“That was NOT what she said”, I proclaimed to my friends in the theatre as we watched (well, listened to) Taylor Swift’s release party for her new album The Life of a Showgirl.
Quick backstory about me, I don’t consider myself to be a swiftie. I adored Love Story when I was a kid, and Shake it off used to annoy the shit out of me. I didn’t invest much time into her artistry or lore until the release of Folklore which, till this day I consider one of my favourite albums. Evermore and Midnights soon came after and with at least 7 tracks favourited from all 3 albums on my sportify, I began to think I had severely missed out on a decade’s worth of great music from Taylor.
But when I went to listen to Red and 1989, I didn’t get the same spark that I felt from that trio of releases that made me pay more attention to the biggest pop star in the world.. I chalked it up to me just not relating to the music sonically or personally, which is fine. Maybe it would have resonated with me more when I was younger.
I got an invite to watch her release party with my friends and not having seen them for a while, who was I to say no? I went in with no expectations but I thought since I’m joining in with friends who are big fans, it was only fair I do my due diligence and listen to the album on launch so I’m not confused during the showing the day after. So there I am on October 3rd (means girls day, fitting for this album I must say), my WFH day slightly feeling the aftereffects from the previous nights festivities after my promotion at work, listening to The Life of a Showgirl in the background.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to the songs as it became drowned by thoughts of my own work tasks and meetings. As I listened to the beautiful piano sequence, I heard the record scratch in my head after the lyrics from the chorus of Eldest Daughter clipped my ears. Funnily enough it wasn’t ‘bad bitch’ and ‘savage’ that raised my eyebrow but ‘smooth operator’, and this is entirely due to Carlos Sains (no I will not elaborate). Being chronically online, I’m aware of her albums somewhat alluding to her past or current relationships, and alongside the album title, I assumed this album would be about what goes on in her life behind the curtains. This song felt a bit odd to me lyrically, but if I’m not listening to the lyrics, I really do enjoy this one. I can only guess that due to me being the youngest daughter, I can’t relate to what she’s saying here. But after hearing the lyrics again during the second chorus it felt a bit jarring to me, where I thought “what is she even singing about? How is this different to the average teenage girls experience?” this did make me go back to the start of the album to really listen to what she has to say.
I will just slightly touch on the concept of the eldest daughters plights being quite a cultural issue many woman of colour face due to expectations for them to grow up quickly and be caregivers for their own siblings, or even their parents if they’re 2nd/3rd generation family members. I was surprised that Taylor did not really add anything to this conversation. Or maybe she understood it’s not her place to do so?
As each friend, swiftie or not, met in the meeting spot on Oxford Street, we had a rapid debrief on the songs and album as a whole. All of us saying something along the lines of “I’m hoping this release party showing will make me feel differently about the album”. My friend with a Taylor Swift Cardigan on seems enthusiastic but weary. Our other Swiftie friend who saw the show on release day told us to drink lots of wine... Yikes. Mouth burning from chicken tenders and fingers cold from the short walk to the cinema, we settled in our cinema seats for the bumpy ride.
It got better before it got worse for me, as I loved The Fate of Ophelia from the first listen, so starting the show with the music video was a great call, the production was honestly incredible. I can always appreciate a homage to showgirls throughout the era’s and Taylor with Antonio Dimino did a fantastic job brining each showgirl to life. The costumes were sublime, the dancers killed it, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Taylor so confident both in front of and behind the lens. The behind the scenes clips were feathered in between the lyric videos (..sigh), and seeing the cast all excited about their craft really did it for me. Creative Direction was great. Taylor’s obsession with her homemade bread being in the shot was great.
Before getting into my thoughts on each song (the following which will now be reviewed with context given by watching the show), I want to touch on the absolutely ridiculous release party event this was and the sheer audacity of it all.
First of all, I couldn’t understand why they intended for the film to mostly be glorified lyric video clips created on windows movie maker. I felt like I had paid for a YouTube premium membership to see psychedelic patterns of Taylor, as gorgeous as she was, posing in three different positions on loop with glittery lyrics appearing like fireworks to say the worst line possible before disappearing into the night. Not only was the lyric video’s incredibly awkward to sit through, it felt cheap. Fuck me, I felt like I went back to 2009 watching Love story lyric videos (I implore you to watch this from 2:32 to fully understand where my head was at this entire cinema showing). I wondered why they did this when they knew fans would have already listened to the album multiple times before showing up. Did they want fans to get up and dance in the theatre? This release party in Lithuania made me feel like my showing missed a trick here. I guess Taylor’s team figured seeing the lyrics after Taylor herself explains the thought process behind each song would make fans understand it more. Which brings me to my next thought…
Why did they think showing Taylor’s thoughts and reasonings before the lyric video’s would be a good idea, when a lot of the lyrics in each song are…not great? This woman speaks very eloquently about the writing process, and then we see the thoughts reduced to ‘He dick-matized me and opened my eyes’ and ‘They want that spring break that was fucking lit’??? The juxtaposition was too much for me as they really made you focus on every word she wrote, good and bad. Maybe she was trying to emulate Ophelia’s mad state of singing as she describes the meaning of each flower before succumbing to her death. There are many lines in the album I liked, but they weren’t exactly Shakespeare, even if she does claim to like it so much.
