Taylor Swift’s new album Life of a Showgirl has been receiving lots of mixed reviews in the press with many fans and haters judging the album. Many are saying this album doesn’t live up to their expectations or the excitement leading up to its release, while other devoted Swifties are pleased with the new album’s lively, celebratory tone in spite of criticism that the album lacks the depth of her previous work.
Swift is known for teasing new things, whether it’s for an album, tour, or even new merch. When Swift makes an announcement, it’s all anyone talks about for the next few days. This time, Swift’s Easter egg was her new album called Life of a Showgirl that she teased before its release on her fiance Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast on August 12. The album which was teased by Swift was expected to be released on October 3rd 2025, leaving many fans and haters begging for more.
This album was about her life experience as a famous pop star going through anxiety, relationships, and finding confidence in her work along with romantic bliss. Many listeners agreed that this album has a different feel than previous albums. Swift said this album was supposed to have a fun and lively feel.
With lyrics like “I heard you calling on the megaphone / Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes / Don’t care where the hell you been, ’cause now you’re mine”, Swift’s relationship with Kelce is on full display.
On Kelce’s podcast, Swift goes farther to explain this new album release saying, “The album’s orange and teal color theme…It feels kind of energetically how my life has felt.” She goes on to say, “This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant.”
This is different from what Swift has shared lyrically in the past, with albums like Folklore, Evermore, and Tortured Poets Department that all share the sad and dark themes of loss and heartbreak. This left many fans shocked about the sudden change of tone in her work, but excited for the release of this new album regardless. Some of her haters expected the worst before the album even dropped and quickly jumped on the band wagon to criticize the upbeat, lighthearted nature of the album.
When The Life of a Showgirl was released as scheduled on October 3 at midnight, many fans stayed up trying to listen to the new album at midnight and so did Swift’s haters. Some fans were disappointed in this new album release saying at first, the opening track “The Fate Of Ophelia” gave them high hopes and excitement, but that excitement quickly left after listening to the rest of the album. Many fans and haters alike criticize one song in particular, the track called “Wood” with racier lyrics than fans are used to hearing from Swift. A song fans would typically expect from artists like album collaborator Sabrina Carpenter, the song gives off a more raunchy feel which hits differently coming from an artist like Swift. Some say this song wasn’t by the same singer who sang songs like “Dear John” or “All Too Well” and many said they were shocked by the sudden change and blame her now-fiance Kelce for her newer happy songs.
While some of her fans are now hating on this album along with the non-Swifties, other fans weigh in and defend her newly released album.
“I like ‘Wish List’ and ‘Fate of Ophelia’ because they are fun,” said sophomore Sienna Renner. “I think the album is good, but it is not nearly as lyrically deep as her previous work. It is a pop album, so that’s what we’d expect.”
Many fans online are going farther to defend Swift with most of them saying, you don’t have to like every album release for a singer. Fans are also saying that this type of hate was also around when she released her album Midnights on October 21, 2022, which received much criticism online, but it ended up winning over 85 awards. The biggest win for the album was two Grammy awards, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal album of the year. This shows how Swift’s new album can absolutely bounce back and could become well-received by the public like her old albums. This gives many loyal Swifties a lot of hope for the future.
According to VegasInsider.com, Swift’s latest release could make her the most successful solo artist to ever appear on the Billboard 200. If the album reaches number one on the Billboard 200, Swift will surpass Jay-Z and Drake to become the solo artist with the most number one albums in U.S. history, trailing only the Beatles who have nineteen albums.
Still, some of Swift’s opponents are saying they don’t expect a comeback for this album. Many of them saying how this newly released album was cringy and didn’t give them the same vibes as her past albums.
Sophomore Zara Perez responded to this and said in an interview that she agrees with the perspective of online trolls and said, “I didn’t like her album and her as an artist because on a lot of her songs she doesn’t even know what she’s talking about.”
She goes on to say that the only albums she liked were her old ones. “The only albums that I liked were her old 2000’s albums which were her greatest hits and I feel like this album had no sense of creativity.”
She agrees with many of the opinions that all of Swift’s albums are about her boyfriends or that she writes the same songs all the time. Perez makes it clear that she didn’t always think of Taylor Swift as a bad songwriter and thinks that she has written many great songs before and has the writing ability.
Perez goes on to say that the worst line on that album was, “Did you girlboss way too close to the sun.” The sophomore said that line was a cringy, unnecessary line in this song and that it sounded like what a teenager would write.
The internet has also been ripping up Swift’s songwriting by saying her fiance Kelce has distracted her creative process and even Swifties are getting upset after seeing him sign an album of hers.
Clearly many fans and haters are upset by this new album, but only time will tell to see if this album can grow on the public and become as beloved as the others. At the end of the day, whether you love it or hate it, Life of a Showgirl is still number 1 on the charts and the most talked about album today.
