Taylor Swifts’ The Life of a Showgirl: A Strong Beginning of a New Era in Her Own Voice

Let’s get this out of the way, I love Taylor Swift…so of course I have a quick album review. However, I pride myself on being objective and trying to give my honest opinion on a record. So, with that, let’s have a quick look at Taylor Swift’s new record The Life of a Showgirl. First of all, whether you like Swift or not, it is great to have a record drop become an event again. In the land of digital drops, we lost the magic of a good old record drop…but Beyoncé and Swift are brining back that drop magic and I for one appreciate their efforts. Reviewing a new record by Swift is like trying to explain one of those weird pictures that is both a rabbit and a duck you can see it many different ways and once you see it one way…it’s hard to see it any other way. Therefore, I’m going to give my honest initial thoughts on the record as a whole and a couple standout tracks. I’m sure there will be more in depth reviews of some tracks in the future.

As I listened to this record, I couldn’t help but compare Swift to Radiohead. You have your Ok Computer record with 1989, which is the record that redefines pop and blows people aways. It is also the record the band tries to escape, but never can. Radiohead had Kid A and Amnesiac as they tried to re-define themselves, while Taylor Swift tried to zag with Reputation and Lover. These records came out to lukewarm receptions, and very poor in the case of Amnesiac, but have gained fans and sales over time. Radiohead then came out with Hail to the Thief with much glee as the band reminded us that they could still play instruments and make good music. Swift’s Hail was the span between Folklore and The Tortured Poet’s Department. You could argue that Swift did far more experimentation that Radiohead during this period, but those records reassured people that she was here and still able to put out meaningful pop bangers. Now, Swift is in her In Rainbows phase, which is where Radiohead said “now that we got all of that out of our system, we are going to make music for ourselves.” This record was met with much critical and commercial success, which is where I see Life as a Showgirl.

On the first listen, I feel that this record is about Taylor starting her next era with her own voice at the centre. This is not about redefining her sound, redefining pop, breaking sales records, or conquering new genres…this is about Taylor Swift being a confident artist and cantering her voice and what is important to her. This is underlined by a distinct lack of collabs, except for the title track with Sabrina Carpenter. This is the era where Taylor is not concerned with expectations, but focused on stories she sees as important to tell.

Musically, this record is all over the place. There are some haunting more interesting / slightly experimental pop tracks along side some 80s throwbacks and tracks that harken back to Taylor’s early country/pop career. Her previous records had more of a consistent musical through line, while this is more of a trail mix. Having said that, I found all of the tracks very tight and well constructed. This is a tribute to Taylor and producer Max Martin, who also worked on Red…which is probably why there is a bit of an early Swift country/pop vibe on some tracks.

Standout tracks for me explore gender roles, strong women figures and male abuses of power. These are themes Taylor has leaned more into starting with Lover and getting more overt and cutting. The Fate of Ophelia explores women’s agency within the world and power within a social structure, while Father Figure overtly describes the gross patronising relationship between male executives and women artists, who they use and exploit for money. Yuck. Tracks like Elizabeth Taylor explores the conflict between public expectations and personal desires, which speaks to this record. Much like Liz Taylor, Swift’s public value is measured by her hits and living up to fans’ expectations; however, she is breaking out against those expectations with this record. Finally, tracks like Eldest Daughter has lyrics like “every eldest daughter / was the first lamb to the slaughter,” which is just rough.

Taylor is also known for great love songs like Cruel Summer and there are a ton of those on this record. Tracks like Wi$h Li$t, Honey and Wood are pretty direct references to her engagement with Travis Kelce and how she had found true happiness. Wood goes even further with some fun sexual innuendo. These are some fun pop tracks that shows a different side to Swift’s love song structure.

There are two songs that I want to give a quick shout out before I finish. The first is Ruin the Friendship, which is going to be the Taylor Swift track that grows on me over time and will probably become one of my favourite tracks on the record. This track shows how Taylor Swift is a rare songwriting talent who can weave an emotional story. This track starts out as a coming of age tale where the speaker describes not kissing a boy in high school for fear that it will cause problems with their friendship. However, this quickly turns to regret as she explains how she is going back home to say goodbye after his apparent suicide. I love the emotional shift in this track and how expertly she pulls it off.

The last track is the title track, which will be the big hit. Both Swift and Carpenter are huge on this track with sweeping choruses about the pain behind being a showgirl and performing at all times. This goes more into the earlier themes of public persona vs. personal pain and personal needs. Ultimately, Taylor and Carpenter take on this life and continue the cycle of performing for the public until they no longer need you. Even though this is not the strongest track on the record, their vocals are out of this world and it has that catchy Red pop.

All and all this is not a record that reinvents Taylor Swift, but you get the feeling that she is starting the next era on her terms. She is still at the top of her game making tracks that pop and have depth. Moreover, I think people will get a lot out of multiple listens of this record.