While Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl has gotten positive-to-great reviews from a lot of legacy media, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Taylor’s fans more disappointed in one of her projects. Many Swifties forced themselves to swallow The Tortured Poets Department, hoping that it was just something Taylor needed to get out of her system because so much of it was about Matt Healy. To make matters worse, it looks like this album is full of interpolation and uncredited “inspiration” – including hooks, chord progressions and lyrics from Joe Jonas, Lana del Rey, the Pixies and the Jackson Five. Someone even pointed out that she plagiarized The 1975 as well.
Still, TLOAS is selling well, which is pretty much the only thing Taylor cares about. The album sold 2.7 million copies just on its first day of release. That’s Taylor’s biggest “opening day” sales ever. The only album which had bigger first-week sales is Adele’s 25. Taylor loves to work the charts and sales records too, which is why she’s already announced TLOAS variants in the form of limited-edition CDs with acoustic versions of the songs. And fresh cover images too.
Meanwhile, Taylor just released the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” – while this is one of the better songs on TLOAS, the music video just leaves me cold? Taylor has forced this “showgirl” aesthetic onto a song and an album which has nothing to do with showgirls. Taylor wrote and directed this too, and you can tell. I’m also including a clip from Graham Norton below.
File this under “save your best for the finale”… I think my favorite moments from the tour were the acoustic surprises. So I went back into the studio with Max and Shellback to record acoustic/unplugged versions of a few of the Showgirl songs with brand new vocals and… pic.twitter.com/HyzpYnvSmz
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) October 4, 2025
Screengrabs courtesy of The Graham Norton Show & Magic FM. Cover courtesy of Taylor’s social media.
My thoughts are:
1) she looks great as a redhead
2) she is so stiff and stilted, I will never understand why she always leans in to dance
3) the visuals are great and entertaining, but the song unmemorable.
Overall disappointing for this closeted swiftie.
same. there’s not much in terms of zingers
She has terrible posture something is up with her neck,she has too much money to not fix that.
Not a fan, not a hater, neutral about Taylor. But her face looks odd here: that botox center drop forehead that doesn’t move, makes eyebrows pitch up at sides, making her look angry. Also, kinda filler-puffy nasal folds. She used to have a naturally sweet smile before.
Honestly, there are so many famous women who ruin their face with fillers, botox. Taylor isn’t even old yet. Who said to her she needed all that? She looked amazing during covid with minimal make-up. It is really so sad to see both Sabrina and her getting these weird things done to their faces.
The puffy face, weird eyebrows is what I keep looking at, it disturbs me from the rest
I found out that there were 36 variants of her last album thats just milking your fans.
I’ve never bought a variant. Some people are collectors, they like to buy all the different versions of the artwork.
We are all adults who make money and spend money how we want.
When i was younger people were obsessed with beanie babies, which seems insane, now people by stuffed animal keychains and call them Labubus, which also seems insane.
None of it makes sense to me.
I bought the Showgirl album- am loving it. Don’t need more than one.
And lots of artists do variants, which i didn’t know (as someone who does not own vinyl since 1985). I found out other artists also do variants when people were criticizing Taylor Swift about them, and someone was like, here’s a list and the number of variants for each artist and album.
Apparently it is a thing.
Just, not my thing.
No she isn’t, no one is required to buy them many of her fans just stream and that is fine. Also she doesn’t do more variants than any other artist, people only pay attention to hers. And billboard has said many times the variants aren’t impacting her numbers.
Now just like celebrities with make up, hair care or clothing brands they aren’t exploiting their fans they are maximizing on market demand. Which is what businesses do, but no one is obligated to purchase any of the products, variants, merch etc. People who do are making a personal choice for themselves.
Wow, 36? That’s disgusting. Besides the rampant greed and capitalism, the amount of waste of overproduction is unbelievable. No wonder she’s a billionaire. Pure greed.
It’s just okay. All of it. But I’m not a Swiftie. I hear mostly Lana in this one…
I like Taylor Swift but I also thought this song sounded familiar and the. Lana Del Ray popped into my head a few hours later.
