Taylor Swift released her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl (TLOAS) (2025) on Oct. 3, and to the surprise of no one, the internet has some very big feelings about it. The usual haters are claiming that this is Swift’s worst album yet, but there’s also Swifties who enjoy the album for what it is: a fun time. As part of the latter category, here’s my take on some of its most notable tracks.
My personal favourite TLOAS song is its opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia.” Arguably the song that the whole album revolves around, it’s also the only one off the album to have its own music video. By drawing parallels from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600) and Sir John Everett Millais’ famous “Ophelia” (1852) painting to her own life, Swift adds an extra layer of depth to the deeply romantic and catchy song via these allusions, making it the strongest song on the album from a lyrical standpoint.
“The Fate of Ophelia” is presumably about Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce, a football player for the Kansas City Chiefs. The song’s opening lyrics, “I heard you calling on the megaphone / You wanna see me all alone,” match the beginning of Swift and Kelce’s relationship perfectly, which started after Kelce lamented on his New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce (2022-) podcast about not being able to meet Swift after a Kansas City performance of The Eras Tour.
If “The Fate of Ophelia” isn’t the album’s central song, a close runner-up is its title track, “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter),” Showcasing Swift’s storytelling skills, the song tells the tale of a showgirl named Kitty who warns the speaker against pursuing a life in the spotlight. My favourite part of this song is definitely the satisfying way that Carpenter’s crisp voice compliments Swift’s softer vocals.
Ironically, my second favourite song off the album is also its second track. “Elizabeth Taylor” is an undeniably strong song from a musical perspective, featuring heart-pounding drops and satisfying rhythms. Given the return of Max Martin and Shellback as producers for the album, who also worked on Swift’s tracks “22” from her Red (2012) album and “Blank Space” from her 1989 (2014) album, it’s unsurprising that TLOAS would include such strong songs rooted in pop.
As for which track is third place in my heart, that goes to “CANCELLED!” Seriously, this song is so hard-hitting that fans have speculated that it’s secretly a vault track from Swift’s reputation (2017) album.
Regardless, “CANCELLED!” proves yet another example of the kind of addictive music that can come out of Swift’s work with Martin and Shellback. And from a vocal standpoint, Swift’s hypnotic voice when she sings “I like ‘em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal / Like my whiskey sour, and poison thorny flowers” just perfectly scratches an itch in my brain.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the track that most listeners are talking about, and that’s “Wood.” With NSFW lyrics like “His love was the key that opened my thighs” and suggestive wordplay like “cocky,” “hard rock,” “your magic wand,” and “New Heights of manhood,” the immature child in me absolutely loves this song.
While I do consider myself an avid Swiftie, that doesn’t mean I think Swift’s music can’t have flaws. As vividly addictive as “Wi$h Li$t” is, one lyric has bothered me since the album’s release: “I thought I had it right, once, twice, but I did not.” Even though I know Swift was looking for a rhyme for “hot,” the redundant “I did not” sticks out like a sore thumb and makes the Creative Writing student in me cringe.
Following in the footsteps of others including “All Too Well” from Red and “Dear John” from Speak Now (2010), “Eldest Daughter” from TLOAS sticks true to Swift’s pattern of having her albums’ fifth tracks be the most emotional. The song features a powerful bridge with impactful piano ballads conveying true vulnerability, but more than that, Swift’s lyrics simply punched me in the gut from the first chorus to the final line.
As usual, whenever Swift releases an album, the internet is divided on its quality. This time, the criticism seems to largely stem from the album’s lyrics, claiming that Swift isn’t as good of a songwriter when she’s happily in-love. Look, as someone who was there when Swift’s arguably most depressing album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY (2024) was released and also got a bunch of hate, I think it’s safe to say that no matter what Swift does, she’s going to get backlash for it. While haters are busy hating, I’ll be over here shamelessly jamming to Swift’s discography for about the hundredth time.
