her music for the praise, she uses songwriting and music to express herself. Now, Swift is in a time of her life where she just wants to have fun and celebrate her contentment with her soon-to-be-husband. She’s moved on from writing depressing songs to cope with likely unhappy eras of her life, and that is totally okay. Sure, many listeners, like me, prefer the deep, heavy-hitting lyricism that might make you rethink your whole life, but who’s to say that style of writing is ever leaving her? The Life of a Showgirl was just something different, reminiscent of Speak Now and 1989 with sharp, direct lyrics instead of dense and poetic ones.
At the end of the day, Swift’s work will never not face some kind of hate, simply because of her title as one of the most successful female artists in the music industry. The same goes for so many other women in the industry; society will never view their work as “enough.” In the words of Swift herself, “You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe.”