Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl (October 3, 2025) • Page 99

Surely this is her peak numbers-wise right? I know it's easy to always say that but there has to be a point where she doesn't break her own record right, I suppose if anyone could find more ways to keep pushing the ceiling higher it would be Taylor and her team though

 

Finally ready to share my thoughts on the album which is that it's aggressively fine. I think it has some unexpected earworms, meaning I didn't think it stood out upon first listen but then the melody was stuck in my head later. I don't get the takes from people thinking this album is awful, or great. It's there. It's fine. I don't think she had anything interesting to say on this album. It's not giving record smashing album. But it's also not horrible imo. It's another blip in the midnight tortured showgirl chain of mediocrity. But I don't dislike those albums either. I won't change most of the songs if they come up, but I'm not gonna seek many out either.

Except Cancelled!! Which is just awful

 

I will say this is the first album of hers where I thought she was chasing trends in a very clear way. Actually Romantic seems her attempt as Chappell's My Kink is Karma and Wood is her attempt at a Sabrina song. It's kinda cool to see what I feel like is clear inspiration from the younger Gen of artists, but it also didn't feel authentic to her. It came across to me that she enjoyed what they were doing and wanted to try her hand at it too and it didn't work

 

I don’t follow the charts or numbers so it’s hard for me to conceptualize how big each album is outside of how often I see it on instagram but fwiw I think Ophelia is the best single she’s had in a long time, and comes with a good video, so that has to help. While some fatigue probably follows her on some level, it’s still the first record with Travis, the first after the tour, the pop anticipation, etc. Lots of reasons for people of all corners of her base to be curious what it’d sound like, and it’s that anticipation that fuels record sales and immediate numbers. If this album is ultimately a whiff in the fans’ eyes, I wonder if that’ll be better reflected in the next records’ sales.

As an aside, now that I see it written out in words I think I agree it doesn’t feel like she has much to say here, but I’m still more surprised that anybody doesn’t like it than I am surprised at how well it’s doing. All in all I think it’s a fun listen that’ll sit around the middle or in the top half of her discog, which is still a feat.

 

Between Cancelled!! And Me! I'm starting to think that the exclamation point is like her reverse song 5 lore. If there's an exclamation point we better start worrying.

 

Slut! isn't nearly as good as the title had suggested to us

 

Slut is miles ahead of those songs

 

maybe an unpopular take but Florida!!! is ass as well

 

I still have no idea what Florida!!! is really going for lyrically, but the vibes and vocals are immaculate. Wish it could’ve landed the plane, haha.

 

Omg! I clearly have her catalog as a blur lately because I forgot about Florida and slut but I didn't like those either

 

Are we really pronouncing the i in Florida that much or am I saying it wrong?? Cause that's all I think about when I hear that song. Cause I pronounce it like floor-duh. But now I've said it so many times that it doesn't sound like a word so I can't tell

 

"Florida!!!" is really bad. That one really stuck out in a negative way on my last listen through TTPD.

 

I love Florida!!! and Slut!.

 

really like the production on Slut!. Florida!!!'s only sticking point for me is Florence

 

me booking a trip to Miami

 

Florida is maybe her weirdest track and I respect it for that. Don’t love the chorus but the verses are cool, Florence feature is cool, and some funny lyrics.

 

“Little did you know your home's really only
A town you're just a guest in
So you work your life away just to pay
For a time-share down in Destin

Little did you know your home's really only
The town you'll get arrested
So you pack your life away just to wait out
The shitstorm back in Texas“

those are like craig Finn lyrics or something hah

 

I like Florence, but her and Taylor are like oil and water for me. Just not a combination that I think works in any way.

 

Florida is catchy as heck

 

I know this is bare minimum money for a billionaire, but a nice reminder in a moment where her greed is in the limelight, that she’s done stuff like this for a long time. Probably more quietly than we’ve known

Taylor Swift Donates $100,000 to Swiftie Battling Brain Cancer

 

amazed to be weeks out from a taylor swift album launch without having been subjected to any of the new music in a public space (or on the truck radio at work for that matter). I know the sales/streaming numbers are huge, and I did see a couple taylor themed signs on my half marathon this morning (both lazy, sorry to report) but I feel like maybe the sun has set on her all-powerful hegemonic power. for the moment at least...

 

I’ve heard Ophelia on the radio a couple of times.

 

I feel like with her lack of second week variants or any ongoing press, this album feels like it disappeared faster than the last few