A Collaborative Album Review by Anna Trevathan, Managing Editor, Emma Harrison, Editor and Jackie Ayala, Contributing Writer
Since its announcement in August 2025, the visuals and teasers steadily dropped for Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, promising a cabaret inspired return to the pop world after her world-famous Eras Tour and darker-toned previous album, The Tortured Poets Department. With recent news of her engagement, all eyes were on Taylor as this had the potential to be a love-infused album, similar to her 2019 synth-pop LP, Lover. There were high expectations from fans, because Swift herself had set those expectations with her incredible preceding albums and, in today’s political climate, this album was hoped to be a break from the doom and gloom of being a woman.
Instead, listeners were left confused. Between a Hamlet-inspired song, from the woman claiming to be America’s favorite English teacher, with little to no regard for the original text to a song about embracing the cancelled girls around you right after a track that’s literally all about her fiancé’s “Wood,” the result is a really unfamiliar body of work which, while admittedly catchy, leaves listeners with what feels like a parody of a Taylor Swift album.
Let’s pick apart Taylor’s messiest era yet, with the eight most talked about tracks:
1. “The Fate of Ophelia“
Jackie: This was a song I was looking forward to, and it became one of my favorites of the album (but that doesn’t really say much considering my opinion on the collection of tracks overall). It has the classic Taylor-style I loved from her Midnights album, that familiar up-beat and catchy energy we Swifties love to dance to.
It truly is a good song if you aren’t digging too deep into the lyrics – the problem is the lyrics were exactly why I was looking forward to it. When the setlist was revealed, I was excited because of the title and what it would be based on: Ophelia from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Imagine my disappointment when I realized the story she was writing about wasn’t accurate to the original character at all.
I understand the comparison of her own love story with Travis Kelce and the love story between Ophelia and Hamlet (which is hardly one). There was a chance to turn it into something beautiful, to talk about the tragedy of what really happened to Ophelia in the story – that did not happen at all in my eyes. Swift herself admitted something that made me understand why the song and the story aren’t cohesive. During a BBC Radio 1 interview, she told us she “didn’t really need to reread it [Hamlet],” which explains why the lyrics mention her being up in a tower (where was this tower in the story?).
“The eldest daughter of a nobleman/Ophelia lived in a fantasy” Swift wrote for the song, not thinking that Ophelia was an only child in the play. I should give some grace, I know that this entire song is a metaphor for her own relationship. But, using the story and painting of Ophelia, a victim of circumstance, to talk about Travis Kelce rubs me the wrong way. “The Fate of Ophelia” could’ve been a song about the loss of innocence, societal constraints and corruption, but instead was simply another love song that didn’t care to understand its source material.
2. “Opalite“
Anna: To me, this song is the closest to the Glitter Pen vibes I was looking for from this album. It’s at least somewhat similar to other songs, like those from her beloved album 1989, and it has some serious “dancing with the girls” potential. This sound reminds me of the chorus from the 80’s track “Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins.
As far as meaning goes, the idea of Travis Kelce’s birthstone being an Opal, and Opalite being a man-made stone is very charming. This is an example of the type of song that can be fun and written out of love, without being a trainwreck – I wish the rest of the album sounded closer to this.
Judging by reactions from various fans on social media, I’m seeing more people post themselves dancing along to this song and, for me, this is the most redeemable track from The Life of a Showgirl.
3. “Father Figure“
Anna: George Michael’s “Father Figure” went viral on TikTok this year for being a steamy song to edit your favorite celebrity moments to, popularly including artists like Megan Thee Stallion. As a long time George Michael fan, I was so excited to see how this new resurgence of his music would play out; needless to say, when I saw “Father Figure” and George Michael’s name in the credits of this song I got my hopes skyhigh. This man was the embodiment of a showman and expressed his queerness through his art in a way that he was unable to do outside of it at the time, and I felt that this song and story could really be perfect for this album.
In an interview with Magic Radio, Swift discusses the meaning of this song saying, “[it’s like] meeting one of your sort of idols and they, instead of being what you thought they would be, they warn you against following in their footsteps.” All of this sounded amazing, until I actually got to listen to the track.
This song is another ode to a controlling man who, at some point in her life, seemed to be someone with all of the answers and how she has turned into that person. Almost like a Godfather of the pop world, but it’s an uncomfortable hubris. Not to mention, having George Michael’s name on a song with “I can make deals with the devil because my dick’s bigger” in the lyrics is blasphemous to say the least. A waste of an opportunity to sample Michael’s track and pay homage to the Pop “Godfather” of before.
4. “Eldest Daughter“
Anna: It would be impossible to discuss the wasted potential of this album without this track. For Taylor Swift’s entire career she has been the backtrack to girlhood, each album representing phases of relationships and friendships. Being the master of girlhood, I would think that having a song specifically for eldest daughters would have easily been the best on the album, as they’re often parentified and treated like they are the ones who are responsible for the care and behavior of their younger siblings. Typically, this makes dating more difficult too as eldest daughters are frankly exhausted from their own childhoods.
However, Taylor Swift took this song as an excuse to write about anything but what I previously mentioned. Instead, she’s writing about haters on the internet, and lying about being busy (which, by the way, could not be further from the experience of the eldest daughter). With lyrics that are repetitive and simplistic, “Eldest Daughter” proved to be another disappointing track. Speaking of lyrics, “I’m not a bad bitch, and this isn’t savage” with “We all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire” would be lines I expect from a middle school rap battle. The pain for me when it comes to the lyricism on this album really comes from the comparison of its predecessors – Swift from 5+ years ago would’ve done better.
