At The Substack Post, I have reviewed a recent album from niche Pennsylvanian indie artist Taylor Swift:
tl;dr: My verdict is that The Life of a Showgirl is a fun album, but it’s not a great album. I would rank it with Lover and Midnights. It’s probably one of the only Taylor Swift albums where there’s no song I skip the moment it starts… but there’s not a song I feel compelled to listen to over and over either. Sticking to album cuts: there’s no “London Boy,” but there’s also no “I Think He Knows.” No “Vigilante Shit,” but no “Maroon.”1 Though I also find that while if I like something I tend to continue to like it, stuff I don’t like can change up on me. In general, not just with Taylor.
Other notes: Two old posts, not by me, on Taylor’s use of language that I recommend are “i’m just a notch in your bedpost, but you’re just a line in a song” by isabel and “How You Get the World: Reflections on Taylor Swift, Pt. 5” by Dave Moore. My favorite track is “Elizabeth Taylor,” followed by “Father Figure.” It is sort of funny that what it means for this album to be reputation vol. 2 is that it’s like… “I bet my life looks pretty great to you.… And you know what? It is great. 10/10 life.” I hope all the people who have been saying “she needs to stop working with YES man Jack and start working with NO man Max” since Midnights are feeling a little embarrassed. I always wanted Taylor to write an anxiety-free love song, and now she has, and it’s “Wood.”
There’s a funny musical theater quality to this album that kind of comes in and out of focus for me. The title track, obviously. “Eldest Daughter” feels like the big second act ballad for a musical that doesn’t exist. “CANCELLED!” is like a Disney villain song. Even “Elizabeth Taylor” can feel that way, if delivered in a stripped-down manner:
Finally, I am not on the Taylor Swift “bribing critics” payroll that social media is sure exists but writing this book is expensive so… Taylor… I will stop blogging about you for at least five years for a cool million (post tax). Just PayPal me or something.
