by Trần Thy Vân

A year after the launch of her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift released “The Life of a Showgirl” on October 3rd, 2025. Once again, it sparked tsunamis of debates online—one side arguing that the album reflects Taylor’s healed version, while the others argue that it lacked “true lyricism” compared to her past works.

"The Life of a Showgirl" is a pop and soft rock album produced by Max Martin and Shellback—inspired by her relationship with football player Travis Kelce and the Eras Tour. It's a vibrant, infectiously joyful, and lively display of themes of self-triumph, navigating love, and true happiness.

As expected, "The Life of a Showgirl" mounted to the tops of numerous album charts across North and South America, Europe, and Pacific-Asia. It also broke numerous records in the music industry—such as in the United States, where it broke the record for the fastest-selling album ever, surpassing "25" by Adele with a 101,500 margin. In addition, "The Life of a Showgirl" now holds the record of having the most vinyl sales in history as well, with over a million sold during the first week. As for streaming apps and platform ratings, Taylor Swift continues to dominate the top 10 rankings of the Billboard Top 100 with each new release. "The Fate of Ophelia" stands tall on top of the list, with Opalite in 4th place and Elizabeth Taylor in 8th. Spotify also acknowledged her song, "The Fate of Ophelia," to have the most daily and weekly streams out of every existing song on the app. Music critics at The Irish Times wholeheartedly praised the album and left a review of 5/5 stars, alongside Rolling Stone. The Times and Popmatters also fell in love and rated it 9/10 and 4/5.

In contrast, "The Life of a Showgirl" received as much criticism and disappointment as praise. Swifties predicted the album to have jazzy, 1920s Burlesque Las Vegas vibes, shown in the cover and title. What seemed to be a musical theatre kid's dream…turned out to be a millennial trying to fit in with Gen Z and make tracks that are specifically for 15-second shorts. General negative reviews from The Colgate Maroon News and The Stanford Daily for Taylor's new albums include: "The lyrics often fall into shallow, tongue-in-cheek attempts at sexiness or wit that don’t quite land." "The Life of a Showgirl” is riddled with innuendo and vulgarity." "Swift has proven she can make a masterful pop album with both good beats and strong lyricism, yet does not showcase that skill on her newest album." Furthermore, music critics on AnyDecentMusic? rated the album a 6/10, while The Guardian and The London Standard gave lower reviews, from 2/5 stars to 1/5 stars.

Overall, "The Life of a Showgirl" is not a terrible album; it's just not what Swifties have come to expect of the themes and of Taylor's abilities. While it broke world records of renowned artists and marked Taylor's first steps to healing, critics say it also lacked substance and "didn't feel like she wrote any of the lyrics." Reflecting on the release of this album, maybe what she needs is not another extravagant world tour—she needs time to craft an album with actual finesse.

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