My daughter is a big Swiftie and she didn’t think this album was great. The Fate of Ophelia is probably one of the stronger songs.
I think Taylor can probably take some time off. The next album will be stronger for it.
I heard this song for the first time today and thought oh wow LDR has a new song out
I’m having trouble getting past those bangs and general head helmet-ness of her hair on Graham Norton.
Great video for a rather mid song that would be filler on one of her earlier albums.
It’s interesting to me that even the huge Swifties in my feed were breaking it into songs they did and didn’t like.
Must admit when watching the video I wondered what she is going to do when she is no longer young. She’s not going to be able to stop. Folklore/Evermore showed a path forward, but she seems to have rejected that. She’s always going to have the Swifties, but falling back into petty feuding is a turn-off for many.
I head that a lot of her Folklore/Evermore era was co-written by “William Bowery” aka Joe Alwyn. That explains why that era was so good and why it’s gone now.
he’s only credited on like two songs on folklore. this insistence that Joe must have secretly written most of the songs is deeply sexist. those same writing skills were present on ttpd and red, tbh
this album is fine. there’s a couple songs I really like like honey, actually romantic, opalite, and Elizabeth Taylor. I prefer her wordy stuff to the pure pop stuff. honestly on my opinion it’s a much stronger album than 1989, and people are acting insane about it for some reason.
Thank you Arizona! Perfectly stated.
I’m a swiftie, as of the last year and a half? Since eras movie debuted on streaming,
I love the album. I’ve been really enjoying it, it’s catchy as hell. Kept finding myself singing random lyrics as I did random house cleaning over the weekend.
Especially from actually romantic and Opalite.
My side of social media seems to like it as well. I haven’t seen all the bitching.
I will say I liked it a ton more after several listens, as oppposed to my first listen, but that’s partially b/c I don’t hear very well and need lyrics in front of me for a bit so I can understand what she’s saying (true for me for all artists).
I found the music video fun, especially because it had all the eras tour dancers in it. It was lovely to see them all again.
My favorite scene was the mod looking girl group / I dug the dancing and costumes there/ though the guys on the pirate ship were really funny to me.
Music is simple. What you like is what you have a reaction to (mostly emotional, but sometimes physical/ some stuff will just make you movie)
And people like what moves them.
No one is required to like Taylor swift’s music.
But because she’s as big as she is / apparently everyone is required to have a public opinion about it.
PS I love that Taylor was able to make a supportive statement about her friend Blake in cancelled. After so many people were (including baldoni’s paid for smear team) we’re pushing the narrative that Taylor now hated Blake.
It wasn’t about Blake. This was written before all that. It’s about Sophie Turner.
It’s pretty obviously about Blake. The Gucci and florals lines are overt references to Blake, and Sophie wasn’t ever really cancelled. Joe Jonas tried to paint her as a bad mother but was almost immediately called out by the entire world because what he was doing was so obvious. Whereas Blake really was cancelled.
Taylor is known to change things last minute so there’s no reason this song can’t have been added late, after the bulk of the songs were done.
I respectfully disagree.
Blake’s issues were happening before they became public. She gathered receipts, she filed complaints with the studio. In the May? 2023 agreement between her and Wayfarer, to finish the movie, not only did baldoni have to agree to stop harassing her and other women on the set, he agreed to not retaliate. So, this was all happening before the public knew.
Also, it is alleged by swifties who are way more detail oriented than me, that there are particular pieces of jewelry worn by Swift in one or two of her showgirl outfits that include jewelry Blake wore at the premiere of that crappy movie. But again, i didn’t deep dive into all the receipts on that.
We don’t know these people, so, eventually, we’ll know if they start having dinner in public again, after the litigation is over. And until then, it is just our opinions, and our opinions infected by a paid for smear campaign and a lot of systemic misogyny.
In the green cover image for Cancelled (with the dark hair), Taylor is wearing a one-of-a-kind bracelet that was made for Blake and that Blake wore to an IEWU red carpet. And in the feathered orange showgirl pictures, she’s wearing the same earrings that Blake wore to the 2013 Met Gala.