5. “Actually Romantic“
Jackie: We can’t talk about this song without talking about who it’s about: the girl who gave us the iconic “Apple” song, Charli XCX. “Actually Romantic” is a response to Charli’s Brat track, “Sympathy is a Knife,” which is rumored to be about Swift, harkening back to a discourse that started years ago when they both had romantic connections to two separate members of the band The 1975.
Charli’s song talks of her own insecurities, how she feels like she can’t live up to someone as successful as Taylor saying that she “couldn’t even be her if I tried.” The song is vulnerable, a monologue of Charli’s insecurities which she admits she shouldn’t be feeling. So why did Swift feel the need to respond with a song like “Actually Romantic?”
The song itself is already not good in my opinion. The instrumental feels empty and lacks energy, not to mention the lyrics are already defensive toward Charli. It feels shallow to make a response to a song about insecurity and make it about how they’re practically in love with you. Taylor has been a role model to many young girls and artists; if she hears someone feels insecure and inferior to her, I feel like the last thing she should be doing is shaming them for those feelings.
In terms of the song, maybe Charli wasn’t too far off with that “Boring Barbie” comment Taylor claims she said at the beginning of the song.
6. Wi$h Li$t
Anna: This song reads, during the first non-focused listen, as a sweet love song geared towards the new life that she is growing with Travis Kelce. However, diving deeper into the lyrics, I think there is some tradwife propaganda afoot. For those unaware, the “tradwife” movement is embodied by women who choose a lifestyle that focuses on domesticity: cooking, cleaning, and birthing. This movement has been on the rise, with social media glamorizing this lifestyle as a break from the stress of a 9-5 and is actively convincing younger women to pursue the simple life. While I am a feminist, which means that I advocate for all women including these women, it’s important to acknowledge that leaving your life in the hands of your partner could be a recipe for disaster.
“Wi$h Li$t” abandons that feminist ideology and while promoting Taylor’s dream to “Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop,” it also bashes women whose lifestyles don’t match a traditional feminine one. Fans of this song argue that being a woman and wanting to get married and have children does not automatically make you a tradwife, and I agree with them. Although, I would say that equating all options outside of being a wife and a mother to “Bright lights and Balenci’ shades” and then immediately singing that she doesn’t worry about anything because she just wants a man and his future family, does raise the tradwife flag.
There is also something to be said about wanting the whole block to look like her and her white fiance. She has fans around the world, proven by the Eras Tour that made more than enough to go around. She then writes about how other wishes of hers include “Three dogs that they call their kids / Good surf, contract with Real Madrid.” The line about the dogs particularly bothers me given the current political climate for women trying to have babies.
Outside of that line, these lifestyles are fabulous and wildly out of touch for her average listener. It’s audibly enjoyable and, unfortunately, I will admit that I too dream of a house with a picket fence and a driveway, but alongside all of that I crave success and freedom. If I had the influence Taylor has, I would not be using it to push the agenda that children are the only dream worth having.
7. “Wood“
Emma: The woods called, they want their metaphors back. And “Wood?” More like, would… someone please take this off Spotify? Let’s talk about the use of a Redwood tree as a metaphor for Travis Kelce’s favorite accessory. Did you know the pinecones that accompany the Redwood tree are actually very small in comparison? Or that many, many species live in the Redwood tree, like salamanders, beetles, and worms? Taylor Swift might want to go get that checked out.
Outside of the obvious, rather distasteful lyrics of this T-Swizzle song, the beat is quite catchy, familiar even. Oh! That is probably because the backing track of “Wood” is almost identical to “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5. Funny, coming from someone who claimed rights to Olivia Rodrigo’s songs “Deja Vu” and “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” now owning 50% percent of the rights and revenue to those songs, all because they had a similar rhyme to other Taylor Swift songs. There is no known drama between the two. Oliva Rodrigo was a religious “Swifie” before this claim, and it seriously makes you wonder how much Swift cares about her fans and other young, rising artists since she clearly has no respect for honoring the great artists before her. It is safe to say that no artist in their right mind will be using their own music to pay homage to Swift and her music, not just because she might want 50% of the rights and revenue, but also because this whole album was just such an awful representation of the art of music. Overall, this song did more traum(ah!)tizing than “(ah!) matize”-ing.
8. “CANCELLED!“
Jackie: “Welcome to my underworld / Where it gets quite dark” – which one of your eight houses are you talking about Taylor? For being a billionaire, this song sounds awfully cheap. It reeks of cringey millennial TikTok videos filled with demon-filters (no hate to the millennials out there, we love you.) The lyrics are so laughable, I can hardly keep a straight face when I listen to this song because the writing is plain bad.
It’s a song that would play in a bad slow-motion walking scene. Not to mention, if my friends were “cloaked in Gucci and in scandal” I personally wouldn’t want to be associated with them. It feels as if she is trying to go back to that Reputation-style of music she wrote all those years ago but, clearly, she has some work to do if this is the best she could come up with.
And how can we forget … another song that sounds awfully familiar! Take a look back to Lorde’s song “Yellow Flicker Beat” and tell me it doesn’t sound eerily familiar. Safe to say, Swift has been lacking in the original chorus department.
Final Thoughts of a Showgirl
When the lights go down on The Life of a Showgirl, there’s an artist on that stage who is unrecognizable to the fans that have been listening for a lifetime. The album tried hard to dazzle and impress, but it left the most important part of being a showgirl: bringing yourself to the stage.
There’s a metamorphosis happening within Taylor Swift right now: the shift from a beloved cat lady to a promotional wife, and it’s unsettling to say the least. The woman who once held “f*ck the patriarchy” keys in her hand, now wears a Chiefs jersey on the sidelines.
