Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl

For the TL;DR crowd: Mega-success and love have not ruined Taylor Swift – she can still churn out the bops and bangers, the upbeat and cheeky tone is an antidote to our dark times.

Taylor Swift didn’t resonate with me until her album 1989 (released in 2014). And I only got into that because of the Ryan Adams cover of the album. Once on the bandwagon, I have not gotten off. I am not obsessive enough to be considered a Swifty, but I am definitely a fan. I don’t fit the stereotypical demographic as a 66-year-old male who primarily listens to Americana, jam bands, indie rock, and jazz. However, I do have a soft spot for the occasional pop star, such as Swift, Gaga, and Madonna.

I was concerned about The Life of a Showgirl. Would the massive success of the Eras Tour and the Travis Kelce romance ruin her art? The good news is no. The new album is sparkling pop music at its finest. Swift wrote and produced “The Life of a Showgirl” with mega-producers Max Martin and Shellback, marking the duo’s first collaboration since “Reputation“ (2017). They were also responsible for the big tracks in 1989 (“Blank Spaces,” “Shake It Off,” and “Bad Blood”).

The album opens with “The Fate of Ophelia,” which is dance pop, or as we oldsters call it, disco. This is a Travis Song – the opening line: “I heard you callin’ on the megaphone” is a reference to him using his platform as a famous NFL player and podcaster to get a date with Swift. The title refers to William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, where Ophelia goes insane and commits suicide by drowning herself after her father’s death. The song suggests Travis saved Swift from this fate. Swift is promoting this as the album’s first single, and it is, as the kids say, a banger.

“Elizabeth Taylor” has a singer-songwriter vibe, and I interpret it to be a recognition that Tay and Big Yeti are the biggest celebrity couple since Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

The “Opalite” sound is a nod to late 1970s Fleetwood Mac (hopefully Taylor and Travis have a better fate than Stevie and Lindsey). Opalite is a milky, iridescent glass substitute for genuine opals. This is another Travis song (Easter egg alert: the opal is Travis’ birthstone) – after a bunch of failed relationships, this is the one: “Never met no one like you before.”

“Father Figure” is a nod to George Michael (it contains an interpolation of “Father Figure,” a 1987 song written and performed by George Michael). The song appears to be about her nemesis, former record label CEO Scott Borchetta, whom she equates to a mafioso. However, Taylor gets the last laugh: “You made a deal with this devil, turns out my dick’s bigger” – I assume this is a reference to Taylor gaining control of her catalog.

“Eldest Daughter” has a classic Swift sound with a sparse piano-focused arrangement. On Amazon Music, Taylor has a commentary introduction to each of the songs. On this one, she says:

“It’s a love song about kind of the roles that we play in our public life, because nowadays everyone has a public life. You have a life that you portray to other people or what you portray on social media, and then you have the you that everyone gets to know who has earned the right to be closest to you. And it’s really hard to be sincere publicly because that’s not really what our culture rewards. People reward you for being like tough and unbothered and like too busy to care. And you may be that about some things, but everyone has things that matter to them and people that matter to them. This song really kind of gets to the heart of when someone gets close enough to you to earn your trust, that’s when you can admit to them that you actually really do care about some things.”

“Ruin The Friendship” features a fantastic bass line, classic Taylor, making it easy to sway and sing along to. I love the flutter pop vocal. Per Taylor, the song is about “the idea of if you told this person you had feelings for them or if you kissed this person, you might ruin the friendship. And it kind of goes back in time and, and explores what really would have been so bad about that.” The key lyric: “Should’ve kissed you anyway.”

“Actually Romantic” is a signature Taylor diss track about someone who is insulting toward you, and the comeback troll is suggesting their bile is actually a sign of how infatuated they are with you. According to the internet, the song is a response to Charli xcx, who has called Swift a “Boring Barbie.”

“It’s actually sweet
All the time you’ve spent on me
It’s honestly wild
All the effort you’ve put in
It’s actually romantic“

“Wi$h Li$t” – after all the fame and fortune, the song’s narrator just wants a mundane life, married with kids living in the suburbs.

“I just want you, huh
Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us thе fuck alone, and they do, wow
Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list)
I just want you“

“Wood” evokes the Jackson 5, but the lyrics are not so innocent. It is cheeky and filled with sexual humor:

“Forgive me, it sounds cocky
He ah-matized me and opened my eyes
Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see
His love was the key that opened my thighs”

CANCELLED! is typical rock star complaining – it is tough to be on top. Musically, it has a Lady Gaga vibe. The chorus says it all:

“Good thing I like my friends cancelled
I like ’em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal
Like my whiskey sour
And poison thorny flowers
Welcome to my underworld
Where it gets quite dark
At least you know exactly who your friends are
They’re the ones with matching scars“

“Honey” can be a term of endearment, but it can also be used as a weapon. Taylor plays with that contradiction. Apparently, Travis is the good honey.

“You can call me ‘Honey’ if you want because I’m the one you want
I’m the one you want
You give it different meaning, ’cause you mean it when you talk”

“The Life of a Showgirl” (featuring Sabrina Carpenter) is Taylor’s commentary on show business. It is a hard life, but: “And now I know the life of a showgirl, babe / Wouldn’t have it any other way” Per Taylor:

“It is the story of a fictional showgirl named Kitty and how my character in the song goes to see her perform and is completely inspired by her. But rather than responding with, like, fakeness, she tells it like it is. And she kind of warns me off of this lifestyle because it’s much more than just the glitter and the glamour. There’s a lot else that comes with it. so it’s kind of an ode to show business and the women who move through those pitfalls and obstacle courses I thought who better to ask to be a part of this song than the ultimate show girl Sabrina Carpenter.”

Overall, The Life of a Showgirl is a success, but it is too early to rank it in her catalog (this post is based on mere 24 hours with the album). I love its upbeat and cheeky tone as an antidote to our dark times. Mega-success and love have not ruined Taylor Swift – she can still churn out the bops and bangers!