Sooooo…
It’s Blake. Sophie was never cancelled. And Tay knows people would assume this is about Blake and simply wouldn’t have released it if she had indeed axed Blake.
I’m not a complete Swifty, but I do like a lot of her stuff — maybe I’m just a Swiff — anyway, Midnights was like that for me, I didn’t really like it until I listened to it in order around the house and it grew on me more. Same with Evermore (Folklore had me at go).
I haven’t actually made it through this one yet so I don’t fully have an opinion yet.
I LOVED Midnights from go- but TTPD took me a bit. At first i was like, maybe this is just not the album for me.
And then, the more i heard it- the more i loved it.
Really makes me think about her line: I put narcotics into all of my songs, and that’s why you’re still singing along….”
Song narcotics and Tay-voodoo- never beating with witchcraft allegations.
Yes! It’s a great album to sing along to while cleaning the house, exercising, etc. Sure, some of the lyrics are cheesy but that’s nothing new (see London Boy, We are never getting back together, Me!)
I like the video for Ophelia and love that the eras dancers are in it.
@ariel
‘ No one is required to like Taylor swift’s music.
But because she’s as big as she is / apparently everyone is required to have a public opinion about it.’
Translation: I, a Swiftie, am furious that people have opinions that are not glowing and positive of my cult leader.
It’s the same thing with Beyhive. Every album and video Beyonce releases is absolute genius and ground breaking and world changing. Even when it’s not.
*Every* fan base has a toxic wing to it.
(the silliest one I’ve encountered is the Supernatural fanbase, of which I am a founding member, lol. But I get attacked when I stand my ground based on 15 seasons that Destiel is not canon, the series had serious women representation problems, and “Bugs” wasn’t really THAT bad)
Nah, i get it.
When i was young i didn’t care for U2. They were fine, just not my thing.
and then the Joshua Tree came out- and it is an amazing album i will say in retrospect.
But at the time it was omnipresent and i was SO SICK OF SEEING IT. I HATED U2.
The day after the U2 Concert at RFK stadium, i swear every 3rd person had gone to the concert and was wearing their Joshua Tree shirt to school. Have never seen anything like it- so then i REALLY just hated them. Just because i was sick of hearing and seeing them all the damn time.
I eventually came around. Their next album (with documentary) was Rattle and Hum. And holy cow Angel of Harlem is a favorite of mine to this day.
But it is natural and easy to not just be like- not my thing- but like- I am so damn sick of seeing this person/band everywhere all the damn time.
Again, music is simple. You feel it or you don’t. You enjoy it or you don’t.
Everyone gets to like what they like.
I am loving the album too, I think it so some of her best work. Cancelled isn’t about Blake the timeline doesn’t work out, also she made it clear spelling it the British way that it wasn’t about an American.
I liked the album, I liked the video, I’m happy to see her happy.
Some of these songs are catchy as hell and make me want to dance!
I can’t get this song out of my head, it really is catchy as hell.
Is . . . is she slowly turning into a Nicole Kidman clone? The resemblance here is eerie.
I thought the same about Nicole Kidman! Taylor would be a great redhead.
Loved it! Fun simple and silly with lots of Easter eggs for a great bop.
I loved the music video – I think it’s one of her best music videos ever. I also really like this album. I like the carefree, fun, simple pop songs. I think she’s an incredibly versatile artist and I think it’s so cool that she can just make an album like this after her last album being so different. I think her joy is exuberant. I’m very happy for her and let’s be real, shes not retiring anytime soon. Let her have this fun, uncomplicated album.
I love Taylor, and, so far, I like the album. I don’t know if it will ever be up there with my favorites (midnights, lover, and folklore), but it’s only been a couple of days. I ADORE her song with Sabrina Carpenter in it. I like Fate of Ophelia. (I feel ambivalently about her reading of the actual character, but that’s fine.) I’m also digging Father Figure and Actually Romantic. Wood feels a little cringe, and I actively dislike Wish List. (I think Wish List might be my least fav Taylor song ever, and one that is actively shitty musically, lyrically, and politically. The level of disingenuousness on it is startling.) I sort of suspect more of the songs will grown on me as I listen more (aside from WIsh List).
