Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl (October 3, 2025) • Page 79

it's a meme copypasta

 

I'm too old for that

 

My second listen I liked 2 songs maybe, typed some thoughts out to a friend but feel like it’s been said here. Addressing some of the posts in this thread, her lyrics may have always leaned into a bit of the cheesy territory/sugary pop stuff but put this side by side with Folklore and it’s just not even close in terms of what’s happening, likely because of how that was more focused writing, focused in on the actual concept of the album, and from what I can remember mostly free of forced pop culture references, awkward nods to sex and over the top self proclaimed “English Teacher” lines that scream out googling “big words that some people still will understand”. The latter has been toned up with each release since, arguably was at its peak of taking away quality on TTPD (but lyrically this is worse because of the presence of my first two points being much more heightened), but it’s definitely not just the lyrics here that are the issue.
I agree that her delivery and overall range here is severely lacking, which are two things that could make up for some of these lyrics and take this from a bland album to at least a fun pop album. Also if it wasn’t gonna be an album going back to pop bangers, the importance of vocal melody and emotion here instantly became more important and there’s just none here.
The production is so uninspired it’s actually crazy, there’s some enjoyable bass lines and I can’t say there isn’t solid pop production in places, but after I listened and wrote up my own thoughts, Tik Tok showed some videos comparing a good 6 songs on here to other pop songs, and I get that this will happen but some of it is so ridiculously copy and pasted it’s undeniable. Btw, show me a video of that for an album like Brat, I’ll wait. That alone makes Brat more interesting whether or not it was better lyrically, which personally I don’t see how that argument could be made either but I could maybe wrap my head around someone connecting with it more. (Honey and Elizabeth Taylor are the two songs I enjoy for what it’s worth).

 

Wtf way too long of a post

 

I really like the key change, actually; I think it telegraphs the change of character perspective/her breaking free of this industry quagmire really well. I don't love the rhyming dictionary aspect of the bridge either, mostly because she's done that so many times (I think "Anti-Hero" did so much of it that she really can't go back to that well without it feeling like a retread) but that's really the only part of the song I'm iffy on.

 

for the record, i'm glad it works for you! and i do see how the key change could be interpreted that way. just not really feeling it as much, lol

 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMhHqBBg/

 

elaborating further here, it’s a twitter trend where you pretend to be a news outlet with the siren emoji and then the tweet becomes incomprehensible halfway through. first time i was got by it was from a Hayley Williams one last week lol

 

Real casual on modern era Taylor, but does she have any musical appearances scheduled for this roll out? Or is this a real quirky roll out?

I’m slightly fascinated by everything about this release and era outside of the music. It feels like there’s more backlash from her over-saturation, or maybe it’s my algorithm!

 

Really? Pretty sure Sugarcult did this all those years ago for Punk Goes Acoustic.

 

Ok all hyperbole aside, here is where I am at with this album after something like 6 or 7 full listens:

Genuinely great: The Life of Ophelia, Opalite, Ruin the Friendship
Very good: Elizabeth Taylor
Good: Father Figure - The “dick bigger” line does not bother me, it’s just a song that I don’t think I’d seek out much
———
Ok: Wish List, Honey - these songs are fine, just kinda blah. Production is just too basic.
———
Acceptance: The Life of a Showgirl - It feels like this song was added to the album to convince people of the title.
———
Acceptance, with caveats: Actually Romantic - I am willing to accept that there is more to this story than just a response to Sympathy Is a Knife. If there is some private cattiness between Charli and Taylor, then this song works, albeit clumsily. If there is not more to the story, and Taylor is just trying to cause drama, then this song is borderline pathetic.
———
Bad: Eldest Daughter - this is a jumbled mess of a song. If you subscribe to the “track 5” ethos of being a Taylor Swift fan, this has to be the worst track 5 to date.
———
Borderline unforgivable: Wood - Sonically the song is fun, but it helps when you are interpolating some of the most recognizable melodies is music history. Lyrically, I am not sure this ever needed to be made.
———
Unforgivable: Cancelled - This song is as bad as a song as Taylor has ever released.

This post is already long enough, but overall, the album doesn’t work for me from a theme perspective, but 7/12 songs I do enjoy and will come back to in the future. If Taylor had never promoted the album herself on this podcast, I think it would have been received much better by the public at large.

 

I definitely disagree with folks implying she's lost her touch lyrically. More of a general statement than a response to anyone specific in this thread. As someone else mentioned, Gold Rush wasn't long ago. I think she's perfectly capable of writing great lyrics but this is a stylistic choice for her. And I don't rly love that choice but will ride out the wave until she makes a shift. I do think she's very online and tuned into what folks say and I wonder how the criticisms towards this album will influence what she does in the future. Or if she will just see the rolling stone like reviews and amazing sales and call it a win.

 

Are you for real? Go listen, clearly different vocal takes

 

didn’t The Dangerous Summer do that with their acoustic versions back in the day?

 

I was hacked

 

Because this is the crossover reference I didn’t know I needed and it gave me a good chuckle.

 

So according to Swifties that went, the orange physical doors that were placed in various cities with QR codes that were the AI videos ended up leading to a lyric video that will be on YouTube tonight and all the AI videos have now been removed. Seems like kind of a mess from what Swifties are saying on Reddit.

 

Lmao Jesus

 

i think there are plenty of great lyrics on tortured poets. clara bow in particular

 

for sure, there’s some goofy lines but overall it destroys this album

 

Honey is growing on me big time

 

Tbf I’ve only listened twice, but I’m kind of shocked at how bland this is. The first three songs are solid but wouldn’t crack my top 30 TS, and it falls off after that.

Even TTPD, which I thought was good-not-great, had some high points. This just…doesn’t.

 

Hated this after my first listen. After seeing the “movie” and multiple listens, it’s grown on me quite a bit.

This podcast definitely helped me sort out my feelings for this album

'The Life of a Showgirl' | Every Single Album: Taylor Swift

 

Popping in after 6-7 full listens and running back random tracks to say… hey, this is pretty good! There’s a lot of weird pressure to call this incredible or awful and I think it’s more interesting to resist that when you’re dealing with something that’s commanding conversation at the sheer scope of this album.

I think she has the same challenge that Drake has, which is that different fan groups have different expectations and she’s wired to please all of them. I personally like my pop music a bit more bombastic and sugary, but even with the more muted production tones there are a bunch of great choruses. Happy to have this version of Taylor back and some new songs to enjoy.