Superstardom is a strange thing – something most of us don’t and might never understand. As people, we experience varying degrees of being perceived, managing expectations, and sometimes falling short of what others’ ideas of us might look like in their heads. People like Taylor simply experience this phenomenon in exaggerated levels. We can never know for sure how different that must feel from our more ordinary, everyday person experiences. But an artist’s art is the closest we can get to putting ourselves in their shoes. In this album, Taylor earnestly encapsulates her experiences as a star and, in the public’s failure to see her work as anything other than a capsule of her own experience, they flatly prove her points.
In the titular track, Taylor professes that most people will never understand what it’s like to be a showgirl. And based on the reactions to the album, most people clearly don’t and don’t care to. It seems people had a very specific idea of what they expected from this album, and when she didn’t meet those expectations, they deemed her work unworthy. Quality-wise, people can be dissatisfied with anything from production to lyrics to aesthetics; this is the nature of music and art more widely. But as far as authenticity goes, this album is, unequivocally, as forthright as any of her previous, more well-received works. Whether people want to hear it is a whole separate thing. And this defense goes not only for her but for most songwriters, in the industry or not.
Creating art is, for many people, a way to process life. If it hits and the quality’s amazing, great. If it doesn’t, that’s why reviews and critiques exist. But most people going viral re: Showgirl don’t seem to be making any meaningful critiques of the art. The thing with Taylor is, with her level of fame, it’s essentially expected that everyone has an opinion about her. If someone doesn’t care much for her art or doesn’t take the time to digest it, they’ll more than likely resort to hating on it when asked – because it’s the more accepted choice right now. Were she a smaller artist, her work could still very much be scrutinized, but the reactions wouldn’t be as extreme.
With that said, here are my thoughts on the album.
As far as production value goes, I couldn’t help but think ‘we’re back to real pop!’ Admittedly, I didn’t listen to most of Taylor’s post-1989 pop releases. The ones I did, I simply wasn’t a fan of (some songs off Lover, some off Midnights). But having Martin and Shellback, well, back as collaborators did something for me. The strings in “Elizabeth Taylor” are immaculate and so masterfully mixed. The 70s-style guitar riffs in “Ruin The Friendship” makes it feel so classic. “Ophelia” and “Opalite” are simply fun, nothing too complicated. “Opalite” reminds me of 1989, very “How You Get the Girl” or “All You Had to Do Was Stay”. And the lyrics are cute, hopeful, in love! There’s a cinematic quality to the title track. “Wood” would be an absolute favorite (disco fan that I am), were it not for some of the lyrics. And on that note!
Lyrical value
The lyrics were one of the main critiques on social media the next day. Many of the lyrics are corny, yes (to the point they knocked several points off some songs for me). But one also needs to remember that’s just Taylor. She’s known to be cringe, ‘quirky’, etc.; it’s part of her whole shtick. So if anyone is waiting on a Taylor album and expecting it to not have some cringe lyrics it’s like… why are you even here. It’s like staying up till midnight waiting on a random country album, then complaining that you don’t like country and the lyrics aren’t relatable (you live in the city). At that point it’s a matter of: you’re not going to find what you’re looking for in here.
A lot of people complained that her old lyrics were better. I argue that the tone of her work has always been around the same. Quality can vary, yes, but even that is subjective. As far as tone goes, Taylor has always had a ‘not like the other girls’ essence. If “You Belong With Me” had come out today, by any artist, everyone would be saying the artist’s trying too hard to be different (“she wears high heels, I wear sneakers”). But in 2008, the ‘not like the other girls’ critique wasn’t a thing yet. So, people liked it. People today still like it, because nostalgia. Taylor continually releases work with a voice similar to back then (she is, ultimately, the same person), but without the veil of nostalgia people can’t look at it the same way. Expectations have changed. Girls can no longer simply be ‘not like the rest’, they have to obscure it. You have to be unique but make it look effortless, nonchalant. Taylor just doesn’t fit the current ideal mold anymore. She’s very chalant.
A more specific critique was that the quality of word choice declined. People pointed to releases like Folklore, with more poetic, classically-written lyrics. Many of those songs sound straight from the pages of a, well, folk songbook. Taylor knows Americana and she does it well. And as far as recent releases go, Folklore and Evermore have come the closest to pleasing everyone. But artists can’t be releasing the same stuff over and over, and Taylor has been known to switch up her genres. Dance-pop lyrics tend to be simpler than folk’s (though not always), and Taylor has mostly followed that pattern.