The title of the Ophelia song grabbed my interest immediately but it wasn’t what I was expecting (as far as telling or interpreting Hamlet’s Ophelia).
I think it was just a reason to build a hook around “OpheeeelieeaaAAuuuhh.”
@PixieButt, I think you’re totally write about the OpheeeelieeaaAAuuuhh! LOL
(I also keep mixing it up in my head with the Lumineers song “Ophelia” which also sort of draws out Ophelia…. )
(Is Ophelia the new Stella?!)
I took my preteen girls to the movie (? Documentary?) part, it was interesting. I like the music video, I was shocked how much she looked like Nicole Kidman/Florence Welch with a long red wig 😂. I find some of her music enjoyable, and it’s the same for this one. I enjoyed the music video, and part of that was loving the busby Berkeley/Esther (I can’t remember her last name, did a lot of swimming in glamorous bathing suits movies in the 40s and 5s) reference. Fate of Ophelia and the Wood song have been stuck in my head, even though I didn’t remember which songs they were. My favorites off the last album was Florida (love Florence) and I can do it with a broken heart. Oh, and the prophecy was good and I love the first 40 seconds of so long London. I have a playlist that’s for my daughters that’s 4+ hours long, this album will be there for driving Girl Scouts 6 hours to camp 😂
Ethel Merman. That her last name was “merman” was always funny to me.
All swimming scenes made famous by Ethel Merman and that particular style/time period of film making- always make me think of the Great Muppet Caper- Miss Piggy had an excellent fantasy sequences as the star of such a show, with Kermit and Charles Grodin singing to her.
I believe you are thinking of Esther Williams.
You’re definitely thinking of Esther Williams. Ethel Merman is also awesome but not an artistic swimmer.
I loved that Esther Williams/busby berkeley homage, but had one quibble–to get the impact, the camera needs to be farther away. I understand this isn’t a dance film, but you lose the impact by focusing on the details.
that said, it was fun to see the era’s tour dancers again, especially jan ravnik who was famous for hanging off a ladder, finding another ladder on the boat.
And hooray for Mandy Moore being back for choreo, even if it was a bit literal at times.
Esther Williams! Thank you! We watched a lot of movies from the 30s-50s when I was a kid (I’m mid 40s), so I have the references of an older person 😂
And Mrs Robinson, you’re 100% correct about the choreography. I guess I’ve seen a lot on sm over the years about how she’s genius with references, but watching it, they’re all literal. She stuffs in a ton of references, but you don’t have to guess what they are or what they mean. There’s a purse dog barking, there’s a football being thrown, there’s a recreation of the most famous Ophelia painting, it ends with her posing like the album cover, etc. I am starting to see some things mentioned like the view out the hotel room window is Vancouver, different pictures on the background, that kind of thing. Again, those are all literal, just such small details that she makes reference her musical world is I guess what people are impressed by? To me it shows an ability to carry world building through and show her perspective more than anything.
I stand corrected! I always associate Ethel Merman with it all because of her last name, lol, even if she had NOTHING to do with any of it! Corny I know.
Legacy media gives her unusually high reviews because they’ve learned that if you give her albums less than stellar reviews, her team withholds press access. No joke. People who work copy and in publishing mags have known this for a very long time. If you don’t kiss the ring, you lose all sorts of interviews, access, etc
Very Trumpian….
Oh, speaking of Trumpian, I’m surprised there hasn’t been talk of how her song CANCELLED is about MAGA Brittany Mahomes. You know, the song embracing being friends with MAGA and screw what everybody else thinks?
I think Cancelled is about Blake Lively (whisky and floral references) and Sophie Turner (matching scars, spelling with 2 Ls). In the lyrics Taylor admits that her friend did something tone deaf, but that a lot of the reasons for cancellation are rooted in misogyny.
