On Oct. 3, if Aaron Samuels were to ask you what day it was, you would say that it was the release of Taylor Swift’s album “The Life of a Showgirl.”
The premiere of her 12th studio album was widely anticipated by fans since she announced it during an episode on her now-fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast “New Heights.” On the podcast, Swift revealed that the bright-orange-and-mint-colored album captures what her life was like behind the scenes of her grand Eras Tour.
The album begins with the track “The Fate of Ophelia.” In this track, Ophelia refers to the character in “Hamlet” who falls into a state of madness and ends up drowning. However, the curse from Ophelia’s story is reversed thanks to a charming prince who arrived just in time to save her from the original fate Shakespeare wrote for her.
The fourth track delivers “Father Figure,” which follows the 1988 hit by George Michael. This song is from the point of view of a supposed father figure who is actually cunning and deceptive to a young Swift. Specifically, the song is hinting at former Big Machine Records label executive Scott Borchetta.
This song has gotten fans’ attention for some of its lyrics. Swift has and can drop bars, but as a whole, some of her lines in this album have raised eyebrows. Psychologically, I can’t write the line in this article, so look it up yourself to see what I mean.
The fifth track, “Eldest Daughter,” is like the daughter of the previous track. Autobiographically, Swift is the eldest and only daughter in her family, as she has a younger brother, Austin Swift. This song captures these struggles that Swift feels. Unfortunately, this song also has some cringeworthy lines, but they continue to represent this theme of not feeling like the perfect daughter.
The tenth track, “CANCELLED!” remarks on Swift’s experiences being “cancelled” in the entertainment business. The song is very telling of what Swift, along with many other women, has endured in the spotlight. Although some of the lines like “Did you girlboss too close to the sun” should be cancelled!
The eleventh track, “Honey” (my personal favorite), is very sweet, naturally. The ballad is about how the word honey has a new meaning to Swift. Up until now, “honey” had a negative connotation as it was used sarcastically or to shame her, but now it’s used as a compliment. This track is kind of like the baby to “Call It What You Want” from “Reputation,” but this time, Swift specifies wanting to be called “honey.”
The final act of the album is the title track, which also stars Sabrina Carpenter. The song tells the story of a showgirl named Kitty, whom Swift idolizes. But when she meets Kitty, she reveals “…you don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe. And you’re never, ever gonna.”
From there, Carpenter continues the story and describes how outsiders would kill for a chance to be a showgirl, but in reality, they are only cherished for a short amount of time and then are discarded. This song reminds me of the Britney Spears song “Lucky” but in a different font, as the character of Lucky seemed to have it all, when in reality she felt very alone.
In terms of Swift as a whole, I think people have claimed that she’s washed up since things in her life are “finally going good for her.” Specifically, she is getting married, owns her music and is still soaking up the success from her Eras Tour, which is the opposite of what her life was like back during the “Reputation” days.
Now that she has everything that she has previously sung about wanting, some might wonder if she has any material left. Swift has mastered and built a brand off of her breakup songs and uses her life as inspiration for her songs. But now that she has found love and isn’t surrounded by too many snakes in the music industry, she is retiring from that genre.
However, just because her life and music are different than thirteen years ago does not mean that she doesn’t have more in her. It just means that she is moving into a different era. Speaking of which, she is also known to be a mastermind, so who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve for her 13th studio album.
