Many Taylor Swift fans were left conflicted and overall underwhelmed after the release of Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl. Swift is an artist greatly respected for her vulnerable and honest lyricism, but many seem to feel as though The Life of a Showgirl opens windows into her life that they would rather she kept shut. 

How could the same artist who once wrote “This is Me Trying,” a heartfelt ballad about trying your hardest but never feeling good enough, go on to write a song like Wood, a track that Travis Kelce claims is all about superstition, but we all know what the song actually references. 

Despite what audiences are saying, this more explicit side of Swift isn’t something she has been keeping hidden, rather it feels as though she usually balances it better. 

Take her album Reputation for example: in just one album she goes from a suggestive song like “Dress” right back to her more meaningful lyrics in the latter track “New Year’s Day”. While most of her songs are less explicit, these occasional promiscuous songs are nothing new. But what separates this new album from the rest is the way so many lyrics feel disingenuous and almost forced in a way. 

Lyrics like “Did you girlboss too close to the sun” distract from any actual good lyricism hiding within the album.  Actually tolerable tracks like “The Fate of Ophelia” are being overshadowed by cringe-worthy lyrics that feel like they are trying to force a viral moment or impression. 

In various interviews with other sources Swift has expressed how she feels as though all press is good press, and any interaction with the album boosts it. These comments make it feel like the album is more about gaining attention than being something for her fans to connect with and live a long life in her ever-growing discography.

For something with so much traction, so many songs in the album do nothing to stand out. Multiple songs like “Elizabeth Taylor” or “Ruin the Friendship” aren’t necessarily poorly written, but compared to other works by Swift, they feel lackluster at best. While having a similar sound between tracks can make an album cohesive it gets to a point where The Life of a Showgirl feels repetitive. 

Something that doesn’t help with the repetitive nature of the album is the lack of variation between the topics of the songs. Almost every track revolves around her relationship with Travis Kelce. Sure, Swift has a habit of writing multiple tracks about one person, but at least usually they are spread out and balanced with other songs about different topics. 

One moment that breaks the pattern of Kelce-centric songs is track number seven, “Actually Romantic”, a song presumed to be a clap back at Charli XCX’s 2024 track, “Sympathy is a Knife”. This song is one of the strongest on the album and doesn’t seem to get outshined.

But this doesn’t mean every non-Kelce song is a hit. Swifts response to backlash regarding her social circle, “CANCELLED!”, stands out for all the wrong reasons. Many of those reasons being the figures she is speculated to be defending in the track. 

The album closes off with title track “The Life of a Showgirl” featuring Sabrina Carpenter. The track feels as if Swift put thought into getting a big name like Carpenter on the album but then making the song sound cohesive was an afterthought. 

This album leaves many impressions, some positive and some negative. Many feel like the lack of variety in topics is a result of the short creation time. A common critique from many is the idea that Swift should have waited longer to release a new album, letting herself gain more life experiences to write about before constructing and releasing a whole new album.

Either way, the fact that Swift’s next album attempt will be her 13th – a number everyone knows has special meaning to the artist. If she isn’t careful about how she approaches her next one, she might be headed down the road of a 30-something pop star who can’t relate to young audiences anymore. 

Or maybe it’s time to just give Swift some space to build some more material like she says in “Wi$h Li$t”. Maybe she just wants to “Have a couple kids, got the whole block lookin’ like you/ We tell the world to leave us the **** alone/ And they do.”