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It\u2019s been an exhausting few years to be a Taylor Swift fan. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Toggling between new releases and \u2018Taylor\u2019s Version\u2019 re-records as she traversed the globe on the highest-grossing tour of all time, Swift somehow managed to put out eight<\/i> albums between 2020 and 2024.<\/p>\n
Hours after her last album The Tortured Poets Department<\/i> was released in April of last year, Swift dropped another surprise: It was actually a double album. The resulting 31-song, two-hour slog of a record tested all but the most ardent fans\u2019 patience. <\/p>\n
Now, 18 months later comes an album that rights many of those wrongs, coming in at a concise 41 minutes across its 12 tracks.<\/p>\n
It also reunites Swift with collaborators Max Martin and Shellback \u2013 Swedish pop masterminds who\u2019d worked on the majority of two of her very best albums, 1989<\/i> and Reputation <\/i>\u2013 to deliver a capital P pop album front- loaded with potential hits. <\/p>\n
There are, however, a few missteps here, meaning The Life of a Showgirl<\/i> never quite scales the heights of those earlier albums. <\/p>\n
MORE: Inside Taylor Swift\u2019s $230m property empire<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Showgirl <\/i>starts strong: Opening track and lead single The Fate of Ophelia<\/i> is the first in a triple whammy of future Taylor classics, all bubbling, moody synths that erupt into a cascading chorus. <\/p>\n Second song Elizabeth Taylor<\/i> is Swift in self-mythologising mode with another sky high chorus that\u2019s equal parts Taylor and Max Martin. <\/p>\n Then, the Fleetwood Mac meets ABBA vibe of the summery Opalite<\/i> completes the hat trick: If Swift rolls out these three as singles, she could have number one hits in the bag for the next year. <\/p>\n Track four, Father Figure,<\/i> is where things start to go slightly pear-shaped. It\u2019s sung from the perspective of a toxic music industry bro whose name may or may not rhyme with Booter Scraun, but it never rises above cliche \u2013 all \u201cmaking a deal with the devil\u201d and \u201csleeping with the fishes\u201d (although it does feature Swift memorably bragging \u201cmy dick\u2019s bigger\u201d). <\/p>\n And sadly it bears little melodic resemblance to the superior George Michael song it claims to sample \u2013 seems like there was a pre-emptive credit given there to ward off any plagiarism claims over the title. <\/p>\n Eldest Daughter<\/i> is a pretty piano ballad again scuppered by some cringeworthy lyrics, this time about trolling and memes, but one song later lies the beating heart of the album: Ruin the Friendship.<\/i><\/p>\n At first, hearing Taylor sing about a wilted corsage and hanging out in \u201csecond period\u201d might provoke a groan: Is she still<\/i> singing about being a high schooler? But as the song unfolds, it reveals itself to be a three-and-a-half minute romantic tragedy, the sort Swift does so well, with a genuinely moving coda about the importance of taking chances in life, before it\u2019s too late. It\u2019s her best (presumably) fictional songwriting since folklore. <\/i><\/p>\n From those highs to one unfathomable low: You\u2019ve got a stronger constitution than me if you don\u2019t approach a Taylor Swift song called CANCELLED!<\/i> with some trepidation. <\/p>\n \u201cGood thing I like my friends caaaaancelled, I like \u2018em cloaked in Gucci and in scaaaaandal,\u201d she sings like a moustache-twirling pantomime villain, declaring that her \u201cinfamy loves company.\u201d It\u2019s Reputation (Aldi Version)<\/i> and it again suggests Swift considers herself a much more controversial public figure than she actually is: File alongside Vigilante S**t <\/i>and Look What You Made Me Do <\/i>as Taylor-gone-bad songs we never need to hear again. <\/p>\n Elsewhere, Swift\u2019s reunion with Martin and Shellback hasn\u2019t just resulted in 12 boilerplate Swedish-made pop songs \u2013 there are some unexpected diversions here (Max is in his quirky era lately: Check out his work on Canadian pop singer Debbii Dawson\u2019s recent potential song of the year,I Want You<\/a><\/i>). <\/p>\n