Review: ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Taylor Swift is one of the most influential, self-made women in the world, and her name continues to skyrocket with the release of her twelfth studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” last Friday. Achieving 410 million global streams on its first day, it was Amazon Music’s most-streamed album of all time, and set Spotify’s record for most streams in a single day for 2025. The album wowed fans by showcasing a new sound for Swift, but the wide range of opinions from fans is just as shocking.

Swift’s 19 years in the spotlight inspire the 12-track album, which showcases the thrilling yet harsh world of show business. The showgirl metaphor explores themes of love, fame and perseverance, drawing on the aesthetic of Hollywood glamour through catchy, bold pop melodies. 

Drums and a synth pop backing lead into the first song, “The Fate of Ophelia.” Swift imagines herself as the tragic character Ophelia from the Shakespearean play “Hamlet,” who was driven mad by the men in her life. Reinventing the narrative, Swift sings about a woman being saved from her tragic fate by a lover, turning the story of Ophelia into a romantic rescue. The lyrics “No longer drowning and deceived. All because you came for me,” mention this lover, most likely based on Swift’s fiancé and NFL tight end Travis Kelce, who saves her from drowning herself in grief like Ophelia. The song concludes as the back track fades, with just Swift’s voice left marking the end of the catchiest song on the album.

The first lyrics and title of the next track are “Elizabeth Taylor,” which gets its name from the English-American actress, activist and humanitarian of the 1940s. The song starts with a more mellow sound, paralleling her life with the actress’s and referencing her iconic career. But then, the beat drops along with the song quality. The lyrics lack depth and meaning, attempting to criticize her past relationships for not being able to handle the intense public spotlight that a relationship with her entails, despite her warnings. In “Peace,” a song from Swift’s eighth album, “Folklore,” she makes the same point about not being able to have a strong relationship due to always being in the spotlight without losing the masterful lyricism she is known for. In comparison, “Elizabeth Taylor” feels like an artificially generated pop cash grab.

The album redeems itself with the song “Opalite,” a bright, dance-pop track about creating your own happiness. Swift uses the man-made glass, opalite, as a metaphor for self-made fulfillment after a series of bad relationships. She contrasts her past relationships, where she felt like she was “eating out of the trash” or “living with ghosts,” with the present joy she’s found with Kelce, who helped her to “make your own sunshine.” The upbeat and captivating song abruptly ends, transitioning into “Father Figure,” which uses a slow synth build to explore power dynamics within the music industry from multiple perspectives. These include an executive who exploits a high-potential client, paralleling her troubled history with Big Machine Records and Scott Borchetta, and potentially her past with Olivia Rodrigo after a series of copyright lawsuits that ruined their mentor-mentee relationship. 

The fifth track, “Eldest Daughter,” was highly anticipated, as her track fives are known to be her most vulnerable and emotional songs; however, “Eldest Daughter” fell short of many fans’ high hopes. A gentle piano leads the song as she showcases her ability to convey emotion through vocals, something desperately needed to cover up the lackluster lyrics like “every joke’s just trolling in memes.” So far, the album hasn’t reflected the 14-time Grammy award-winning writer people love, but the song’s folk-pop start is a beacon for redemption until the lyrics begin: “Every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter, so we all dressed up as wolves and we looked on fire.” This song is supposed to be the epitome of vulnerability for the album, and it completely falls short with bad writing.

With the strum of an upbeat acoustic guitar, the next song’s vibe doesn’t match its bittersweet lyrics. “Ruin the Friendship” reflects Swift’s regret for not acting on romantic feelings towards a high school friend who later passed away. The song is believed to be a continuation of “Forever Winter,” a vault song from her fourth album, “Red,” that was released ten years later in 2021. It is about her immense worry for a friend who was struggling with his mental health and eventually passed away. Reflecting on that loss, Swift’s advice is to “always ruin the friendship” rather than live with the lifelong regret of what could have been.

Swift switches her focus from reflecting on her loss to an old feud with British singer Charlotte Aitchison, known as Charli XCX, in “Actually Romantic.” Their relationship dates back years. Aitchison opened for Swift on her Reputation tour in 2019, bringing her much of the fame she has today. The media spent months blowing old comments Aitchison made about how she felt performing for Swift’s young audience out of proportion, but years later, when Aitchison released “Sympathy is a Knife” on her album “Brat” in 2024, fans speculated that the lyrics were about Swift. At the time, Swift was in a brief relationship with Matty Healy, bandmate to George Daniel, Stitchison’s now husband, and lyrics included: “Don’t want to see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show… I hope they break up quickly.” “Actually Romantic” is Swift’s attempt at a diss track-esque response. “I heard you call me Boring Barbie when the cokes got you brave,” immediately paints the picture for the song. While it is a pop-rock attempt to paint Swift as the victim, coming back to clear her name, it comes off as a millennial way of making the argument bigger than it seems.

The last four songs might have unique lyrics and meanings, but all of their backing tracks sound eerily similar to other well-known pop songs. “Wi$h Li$t” follows the same pattern and builds as Swift’s own song from “Midnights,” “Glitch,” as she discusses her wish to have kids and get married, rejecting typical extravagant wishes of celebrity culture. Although one might think their Spotify glitched, playing “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 instead of the next track, “Wood,” in reality, the song has an almost identical intro. “Wood” is her raunchiest song yet, focusing on Swift as she realizes she’s found everything she needs in Kelce. “Did your girl boss get too close to the sun?” immediately introduces “CANCELLED!” a disappointing song with outright cringey lyrics, failing to compare to “Yellow Flicker Beat,” by Lorde, which has a quite similar beat. “Honey” redefines the meaning of affectionate pet names like “Honey” or “Sweetheart” through her relationship with Kelce. She highlights how these names were once used to mock her, but her current relationship has given them new meaning, a heartfelt message of genuine love, if you can overlook how similar it sounds to “London Boy” and “Question..?,” two of Swift’s own songs.

The twelfth and final title track, “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter),” encapsulates the album’s message, delving into the demanding and harsh reality of the entertainment industry beneath its glamorous facade. It sounds like “Cool” by The Jonas Brothers, and as the song progresses and the pace quickens, it resembles “The Other Side” from The Greatest Showman. It follows a conversation between an aspiring performer and Kitty, a seasoned professional who is a metaphor for Swift, as she warns the narrator about the hardships of being a showgirl: “You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe, and you’re never gonna wanna.” The song serves as an ode to the strength of artists who navigate the industry’s obstacles. The final track fades out with a recording of applause from the last Era’s tour show in Vancouver, Canada, drawing a final curtain on the album. This moment echoes Swift’s final night as a showgirl before she put the pen to paper, creating this “glitter-gel-pen” album to describe the journey.

In essence, “The Life of a Showgirl” is filled with catchy pop songs that are bound to get stuck in your head, but it loses credibility due to songwriting, failing to show Swift’s known versatility. Overall, the album feels bland and unoriginal, lacking the depth she’s known for. Many feel like Swift has lost her incentive and creativity now that she’s finally in a happy relationship, and “The Life of a Showgirl” is a low point in her discography that might be the start of a new era of poor lyrics suffocated in redeeming melodies. 

Rating: 3/5