Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl (October 3, 2025) • Page 12

Hm. Maybe if I let myself forget that it exists again (had skipped it pretty consistently for a long time, lol), and then someone snuck out an identical version with the Sheeran part replaced with someone else, I’d enjoy it? Idk.

 

“Vigilante Shit” is one I dug right out the gate and have never understood the hate for. It’s her in her silly “dark” mode, like “Look What You Made Me Do” (which I also mostly really like), but with a kinda moodier sound, which is fun. Like, it’s exactly the right level of unserious without being obnoxious.

 

Vigilante Shit is a fun idea but the song itself has just always been way too slow and boring to me. I don't like the melodies or the production really.

The eras tour performance was cool though.

 

Not that I have a Spotify playlist where I spent a month and a half ranking her songs based on personal preference a few years back that probably needs quite the refresh, but my bottom ten:

1. Thank You Aimee
2. Sweeter than Fiction
3. Speak Now
4. Girl At Home
5. Only The Young
6. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
7. Bye Bye Baby
8. Beautiful Eyes
9. Crazier
10. Stay Beautiful

 

Why do you hate the title so much?

 

It's funny you have this one on there because I think it's so similar to The 1 thematically but it does literally everything way better haha.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus”? Is it one of those super special bonus tracks, or just one of many songs that completely faded out of existence from that album?

 

Its one of the Anthology songs.

 

Ok, gave it a listen. I’m sure I’ve heard it before, though also… “I’m sure I’ve heard it before” was a big flaw in that album, lol. Certainly doesn’t directly remind me of “the 1,” though, nor is it better than it.

 

I think "the slammer" is an extremely cringey way of referring to prison, and I also think comparing a relationship where, by all accounts, the biggest problem was that the other person didn't want to be in the limelight, to prison, is, uh, kind of problematic.

 

I go back and forth on "Only the Young," because I think the melody is strong and like the overall sentiment (I think the nod to school shootings is pretty effective, for instance), but her tendency to use really juvenile language to talk about politics ("And the big bad man and his big bad clan" here, or "I see the high fives between the bad guys" in "Miss Americana") makes me hope she steers clear of political songs on this new album.

 

This is a perspective I hadn't thought about and really appreciate you voicing, Craig. Totally agree

 

"I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put 'em"

 

agreed on the "big bad man" but i love the "high fives" lyric! maybe it's juvenile but it's a really relatable and relevant image. also can't think of a more succinct way to express the same sentiment

 

Agree to disagree!

The similarity I was referring to is just that they're both reflecting on a potential lost love, imagining what could have been and wondering if the significant other felt similarly. She even imagines them with someone else in both songs.

Chloe is just a more melancholic and wistful take which is way more my thing than the sort of cool apathy The 1 gives off.

I just think it's cool that she can take a similar base idea and make such vastly different songs that one can be a favourite for one person and a throwaway for someone else and vise versa. The beauty of music!

 

Fair enough, I feel like that song and others seem to indicate they had a lot more issues than just him not wanting to be in the limelight though, and prison seems like an appropriate metaphor to me for a relationship that made her feel trapped and miserable.

I can see why "the slammer" could come across as cringey for sure but something about the juxtaposition of her using the phrase works for me, especially since I love the general concept of the song.

 

Fresh Out The Slammer just feels like a bit of a mess to me. I LOVE the warbly guitar line, I think the verses are so perfect, but I don't really like the chorus and I kinda hate the bridge/tempo shift section that ends it

 

I think the slow down in the bridge is a little awkward but I really love the outro when the beat drops out.

I remember not really liking that song much at all on first listen.

 

So High School is a banger. Spiritually a Jimmy Eat World song

 

“Endgame”‘s fun because it’s wild to have Future, Ed Sheeran and Taylor on the same song. But the “Big reputation, big reputation” chant part is not great.

 

Yeah I can never get behind that part.

 

I have realized just how much my "it's too much Taylor!" has come into play when I keep reading song titles here and I have to go Google to see what album or version of an album they were on because I just don't recognize them.

 

Speak now doesn't get talked about enough as being bad Taylor song. Maybe because at least the rhythm is catchy, but it is wasted on a very lyrically creepy song. Like I get that it's just fantasy of a young adult romanticizing crashing a wedding but girl you're singing about hiding behind the curtains and then you're upset that the bride didn't invite you to her wedding. Like you are literally being unhinged. Of course you're not invited??

And good luck being with that spineless loser that would have married somebody completely different if you hadn't crashed the wedding

 

Obviously it's not one of her best but this is kind of why it's so fun to me. I like unhinged Speak Now Taylor, I find that song quite funny.