Elements to an album
On that note, people seem to forget that releases are multidimensional. In albums, you have the lyrics, the actual composition (melodies, chord progressions), the production (choices made in the studio, the quality of sounds, the arrangement), the genre (country, folk, rock, dance), the visual value (accompanying aesthetics, artwork, music videos), and then the cohesiveness of all elements. Keeping that in mind, some albums can be excellent all throughout, while others might only shine in some areas and lack in others. What made Folklore great was not only the lyricism, but the fact that all elements aligned in quality – you had stellar composition, immersive storytelling, an acoustic-heavy soundscape, and a photoshoot in the woods to match. Showgirl, as a whole, is not as even in its quality (lyrics being the main culprit). But it’s also not her worst, by any means.
Many people went into the album with pre-conceived notions. Some Twitter users expected the vibes to match everything from Britney’s “Circus” music video, to Christina’s “Burlesque” performances, and even an Ariana Swarovski ad. One needs to remember Circus was written and produced by people other than Britney (including Dr. Luke) and was made months into her conservatorship, potentially rendering the art less reflective of Britney’s experiences as an artist and person. “Burlesque” is a movie, and the Swarovski ad is a literal advertisement, leaning into tropes that make it palatable for viewers. It seems that people heard “showgirl,” and they expected a literal, cartoon-like depiction. They wanted something they were already familiar with.
The story of an artist
But Taylor has been known to take full creative control of her projects. And though she could’ve chosen to depict a more theatrical version of “showgirl” throughout*, as an artistic move, she chose to portray her real experiences instead. People ask “where are the showgirl vibes?” and they’re, for one, everywhere in the accompanying visuals. They’re in the “Elizabeth Taylor“ lyrics, in-your-face nodding to a Hollywood star who had seven husbands, eight marriages. They’re in “Father Figure,“ dramatizing Taylor’s self-perceptions as a major actor in the industry. They’re, obviously, in the title track. As for the songs that don’t scream “Hollywood”: anything Taylor experiences, conveys, communicates is showgirl, because she is one.
And Taylor isn’t new to writing about fame. She’s been reflecting on stardom as early as “The Lucky One” and “Nothing New,” circa Red-era. There was “Shake It Off,” an early miss, lyrically, that notoriously dealt with the public’s scrutiny of her personal life. I would imagine much of Reputation touches on those themes too (take this from a casual fan who’s never heard the album in full). There’s “The Man” and “mad woman,” drawing on her experiences as a woman in the public eye. Most recently, I was made aware of her Clara Bow-inspired song (TTPD is a long album that I also never heard in full, but I digress). Much like “Elizabeth Taylor,” “Clara Bow” is a nod to the fame struggles of the classic Hollywood age. If people wanted showgirl, they could have looked in her existing releases. But most people complaining don’t actually seem to care.
Closing thoughts
Everything Taylor does is showgirl. What sets this album apart from her previous ones is it leans entirely into that persona, making the album, in a very meta and self-fulfilling way, as cohesive as it can be. This is, in essence, the life of Taylor Swift. The release, rollout, and even reception of the album all fall in line with what she details in her writing. She explores vulnerable themes, as an artist would; she couples the album with a 3-day theatrical release and a million “versions”, as a businesswoman would; the audience isn’t super receptive and she faces initial backlash, as superstars sometimes do. It’s all her. Even taking off points owing to some trite lyrics and the few musically disastrous tracks (“Wi$h Li$t,” ”Cancelled,” “Honey”), it remains a solid project by my standards. Also, the very fact that I even anticipated and listened to it tells me she did something much better, from a marketing perspective, compared to her last few releases – it created major hype beyond her core fanbase.
The album will likely gain more acceptance as time goes by, as the initial extreme reactions soften, and people admit that most of these songs are simply fun, catchy pop, coming from a seasoned artist who takes creative control of everything from the visuals to the marketing to the performances. The ultimate showgirl, if you will.
*Most of this review, except for the conclusion, was written before watching the “release party” movie. Having seen the “Ophelia” music video, it’s clear that the showgirl vibes the public was asking for were always there; they just hadn’t seen the visual accompaniment yet. Watching it only solidified the fact, for me, that the album is thematically cohesive. I also gained a new appreciation for “Ophelia,” lyrically and as a composition, having mostly overlooked the song on the first listen.
