At the beginning of this month, Taylor Swift came out with her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl. So far, the album has been received with mixed reviews.
Swift explained that the album was inspired by her Eras Tour and the experience of life behind the scenes of her performances, which has been described as a comparison of her past work, including themes of her past album, Folklore. The Life of a Showgirl continues Swift’s personal story, powerful lyrics, and themes of love and fame, similar to the style of other albums, but with an upbeat pop sound.
With this album sounding different from her previous albums, some Swiftie’s and fans have explicitly explained their disappointment. Overall, most listeners thought that her new album was “cringey” and just not the same as her past albums.
After listening to her album, our opinions varied. One of our reviewers thought that her song Eldest Daughter was not what they had expected considering Swift’s interviews prior to the release. Lyrics such as, “Every joke’s just trolling and memes” and “And this isn’t savage,” don’t keep up with the same lyricism as her past albums and are consistently being perceived by many fans as “weird”. On the other hand, our second reviewer felt that the song “Wi$h Li$t” conveys the simplicity Swift desires through her busy and pop-star life and her true personality.
One reviewer’s favorite song was “Opalite”. This song is essentially about her celebrating the imperfect and beautiful journey of love. The upbeat tone of this song makes it very enjoyable to listen too.
Our other reviewer’s favorite was “The Fate of Ophelia”, along with the song “Wood”, which both reviewers enjoyed.
As written in the Rolling Stone Magazine, an article titled Taylor Swift Conquers Her Biggest Stage Ever on ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ by Maya Georgi explains, “But with every step Swift takes, she sheds those feelings of loss and despair. Showgirl is the castle she built out of all the bricks that have been thrown at her”.
Though there have been many different opinions among listeners, this is nothing new for Swift. Starting in 2014 with the release of her album 1989, Swift received backlash for her switch to pop music.
Continuing her pop style in all of her albums, she again received backlash with the drop of Midnights (a more upbeat album) in 2022, and then again received varied opinions over her switch of lyricism. Because of her inconsistent tone of lyrics, her fans have flowed in and out of desire to listen to her.
Though reviews of listeners have differed, Taylor Swift is still a beloved artist and one of the best in the music industry.