It also just made me feel bad for the Swifties who paid to watch these video’s. The behind the scenes of The Fate of Ophelia was great, I loved every second from the dance direction in the makeup room to the ball catch on the way to the hotel room. Seeing the spotlight put on the team behind Taylor was nice. I wish we saw more of it! I know they have more of it. I think the show would have been a lot more palatable if it was less about the lyric videos and more showing her process to create the album, even if they only showed her in the studio. The only reason I can think of her not doing this is because she plans to reveal a behind the scenes later on, a 4-version limited edition cd style or on Disney+, which will be yet another thing her fans will fork out money to buy. There wasn’t enough content in this 1 hour 20 minute showing to justify taking time and money out of your day to go see. The fact that most fans came out of screen 2 looking either perplexed or flabbergasted tells me that my thoughts weren’t just my own.
Let’s be honest here, my opinion doesn’t really matter here as a non-swiftie, but I’ve been a fan of idols, pop stars, and celebrities since Jesse Mcartney when I was 6, so I know a thing or two about giving the fans what they want. This release party seemed to really miss the mark here, and I wish we listened to our friend and stopped at M&S for some cans of cocktails and wine to smuggle into the theatre with. Would I go to another Taylor Swift cinema showing? probably not, which is a shame because I’m sure after the scathing reviews from her fans about this album release, she’ll work to give the fans a bit more than a glorified lyrics video. At the very least, it was a bonding experience for my friends, so much so that we had a debrief on the streets of London in the freezing cold to discuss ‘skies’ vs ‘thighs’, the interpolations of pretty much every song, and the shipment delays of the album to our beloved swiftie friend (I promise I didn’t tell her to return it).
“The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.” - Edgar Allan Poe
Elizabeth Taylor isn’t my style of music but the lyrics fit the song well, and it gave me what I expected of this album thematically. An insight into her thoughts, as the showgirl of this era, can be seen in the first two tracks. Opalite feels whimsy and the first indication of Travis’ positive role in Taylor’s life. Not every song needs to have a deep meaning to be good and Opalite is a nice example of that.
Father figure is apparently about her being a mentor (to Olivia Rodrigo) and mentee (to Scott Borschetta), and has slight eerie, almost sinister tones as she seemingly realises she’s become what she’s thought against her entire career. With supportive lyrics in first chorus to questioning loyalty in the bridge to the switch up of straight threats and infantilization during the final chorus. The build up from the lyrics makes this track slightly haunting and I love that. It feels a bit evil. When you’ve spent years climbing to the top, it’s easy to want to support people who look like you, but it’s easier to make sure they stay down if they don’t pledge allegiance to you, so they’re not deemed better than you. Its quite a admission from her and speaks of her current power in the industry. Very Florenz Ziegfield of her. At this point I realised each song must be looking at certain moments of her life and less about being a showgirl, and I have to remind myself that she IS a showgirl. She’s telling me her thoughts as a showgirl at the very top, including the ugly.
Unfortunately oddly specific circumstance, Ruin the friendship was probably the first song I could actually relate too, maybe not to the point of kissing them while their girlfriend is away, but just doing it before they died. Controversial as it is, that line does give more weight to the song, so proudly proclaiming that looking back, she would partake in her crush cheating on his girlfriend. Showgirls are often seen as seductresses and even today, the sweetest girls like Ariana Grande (lower the pitchforks I fucking love her!) have no issue making hits like ‘Break up with your girlfriend I’m bored’ and publicly stealing her co-worker, the married man with kids, from their family. So to me, it felt shocking coming from sweet innocent Taylor but very in touch with her showgirl persona.
I also felt like I should have heard this song at 21 instead of 28, and I wonder why Taylor is singing about kissing her dead childhood crush when she’s 35 and engaged to her forever man. Maybe the engagement made her look back on past true loves? Who knows. Great song, questionable lyrics, but I like it so whatever.
Actually Romantic is great. I genuinely like the shade of it all! The swifties around me say it’s a clap back to Charli XCX, and it’s unfortunate that Taylor feels the need to make a song dissing someone who is very open about feeling insecure. HOWEVER, I think again of what a Showgirl is characterised as being; filled with beauty and desire to reach the top, fast paced and cut throat, catty, every woman for themselves. This is exactly that. Talk shit, get hit. I’m sure there’s a lot more nuance to this feud (if you can call it that), and part of me questions why a billionaire feels the need to ‘stoop low enough’ to make her own diss track. Another part of me thinks “shit, at the top of her game, who else can she feud with?”. It’s not something I expect of Beyonce or Rihanna so it’s weird to see Taylor do this. Despite Brat’s success, Charli is way below public recognition in comparison that it feels a bit unfair. Being a showgirl is unfair.