MAGA has tried so hard to make Taylor Swift their poster child and she isn’t having it. I’d rather not give them an assist.
it’s definitely about Blake. not about Brittany or Sophie. “did you girl boss too close to the sun” references something Candace Owen said about Blake and Taylor, and the bridge references the person standing on her side during the while Kanye thing (she wasn’t friends with Sophie or Brittany at that time, but she was with Blake – which is why in the look what you made me do video, Blake’s name was on her T-shirt).
it makes me laugh that people said they must not be friends anymore because she hasn’t commented on anything regarding Blake. Baldoni is hell-bent on dragging Taylor into this lawsuit – if she gave him anything to work with, he’d leap all over it. I find it hard to believe that she’d dump one of her very best friends because she made a sexual harassment claim, especially given her own legal battle with that.
“In the lyrics Taylor admits that her friend did something tone deaf, but that a lot of the reasons for cancellation are rooted in misogyny.”
This doesn’t get talked about enough and is definitely a real thing. There’s a separate ‘cancel culture’ for women that’s less about holding people accountable and more about discarding women, or offering them up to the wolves and hiding behind their mistakes as an excuse. We on the left don’t play the same toxic little games with men that we do with women- we usually recognize the danger of excusing things like homophobia and racism because of a man’s problematic behavior, but we pretend not to recognize the danger of excusing misogyny because a woman did or said something tone deaf.
But she did that with Matt Healy, too, no? And look how long he lasted.
I don’t buy for a second that she wrote an entire song about Brittney Mahomes.
My money is on Sophie, probably with some shades of Blake, and probably dashes of other friendships. Her songs are rarely ever just about one thing/person.
It’s very Lana del Rey, no?
Catchy.
I was going to say the same thing!
I love the pained, graciously polite expression on Cillian Murphy’s face. If Colin Farrell had been there, it would have been hilarious, the remarks would go right over poor Tay-Tay’s head.
I noticed that too.
I was always neutral about TS but have moved toward feeling pretty tired of her (and Travis). Cillian Murphy’s facial expressions were the best part of Graham Norton’s show. I wish TS would quit the fillers and just let her natural prettiness shine through.
I agree this is not her strongest work, and I was also expecting the songs to be about Taylor’s complicated relationship with fame (Anti-hero, Clara Bow, Nothing New, ICDIWABH etc.). With that said, The Life of Showgirl is in reference to her life behind the scenes of the Eras Tour.
Everyone complained that TTPD was too boring and wordy. Everyone will complain that this album isn’t deep enough and she’s a better artist when she’s in anxious-attachment relationships.
I’m enjoying it for what it is. It will not be a favourite of mine but I am appreciating how Father Figure not only samples George Michael who fought for his masters but also how it connects to the title track (which may or may not reference meeting Britney Speaks aka Kitty, who was used by the industry and her father). There are layers if you look for them. This album, like Reputation and Lover, will be a grower, not a shower.
She hasn’t taken any music without crediting. It is all listed in the liner notes and if you went to her movie thing you saw it all. She didn’t put them on the writing credits because she didn’t use any of their words like she did with George Michaels but she did credit everyone involved whether they played or she interpolated the music.
Anyway back to the album, I love it!! I think it is one of her better works, and the “online” discourse is typical people do this with every album and then act like it is the greatest thing ever. Two weeks those same people bashing it will make it their entire personality. And a few people cover the song and people will see the lyrics are there. Now is it as wordy and deep as Evermore (my favorite) no, but the last time she did that everyone complained that it was to wordy and deep. So she gave you fun, lighthearted, happy bops and guess what people are still “mad.”
Sorry I don’t buy any of the online stuff because if you truly hate the album you just won’t engage with it. I didn’t like Renaissance, I listened to it as a fan and was like this isn’t the type of music I enjoy. And people who truly feel that way about Showgirl or any other album or artist do the same.
I love album the video is amazing and it is nice to have some joy in the world.
I think Taylor is struggling with a combination of getting older, having more competition from other pop artists who have unique sounds, and coming off a tour where she was literally the center of the world. If I were her friend, I’d tell her to go tuck away for a bit, enjoy her engagement, and reset. Then, start exploring her music again. Because at this point, it feels like she’s lost her identity a bit, trying to be things she’s not.
Her fillers are getting out of control.
this is accurate. I really wish people would stop with the fillers in general. they don’t look good!!
