Album Review: Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” is simply not that great

Introduction

Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, has polarized many fans. While many dedicated Taylor Swift fans show their admiration for the album, videos on different social media platforms suggest otherwise. Songs such as CANCELLED and Patient Zero have garnered mixed reviews. While the discord online has prompted many people to listen to the album in its entirety, I would like to take a nuanced take on her newest album. I, for one, am not a Swiftie fan. Despite the marginalized opinions on her album, I am simply reacting to two things: the lyrics of her songs and the instrumentals that come with it.

​The Review

The album starts with the song called The Fate of Ophelia. The drum intro is very reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s introduction to Rock with You. In turn, the drum immediately turns to a mini piano interlude. The song has a very catchy tune to it, as well as a story that intertwines with it. Taylor writes about her connection with the tragic character of one of Shakespeare’s characters named Ophelia from his play Hamlet. She alludes to Ophelia as a naive character who is born into a noble heritage. She sings about a character that saves her from the fate of Ophelia, which refers to Shakespeare’s character dying from grief and heartbreak due to Hamlet’s actions. With that, it’s a pretty catchy song that sounds like an average Taylor Swift song.

Another notable song that I enjoyed is Opalite. While the lyrics are pretty uplifting, the chorus is pretty good. While the entire song is very pop-esque, it’s one of those songs where it’s easy to listen to.

Father Figure is rather different. One of the notable things that I have noticed with this album is the switch from pop music to a dark, romantic atmosphere in its musicality. With Father Figure, she sings about being a father figure and their immense power over the listener. She sings about taking up a protege and essentially, raising them. With that, she alludes to the immense power differences between Taylor and the listener. It has a different vibe from the other songs, but it is a pretty solid song. It is very reminiscent of her song Blank Space

Unfortunately, that’s where my praises end. Most of Taylor’s music throughout the entire album has been a no for me for some things. I will start off my review with Actually Romantic. The lyrics are very reminiscent of teenage me listening to punk songs, due to Actually Romantic being reminiscent of other punk songs. Unfortunately, the song simply revolves around a boy and a bad relationship with one another. Taylor Swift frames herself as a “pick me” girl, singing about her boyfriend’s actions clearly disrespecting her. Lyrically, it’s not strong. It simply disappointed me that punk-ish rock music only pertains to a girl “loving” her boyfriend who only treats her like dirt.

Then, there is Wi$h Li$t. There are many people having mixed reactions to this song and when I listened to it, I understood why. While the lyrics do contrast the life that many people want, Taylor Swift is the farthest person you can think of for lacking anything. She sings about her life, wanting to be with someone and starting a family with them. Respectfully, it’s an ok song. Perhaps it’s Swift singing this that gives the wrong impression of a billionaire singing about wanting a family life while having the means to do so. Still, the lyrics are ok. Musically, it’s also ok, but not the best.

Lastly, the most-reacted-to songs from the album: CANCELLED and Patient Zero. I can only listen to so many songs on an album until I get tired of listening to them. If CANCELLED did not make me pause my music and get up from my seat, Patient Zero ultimately caused me to. The lyrics for CANCELLED were pretty funny when listening to it, probably because I would not expect Taylor Swift to sing about “girl-bossing too close to the sun” before.

Afterwards, I could only take so much of the song before switching it off. After a while, I completed the song and ended up listening to Patient Zero. This song was the very song that made me want to listen to the album because I simply could not believe a song would divide the Swifties. While listening to the song, I can see the appreciation of Taylor comparing herself to Patient Zero with her love life. The other side of the negative coin is that the song is bad. I can see why many people online have speculated that the song was created through AI because of its lack of musicality. It is also a song that I simply could not get through and wanted it to end.

For the other songs, I simply stopped listening to Cleveland! Because it was simply unlistenable. Afterwards, I simply had to listen to The Replacements to relieve my brain.

Final Thoughts

With that, my thoughts are this. There are some banger songs from this album; I will admit to that. One of the more funnier songs that I found was Wood, simply for the fact that it talks about her current husbands’, Travis Kelce, “wood.” There is also The Fate of Ophelia that I find to be a great song and even Elizabeth Taylor grew on me. Otherwise, it was near the end of the album that the quality of the music started to dwindle for me. As such, the entire album would be a 6.5/10 on my scale. It is an enjoyable album for those songs, but it is not her best album. If you are interested in listening, you can listen to her album on any streaming service.