This catty diss track very much scratches the surface of the true life of a showgirl, which when you dig deeper often unveils a supportive community of women sharing the stage together, something we see at the end with The Life of a Showgirl feat. Sabrina Carpenter.
I’ll be so honest, I didn’t like Honey, Wishlist, or Wood. It’s annoying that these are the three songs dedicated to her fiancé, the one who finally was ‘the one’ and yet the most she can talk about is him making her like the word Honey again, dreaming about the driveway with a basketball hoop, and how his big fat cock is the key to her heart…. Yeah I’m sorry. I just feel like the same girl who wrote Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, and heck lets throw in The Tortured Poets Department for arguments sake, could write some incredible lyrics for the way her terrible exes made her feel, but her true love has songs like this to his name? Maybe I’m being harsh here, the meaning of Honey is nice I’ll admit, and its nice to hear her be very simplistic about her love for him. It’s just sad because it makes it seem like when she’s feeling sad, depressed, vindictive or resentful, she comes out with incredible lyrics but when she’s in love, happy, and at peace, the she’s lyrically stunted. The lyrics are shit. This woman calls herself a English teacher in her engagement reveal and yet her lyricism’s for this guy she loves the bones off are shit.
I felt this even more after hearing Cancelled!. There are definitely misses in some lines, notably the ‘girlboss too close to the sun’ part, but again, I like this mean girl side to Taylor here, being up front with the impact of cancel culture towards her and her peers and how they instead overcome it and learn how to avoid it. Whether its about Blake Lively after her lawsuit drama, or even Selena Gomez when she says something random and unnecessary on IG that gets her cancelled on tiktok and twitter for a couple weeks. The line in everyone’s think pieces where she proclaims ‘Good thing I like my friends cancelled’ is actually one of my favourites. The hint of glee in letting her own friends be dragged through the mud and liking that it takes the weight off her own hate train? It’s dark and not who I imagine Taylor to be. This song made me think ‘yeah, this is what I expected coming into this album’.
I talk a lot about her lyricism in this album because I don’t really know a Taylor with bad lyrics. Maybe she wrote like this pre Folklore? Who knows? I don’t, and I know Swifties do, but I can only go off my perception of her from now. I also speak a lot of the lyrics because I was subjected to that awful lyric video extravaganza. I feel like anyone who sat through that should be allowed to talk about her writing as much as they want. Sonically? I can actually sit through the entire album with no issue. Sure I may need to not actually listen to what she’s saying in Wishlist and Wood, but I do like the calming or slightly peaceful tones, her use of adlibs and key changes. I guess one thing I got from the release party showing was that Taylor is in a era where public perception and peer reviews do affect her, but this time she’s got no problem talking about it candidly. This nonchalant vibe reminds me of the Showgirls of old. I like that.
The life of a Showgirl feat. Sabrina Carpenter is a passing the batton moment. It’s undeniable really, you look at the history of a showgirl and it’s as clear as day Sabrina encapsulates the showgirl of our era. She is a representation of a woman of our time, being honest and open about her sexuality and having fun with it in a way we haven’t seen from a cute American white girl in… ever? It does hold a mirror up to Taylor who made her fame being the innocent country girl. It’s a very interesting pairing as the artists are so similar and yet so different. I love the lyrics ‘Hey Kitty, now I make my money being pretty and witty’. I could go deeper into that line but I fear I’ve written too much.
There isn’t a good way for me to conclude this post but I will say, while I don’t think this is an album that will be replayed by me repeatedly, I do appreciate Taylor’s desire to experiment with different prose, whether I like it or not. The beauty in art is being able to both appreciate and critic it.
I leave you with a few articles I enjoyed reading on this topic.
The Life of a Showgirl album reviews
The Meh Life of a Showgirl by New York Magazine and Emily Gould
People are Getting the Taylor Swift Album Very Wrong by Kirbie Johnson
The Life of a Showgirl reveals Taylor Swift’s psychosis by E. K. Carlisle
Taylor Swift Loses Touch with Lyricism on The Life of a Showgirl by Lanie Brice
Scratch the surface of the life of a Showgirl.
Inside the (Actual) Lives of Showgirls by Chandler Plante
The Enduring Influence of Showgirls: From Josephine Baker to Marilyn Monroe — and Now Taylor Swift by Julia Teti at WWD
Recovering the History of Black Showgirls in Las Vegas by Su Kim Chung
The Man Who Invented the Showgirl by Erin Blakemore
From Taylor Swift to Marilyn Monroe: A Brief History of Cinematic Showgirls by Savannah Walsh at Vanity Fair
Thanks for reading this far x
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