Taylor Swift stepped into her showgirl era with the release of her twelfth studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on Oct. 3. She wrote this album while on the highest-grossing tour of all time: the Eras Tour.
This album was marketed as telling Swift’s story while on the tour, specifically while overseas for the European leg. She collaborated with Swedish sensations Max Martin and Shellback to produce this album. The pair have produced some of her biggest hits: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off” and “Delicate,” just to name a few.
As avid Swifties, we get obsessed with the era of a new album. We want to listen right away and make our analysis of the lyrics, as well as be swept up into the actual music.
With that being said, this album fell short. The lyrics feel rushed when compared to the brilliance of her writing with “The Tortured Poets Department.” Some songs even sound like an already familiar work of art. “Actually Romantic” sounds like “Teenage Dirtbag,” “Wood” sounds like “I Want You Back,” “The Life of a Showgirl” sounds like “Cool,” and “Wi$h Li$t” sounds like “Glitch.”
It’s by no means her worst album, but we were expecting more glamor and theatrics from how she marketed “The Life of a Showgirl.”
“The Fate of Ophelia”
Tristan: This track is Swift’s lead single for the album, and I think it’s the perfect vibe for the radio. It’s the pop song I’ve been waiting for since “Bejeweled” on her 2022 album, “Midnights.”
It pays homage to William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and the iconic tragic fate of the character Ophelia. In the play, Ophelia drowns herself after exhausting her own needs by trying to please men and succumbing to the grief of her dad being killed. However, in Swift’s lyrics, she reverses this tragic fate by saying she has been “saved” from this fate.
Her vocals are incredible throughout the song, going into her deep register in the verses and higher in the chorus. It’s catchy, it’s danceable, and at some points it’s even haunting. I love this first song.
Favorite lyric: “You wrap around me like a chain (a chain), a crown (a crown), a vine (a vine) / Pulling me into the fire”
“Elizabeth Taylor”
Manuela: This is a rich, dramatic pop, one of Swift’s greatest talents. The bass drops really bring me back to the Reputation era, and I enjoy how Swift draws parallels between Hollywood life and personal relationships. It’s dramatic. It’s a performance. Still, I find it quite annoying how she repeats “Elizabeth Taylor” every 20 seconds.
Favorite Lyric: “You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby”
“Opalite”
Tristan: This song is my favorite on the album. I’m in love with everything about it, from the lyrics to the rhythm. The beat drop is so satisfying to follow along with. It’s so much fun to listen to, and the bridge is incredible. Please turn this song on as soon as possible because we have reentered our 2010s pop music era.
The context behind this song has everything to do with Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce. His birthstone is opal, so “Opalite” follows suit in Swift’s pattern of assigning colors to feelings. This song expresses her glowing content with her forever partner. Opalite is actually a man-made stone. Swift is helping her audience realize that joy can be created within ourselves.
Favorite Lyric: “This is just a temporary speedbump, but failure brings you freedom / And I can bring you love, love, love, love”
“Father Figure”
Tristan: This was a song that had to grow on me because I was not impressed on the first listen. After going back through, I picked up on a few things…
I think the first verse is from one of her old managers. They took her in when she was a teenager in the music industry and then completely backstabbed her, holding her albums just out of reach from her.
This song is almost like a conversation between the two. It switches to Swift’s point of view during the bridge, which is most often my favorite part of her songs. She shifts the narrative from everything this older man in the industry tells her— “you remind me of a younger me,” “they don’t want you to reign”— to her gaining back all rights to her own music. Even more satisfying, she realizes that all her success is owed to her. I love the line “this empire belongs to me,” because it does.
Even aside from the deeper message, I love the melody and overall beat. My only complaint is how she sings the chorus, I wish she would have stuck to singing in her deeper register.
Favorite Lyric: “You made a deal with this devil, turns out my [censored]’s bigger”
“Eldest Daughter”
Tristan: I have never been more disappointed in a Taylor Swift song, which I do not say lightly. Track 5’s are notorious for holding her most vulnerable and emotionally powerful lyrics. Why are there lines that hold the words “trolling,” “bad b*tch” and “savage”? There are good parts in the song, but it fell flat with me.
I’m not entirely sure of the intention of this track. It reads in the beginning that she is calling out cancel culture and haters with lyrics like “everybody’s cutthroat in the comments,” but we’ve been here before. We’ve had endless songs from her about haters, and they were all better than this.
