Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl (October 3, 2025) • Page 55

I haven't heard it but based off the title I assume Scott Borchetta

 

Father Figure is about Scooter

 

Apparently in the Graham Norton interview she directly says it’s about Scooter Braun.

 

There are a couple of songs I can see myself coming back to, but by and large my first few listens have left me underwhelmed.

 

This is a jam. Only skip is CANCELLED! for me. Really like the sound and vibe. Yeah some of the lyrics are cringe but let’s not pretend she doesn’t do that from time to time. It’s not full on pop - loving the “pop lite” sound. And I say let her sound off on the haters. This is miles ahead of Midnights for me. Mid-tier Taylor is still great Taylor.

 

Ewwww

 

The person that tweeted that out corrected herself and said she said Borchetta.

 

Nah. Tate McRae was the perfect person to collab with him. She’s friends with people with good politics (Olivia Rodrigo) but faceless enough that the blowback is minimal because she caters to both sides without standing for anything besides baby voice, dancing and sex appeal.

 

All I can think of when "Father Figure" comes on:

 

Also fair to say anybody getting blowback these days will be minimally impacted compared to even a couple years ago. 2025 hasn’t had the most moral compass guiding it and plenty being opportunistic there. I think to that same point that Taylor wouldn’t engage with Morgan, collaboratively or combatively, as she seeks to appeal and remain safe and consumable. A few years ago I’d of loved a Taylor return to country but wouldn’t feel genuine at this point. Travis assuming the role of the boyfriend in Fearless etc.

 

This interpolation of Father Figure is embarrassing. She really brought nothing new to this, it shows what a better song the original is though.

 

Ruin the friendship is the lyrical highlight for sure. Most mature thing on here. And a heartbreaking story if I’m interpreting it correctly.

 

Wife and I enjoyed it the whole way through. CANCELLED! was the only track I'm really side eyeing.

 

Yeah, I did not see that one coming, given the speculation that the song was about…the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni case?

 

Going to play this through with the lyrics tomorrow but first two tracks are bops, really digging them

EDIT: Opalite is wicked too?? I think this album might be for me hahaha

 

made it to the end juuuuust before midnight!

Track 13 Ranking:
False God
Clean
marjorie
The Lucky One
--
Last Kiss
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Mastermind
--
epiphany
--
Change
Invisible

Track 14 Ranking:
Call It What You Want
betty
--
Everything Has Changed
Long Live
closure
--
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
You Need To Calm Down
Jump Then Fall
A Perfectly Good Heart

Track 15 Ranking:
peace
New Year's Day
evermore
--
Afterglow
The Alchemy
--
Starlight

Track 16/17/18 Ranking:
Begin Again
Clara Bow
--
Daylight
--
It's Nice To Have A Friend
hoax
--
--
ME!


Final TS Track Rankings:
Track 2s
Track 13s
Track 3s
Track 1s
Track 15s
--
Track 6s
Track 9s
Track 11s
Track 16-18s
Track 10s
Track 5s
--
Track 4s
Track 12s
Track 14s
Track 8s
--
Track 7s


Verdict(s):
13 - whoa, absolutely stunning run of tracks here. leans heavily into emotional bangers ("Clean" and "marjorie" and "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart" but also some fantastic experimentation, including "False God" which is a top 5 song of hers. it might be the best track run of her discog, but the highest highs don't quite match with what makes her special in the Track 2s so it ends as a runner up.

14 - I'll forever defend "Call It What You Want", I think it deserves more accolades because of how propulsive it is. but there isn't much to latch onto here; a lot of the rest of these songs are stately ("Everything Has Changed", "Long Live") or flat.

15 - low sample size, HUGE hit rate of starkly emotional ballads. without "Starlight" this would be a contender for top three.

16-18 - grouped these together because it's basically just Lover after this and I'm not ranking bonus tracks. at its best, she's writing with incision and the deftest hand for melody on this side of FM radio. but then there's "ME!", which I refuse to write any more about.

This was a fun exercise! I don't think I learned much, besides the obvious truth that pop stars tend to stack their best tracks at the front of an album. On to The Life of a Showgirl

 

Two tracks in and I’m very onboard so far!

 

“Opalite” is catchy.

 

Im really liking this so far.

 

Opalite is fun

 

Wood is a fucking jam

Yeah, I love this so far. Father Figure is meh but everything else is very much my thing

 

Three songs in and I like this infinitely more than the last two. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, haha.

 

the first three songs are pretty good! but woof it tanks hard after that.

 

I am really digging “Eldest Daughter.” Like it’s an immediate Top 10 Swift song for me.