It’s not easy being a woman with all the pressure to never age, and I can’t even imagine how much harder it is for women in the public eye. I’m not a fan of the fillers – they take beautiful, unique faces and turn them into generic ones. I hope she will lay off, but I can understand her feeling like she has to do it. We are so hard on women.
It’s an okay pop album. That’s my feelings on it. What is tickling me and inducing a lot of eye rolling for me is how many men are making Reels (I don’t do TikTok, only Instagram) about how bothered they are by the album. Well, they don’t say they’re bothered, they’re just manplaining (like mansplaining but for complaining). If you’re not a Swift fan to begin with, why bother listening to her latest album? Maybe it’s not for you.
“Blah blah blah why isn’t she addressing the world burning down?” Since when was Taylor ever Joan Baez? She has literally never done that. Can there be a discourse about the enormous influence she has on her fans and popular culture and how she uses or doesn’t use it? Sure. But, please look at history – she doesn’t write protest songs!
I said this in the other Swift post over the weekend, but there actually IS a really fascinating discourse right now on Threads about her influence and role in pop culture in general and in particular with reference to this album. Swifties are melting down but the discussions are really interesting IMO. A lot of white liberal women are screaming about how joy is their resistance and….. I don’t think their resistance is working the way they think it is.
I’m not a fan of her music so didn’t listen to the album, obviously. But I did hear Opalite in the car and tried to give it a listen. Yeah not my thing.
Reactions to me are fascinating, mostly because of what it says about us rather than what it says about her. Speaking for myself, I have a hard time liking her new albums the first time I hear it. My first listen always ends in me saying I don’t like it. It says more about my hating change than her music. She’s gone in very different directions on every album. And for this album, I think people came in with some assumptions about what it was going to be based on work she and collaborators did in the past.
For TTPD, I hated it. HATED IT. Then the dumpster fire of the Trump admin happened, and that album has basically been my life soundtrack of female rage and disappointment in America.
I’m going to admit that again, on my first listen, I didn’t like this album. But I listened a few more times, and now I’m hooked. Not every song is a win for me, but enough of them are, and are on repeat in my head, that I’m calling it a great album. To me, this had a overall retro 70s base line vibe throughout. I definitely heard the Jackson 5 on it, but I think in the end it’s another great album she came up with. Humans are notoriously bad with change. We fight against it to the death. I think people’s crazy reactions to her music is just the outward manifestation of that.
I think it’s an OK album. I really like Ophelia but it’s all been kind of downhill from there. I generally find Taylor to be a competent lyricist but largely overrated everywhere else. I think the frustration for me is that IMO the quality of her work as an artist pales in comparison to her sheer market dominance. I think she’s largely mediocre, especially when it comes to vocals and performance ability — some of her live vocals are absolutely atrocious. Just my opinion, please don’t come for me – lol.
I can’t tell if the songs are bad or not. She used to have catchy melodies, but I can’t really remember what any of her recent songs sound like. However, I don’t think my opinion matters in the least so it’s all good.
I thought a variant had to do with a virus.
Have no idea who her producer is, but I wonder if her songs would sound better with different producers/production.
Taylor is one of my favorites. My husband and I spent I don’t know how much money to go to her Eras concert in Vancouver (which was amazing and I regret nothing). I thought the friendship bracelets were so wonderful and making/exchanging them was a lovely way to engage with other fans.
But, I’d never buy any of her merch or any variants of her albums. Taylor is allowed to make a blatant cash grab, and I’m allowed to… not buy anything I don’t want to?
I must be in the minority because my GenX/former goth girl ass loooooooooooooooves this album. All of it. I dig the use of some of my fave older songs and was tickled to hear the Pixies’ “Where is my mind” woven into Actually Romantic. I worked in the music industry for years (concert production) and I vibe hard on the album’s title track. I didn’t consider myself a “Swiftie” until this weekend. Soooo…bag on it all y’all want. Whatever, I’m gonna go back and turn this up to 11 and enjoy myself.
She’s so insincere. And girl needs to stop dancing. She and Ariana just don’t have the physical rhythm and coordination. At least Ari seems to know this about herself. Taylor seems to think she’s got moves 🤣