"The Life of a Showgirl" Review

By: Jenna Bailey '27

Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated album “The Life of a Showgirl” (“Showgirl”) was released on October 3, 2025, just under a year and a half after her last full-length album, “The Tortured Poets Department” (“Poets”). While “Showgirl” responds to the frequently-criticized length of “The Tortured Poets Department” with a slim tracklist of just 12 songs compared to “Poets”’ whopping 31, its release begs the question: is Taylor Swift valuing quantity over quality?

Disclaimer: I consider myself a fan of Taylor Swift. I’ve been to the Eras tour, I’ve been to the Reputation Tour, and I paid $60 for “Speak Now” on vinyl back when it was hard to get. But as a fan of her pop, country, and her dip into alternative/indie folk/whatever you want to call it, “The Life of a Showgirl” left much to be desired. It is perhaps because of Swift’s affinity for exploring different genres that “Showgirl” feels stale, far from Rolling Stone’s claims of its “new, exciting sonic turns.” “Cancelled” feels like a callback to “Look What You Made Me Do” sans the latter’s exciting production. “Wood”, allegedly inspired by the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” reads as an attempt at Sabrina Carpenter’s style that lacks the tact and interesting instrumentals of its inspirations, and the titular track “The Life of a Showgirl” fails to captivate despite its Sabrina Carpenter feature. 

Photo courtesy of ELLE Magazine.

A more glaring issue with “The Life of a Showgirl” is its lack of strong lyricism compared to Swift’s past albums. With lyrics like “Did you girl-boss too close to the sun?”, “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes,” and “But I’m not a bad bitch / And this isn’t savage,” “The Life of a Showgirl” is certainly a departure from the “Folkmore” era. The problem, however, is not the cringeworthy lines – the best albums have them, even “Folklore” – it’s the frustrating lack of otherwise strong lyricism to offset them. At least “Reputation”, with the infamous “I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now” line, has beautifully written songs like “New Year’s Day” and vocal stunners like “Don’t Blame Me.” “The Life of a Showgirl”, in contrast, is simply not as versatile. 

The very first song and the one I expected the most from lyrically, “The Fate of Ophelia,” strikingly misinterprets “Hamlet” for someone who jokingly calls herself an English teacher. Taylor writes about how her fiancé, Travis Kelce, rescued her from a tower and “Saved [her] heart from the fate of Ophelia.” Ophelia, who was famously stripped of agency and forced to act in accordance with the instructions of the men around her, eventually commits suicide due to her feeling of powerlessness. Ophelia’s death in “Hamlet” was explicitly due to the failures and the overwhelming influence of the men around her, yet Swift misunderstands this and writes about a man being able to save her from this fate. This could be overlooked if the song were either vocally impressive or interesting to listen to, but with its stripped instrumentals, the song is simply catchy and little else, much to my disappointment. 

The songs that follow are much the same. “Elizabeth Taylor,” “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Actually Romantic,” and “Wi$h Li$t” all suffer from the same issue. They are all catchy, but none are lyrically or vocally interesting enough to account for the bare instrumentals. “Ruin the Friendship” is fun but otherwise unremarkable. I wouldn’t consider any of them bad, but most songs on the album are fine to listen to, but ultimately unmemorable. Swift’s incredibly strong body of work is perhaps a detriment in this case, as songs that are just fine fall to the bottom of her discography.

“Opalite” is a strong track with an infectiously catchy beat, fun vocals, and humorous lyrics – “Eating out of the trash” was a hilarious descriptor for her relationship with Matty Healy – and is my personal favorite of the album. The issue is that the album lacks more highlights like this, and as another pop album in a long history of strong pop albums, it simply fails to stand out. It doesn’t feel like anything new or exciting; the production calls back to “The Tortured Poets Department”, but with a palpable void where Jack Antonoff’s unique touch should be. It’s not a bad album – no songs (perhaps save “CANCELLED!”) warranted a skip from me, but in the shadow of unique, innovative pop albums like “Midnights”, “Reputation”, “1989”, and even “The Tortured Poets Department”, it falls short. And with the rate at which Swift puts out albums, all while partaking in an incredibly demanding tour and filming a docuseries, it’s hard not to wonder – should Taylor Swift stand still for a moment? The biggest complaint that most had with “The Tortured Poets Department” was its extensive track list. While there were some strong highlights, many felt like Swift was “throwing stuff at the wall,” in Pitchfork’s words. Even with its smaller size, “The Life of a Showgirl” feels much the same – rushed. I have no doubt that Taylor Swift can produce a strong pop album, but I think she could benefit from taking more time to polish her next tracklist to ensure that it is her strongest work. 

Overall, I enjoyed “The Life of a Showgirl”. But stacked against its predecessors, it fails to stand out in vocals, writing, or sound. I believe Taylor’s strongest suit is her lyricism, and it fails to shine in this album like it did in her prior works. It’s not bad, but given the choice to listen to “The Life of a Showgirl” or any of her other great pop albums, it’s hard to want to choose “The Life of a Showgirl”. But who knows? Maybe it’ll grow on us.