Album Review: Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl
2 min read
Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl arrives like an invite you can’t refuse – it’s glitzy, intimate and unashamedly theatrical. As a compact 12 track album, Taylor trades the sprawling introspection of her last project for sharp, glittering vignettes about fame, love and loyalty. Opening strong, The Fate of Ophelia sets the scene with acoustic strums, a steady soft-rock backbeat and a lyrical gaze that repurposes the Shakespearean myth into a pop confession. Elizabeth Taylor follows with orchestral tones, piano and subtle strings. It’s a glamourous reflection on fame and love that feels like a soliloquy. Opalite kicks up the tempo a little into pop-rock/eurodance territory – brighter guitars, synths and a punchy chorus.
Moving on to Father Figure, Taylor interpolates a George Michael classic. Father Figure is a slow burn groove, trading sweetness for a darker critique with the use of sparse percussion and a brooding bass. Eldest Daughter follows and unfolds as one of the record’s more reflective moments with cinematic piano, a swelling bridge and multitracked vocals. It builds a narrative around the theme of expectations. Ruin The Friendship flips the familiar breakup trope – it’s wistful in tone, light on its feet melodically but taunting lyrically.
The record’s mid to late stretch mixes flirtation with self aware showbiz commentary. Actually Romantic is short and coquettish, it skewers gossip with a sly, percussive bounce while Wi$h Li$t discusses desires and ‘consumer-era’ longing. The sound production of this track twinkles with fingerpicked guitar and soft harmonies while the words do the heavy lifting, cataloguing wants and desires that feel less material and more emotional. Then comes Wood, a suggestive number that toys with double meanings over a cheeky backbeat. CANCELLED! follows and channels bratty pop energy with clipped production and an unapologetic chorus that talks to public scrutiny. Second to last on the album is Honey, offering a reprieve and softening the edges into an R&B-tinged pop lullaby.
The album closes on the title track, The Life of a Showgirl, a mid-tempo, string flecked duet with Sabrina Carpenter. It frames the showgirl persona as resilient and sisterly and is a very fitting finish. The Life of a Showgirl is full of buoyant melodies and playful lyricism, it’s something a little different from Taylor’s more poetically infused ‘heartbreak heavy’ past works. But overall, it’s a well-assembled, replayable, unabashedly pop and really, Taylor doing what she does best – turning personal experiences into songs that everyone loves.