I’m choosing to think this song is a promise to her fanbase: she’s “never gonna leave [us],” because if I have to think that one more of these songs is about her undying love to Travis Kelce, I’m going to lose my sanity. It feels like the lyrics were dumbed down, for lack of better words. I fell in love with Swift’s lyricism back in 2022, not whatever this is.
Favorite Lyric: “Every youngest child felt they were raised up in the wild/ But now you’re home”
“Ruin the Friendship”
Tristan: I had no idea where this song was headed at first, and the plot twist had me gagged. This should have been the fifth track on the album because it’s packed with regret, guilt and advice.
It really feels like her older music, a mix of her high school songwriting and simple guitar chords. This song is actually rumored to be about a high school friend who passed away years ago. She was close with this person in high school and wishes she had taken advantage of the opportunity to have “kissed” him.
I love when she gives her fanbase advice, almost ways to right her own wrongs. She did it in her song “Dear Reader” from “Midnights,” “Marjorie” from “Evermore,” “The 1” from “Folklore” and so many more.
Favorite Lyric: “My advice is to always ruin the friendship / Better that than regret it for all time”
“Actually Romantic”
Manuela: This one is particularly interesting to me beyond musicality. It is widely rumoured that this song was written in response to Charlie XCX’s “Sympathy is a knife,” which follows the narrator’s insecurities throughout the song. “Actually Romantic” pokes fun at a person who is obsessed with hating the narrator, which brings me to believe there is more going on behind the curtains between Swift and XCX.
Favorite Lyric: “How many times has your boyfriend said / ‘Why are we always talking ‘bout her’”
“Wi$h Li$t”
Manuela: When I read the name of this one, I thought it would be anything but a rejection of glamour for domestic life. The message is sweet and the lyrics are funny, if a little cheesy. But I believe “cheesy” was the whole point. A glamorous celebrity’s life is cheesy, a “fat ass with a baby face” and “bright lights and Baleci’s shades” are cheesy. It’s all fabricated and shallow, so her “Wi$h Li$t” revolves around real things: settling down and being quietly fulfilled.
Favorite Lyric: “Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you”
“Wood”
Manuela: This is honestly what I had been waiting for from this album: a direct, witty, bold statement about passion. The lyrics got me thinking, “Good for her.” The playfulness carries this song in a daring way. I understand not everyone will enjoy the sexual imagery present in the lyrics, but Swift has been trying to raise her expression on sexuality for years. Starting with the “good girl” made it hard for her to branch, but it makes me happy she can say what she wants, and this is the furthest we’ve ever seen.
Favorite Lyric: “Girls, I don’t need to catch a bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way”
“CANCELLED!”
Tristan: I had a hard time picking apart this song. At first listen, it sounded like she was defending her friendship with Blake Lively, who has been recently involved in a very public scandal.
After the internet sleuths could fully dissect it, I’m on board with the theory that it’s actually about her friend Sophie Turner. Turner was in the public eye back in 2024 with a very public divorce from Joe Jonas. The song title also takes on the British-English way of spelling the word, and Turner happens to be from England.
Overall, I like the darkness this song offers, and it could totally pass as a song from her “Reputation” era.
Favorite Lyric: “I’m not here for judgment, no / But if you can’t be good, then just be better at it”
“Honey:
Manuela: We’ve seen Swift reimagining words before, and she does it again with “honey.” This song is the emotional respite of the album: quieter, softer, sweeter. She goes from seeing the word “honey” as an everyday sass indicative to being someone’s honey.
Favorite Lyric: “And when anyone called me lovely / They were finding ways not to praise me / But you say it like you’re in awe of me”
“The Life of a Showgirl”
Manuela: I wish the album had more songs like this one. It’s a sister to “The Lucky One” and “Clara Bow” with its themes of the cost of fame and the reality going on behind the curtains. Sabrina Carpenter brings such a powerful voice to this song, given the scandals her career went through. I like the slow hand-clap, as if the showgirl’s audience is reacting to her performance.
Favorite Lyric: “I took her pearls of wisdom / Hung them from my neck / I paid my dues with every bruise / I knew what to expect”
Overall, the songs are enjoyable and reminiscent of Swift’s long pop journey. Still, we find ourselves underwhelmed at the overall result, desperately wishing there are more songs to be released.
