Taylor Swift’s awaited 12th studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” was released on October 3rd. Just after her highest-grossing tour of all time, which spanned 632 days, 149 shows, 51 cities, and 21 countries, came to an end just less than a year later, we have a new album. Swift is known for her famous Easter eggs, which hint at new albums, show dates, and more. But this time around, this album was unexpected, and the Swifties were off by miles on what was coming next from the world-famous Swift. “It’s Miserable and Magical” from Swift’s song “22” is exactly how I feel about this new release.
This newly released album garnered a record-breaking 5 million pre-saves on Spotify before its release. After its release, “The Life of a Showgirl” faced backlash due to its more upbeat and joyful vibe, compared to her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which was a more melancholy release.
In previous months, we have seen Swift be more herself and bubbly, which some “fans” don’t seem to be enjoying. Since the album release, social media users have been going crazy with providing Swift plenty of backlash.
The New Yorker writes, “‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ the artist’s new album, is full of cringey sexual innuendo, millennial perfectionism, and an obsession with her haters that wears thin.”
However, anyone who has anything to say about the liveliness of Swift’s new album is deflecting the fact that they don’t have the joy of enjoying the new album. Even though the vibe of this album is not one of my favorites, the backlash it is getting due to Swift being happy is unnecessary.
The album opens with the song “The Fate of Ophelia,” which has broken multiple records across various platforms and is the most-streamed track from the album.
The song opens with the lyrics, “I heard you calling… On the megaphone.” These lyrics are rumored to be a nod to when her now fiancé, Travis Kelce, announced his feelings for Swift publicly on his shared podcast “New Heights.” Swift is using the megaphone to reference just how public and open he was about his feelings towards Swift.
I think this song was able to hold the upbeat feel while still discussing the important things in Swift’s life currently. Swift uses the name “Ophelia” to reference Hamlet and the bad fate Ophelia is meant to face, but Swift uses the name Ophelia to say she felt like Ophelia and was saved by Kelce. Taylor writes this in order to show the way Kelce saved her from her fate, which she thought was gonna be nothing but bad, considering the amount of backlash she gets for just about everything she does.
Swift follows this song with “Elizabeth Taylor.” This song was once again able to represent a well-known character/person and turn their story into something entirely different, while still connecting it to her own life. Throughout the song, Swift mentions many times “Eyes of Violet,” which the actress Elizabeth Taylor was extremely famous for. This was one of the many ways Swift compared her life to that of the actress. She uses the parallels of the stresses of fame, the anxiety of relationships, and public views to compare her life to Elizabeth Taylor’s.
As the songs continue, listeners are able to notice the flow between all the songs and the stories they share. The rest of the album continues with songs that give a behind-the-scenes look and represent the complex life of a “Showgirl.”
I think this album was a good way for Swift to be able to embrace who she really is and just how much her career means to her as a person and performer. These lyrics were able to embrace Swift and who she really is more than just words ever have been able to. With the talent of music, Swift beholds she was able to captivate her listeners with the upbeat music while still sharing her story in a way that was meaningful to her.
At one point in the album, she references her work ethic and how non-stop her life can be. As evidence of this, she has already announced her new 6-part documentary “The End of an Era,” which will be released on Disney+ on the 12th of December, one day before her birthday.
