The feedback over Taylor Swift’s new album,“The Life of a Showgirl,” is less than gorgeous. Many songs on the album have been labeled as highly controversial. The album was released on Oct. 3, with high expectations leading up to it. Many people anticipated this to be one of her best albums yet, and sadly, they were proven incredibly wrong. Despite this, many of her fans continue to defend it. The 12-track album occupied 12 of the top 14 spots, apart from spots three and four, on the Billboard Hot 100, with the opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia,” on spot number one. The album is more upbeat and pop-style compared to her previous album, “The Tortured Poets Department”(TTPD), which was more somber and had more folk elements. “TTPD” and many albums before it, such as “Folklore” and “Evermore,” had what I would consider some of the best lyricism of modern music, something that this album lacks.
The opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia,” has been one of the most well-received songs. It takes inspiration from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” particularly the character Ophelia, who went mad. The song appears to be about how Swift might have also gone mad, until someone came along and saved her from living out the same fate as Ophelia. It’s safe to assume that the person she is referencing is her fiancé and tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce. This song features some of the better lyrics of the album, but they still don’t compare to previous albums.
The next track, “Elizabeth Taylor,” has also been received well. The title is a reference to the hit 1960s Hollywood actress, Elizabeth Taylor. Not a lot has been said about it; the lyrics aren’t memorable in a good or bad way, it’s just kind of boring compared to the rest of the album.
The third track, “Opalite,” has had a lot of mixed feedback. Some people consider it one of, if not the best, songs on the album. I have different opinions. The people unsupportive of it have accused the song of having racist undertones with the lyrics “Sleepless in the onyx night; but now, the sky is opalite.” Many fans believe that this line is comparing Kelce’s past relationship with sports journalist Kayla Nicole to his current relationship with her. There are a lot more lyrics that have led fans to believe that the song is about her, such as “You were in it for real, she was in her phone, and you were just a pose.” This is a reference to an old video of Kelce saying that Nicole was on her phone too much.
Track four’s title, “Father Figure,” is a reference to the hit song by George Michael, which is sampled in the song. It is believed to be about her old record label and her recent success in buying her albums back. The song is one of the superior ones on the album, but it still could be a lot better. The lyrics aren’t bad, but they could still use improvement.
Taylor Swift has a large reputation for the fifth track of her albums always being well-written and devastatingly sad. “Eldest Daughter” has ruined said reputation. It has received arguably the most backlash lyrically. Lyrics such as “Every joke’s just trolling and memes” and “Everybody’s cutthroat in the comments” showcase just how downhill her lyricism has gone. There has been a lot of feedback about it being odd to use words such as ‘trolling,’ ‘comments,’ and ‘memes’ in a song. However, one lyric in particular has really caught everyone’s attention. The lyric, “Every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter, so we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire,” has received an unbelievable amount of criticism. The first verse sounds like Kelce wrote it. Most people agree this is one of the worst lyrics she has ever written.
Track six, and my personal favorite, is “Ruin the Friendship.” It’s about the regret of not pursuing someone and only telling them when it was too late. Many people speculate that this song is about her high school friend Jeff Lang, who died in 2010. This isn’t the first time she has written about him. The vault song “Forever Winter” from the album “Red (Taylor’s Version)” is speculated to also be about him. Some people have stated that it’s weird for her to write a song about regretting not kissing someone back in high school while she is currently engaged. However, it’s rumored that she has been re-recording her debut album, “Taylor Swift,” and that doing so brought back memories of him.
“Actually Romantic” is the seventh track on the album, and it’s far from romantic. She opens the song with the lines “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave. High-fived my ex, and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me.” It has been speculated that this song could be about the hit singer Charli XCX. She is married to George Daniel, drummer for the band The 1975, whose lead singer is Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Matty Healy. Before this, the singers were on good terms with each other, and neither singer had spoken about the other publicly. There are also some thoughts that the song could be about Kim Kardashian, with the line “But you keep sending me funny valentines.” This could be a reference back to a 2018 tweet from Kardashian when she said “I decided for this Valentine’s Day everyone deserves a Valentine. So I’m going to send them to my lovers, to my haters, to everyone that I think of because it’s Valentine’s Day after all,” with an attached picture that had sticky notes and one of them showing Swift’s name. However, this is a lot less likely since she has already written about her on “TTPD” with the song “thanK you aIMee.”
Tracks eight and nine, “Wi$h Li$t” and “Wood,” are some of the less talked-about songs on the album. “Wi$h Li$t” is about her wanting to give up fame, settle down, and live a normal life with her soon-to-be husband. While it is a little out of touch, it’s not that bad. “Wood” comes across as a failed attempt to write in a style similar to how Sabrina Carpenter writes her music.
Arguably, the most controversial song on the album is “CANCELLED!,” track number 10. Apart from the awful lyricism, it is also horribly out of touch and overall wildly controversial. The entire chorus is truly horrendous, and I have no idea how she willingly released this song. “Good thing I like my friends cancelled, I like ‘em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal.” It’s been said that this is a crazy song to release when a lot of her fiancé’s friends and family are Trump supporters, while throughout her career she has been very openly liberal. I don’t believe that this was how she intended for the song to come across, but it did. I think she meant for the song to be about how easy it is to get cancelled in today’s society. I find it incredibly funny that she is getting canceled over a song called “CANCELLED!”
“Honey” is the 11th track, and much like “Wi$h Li$t” and “Wood”, there hasn’t been much said about it. The song is about finally having someone call her pet names, such as sweetheart and honey, without meaning them in a condescending way.
The title track and final song on the album is “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter).” It is one of the better songs on the album and has been received relatively well. While the lyricism still isn’t great, it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the other songs on the album. Some people believe that the simpler lyrics only work on this song due to Sabrina Carpenter being featured on it.
Overall, this album is her worst one yet. Between the lyrics and the controversy, she is truly falling off. Swift has yet to come out and defend the album, so until then, people are left to speculate how she feels about the criticism.
