Is Taylor Swift’s ‘Life Of A Showgirl’ Really That Bad?
When not hating on Life of a Showgirl is the ultimate punk thing to do, you know something’s up.
Taylor Swift has never been a critic’s darling. Most of her albums have endured backlashes when they came out, and history would later prove their long-lasting success.
Showgirl, on the other hand, was harshly criticized since the moment it came out — not just from critics, but this time, the fandom itself.
While some still liked the album, complaints range from tone-deaf lyrics, empty promises, and repetitive melodies. Many pointed out that Swift is simply reusing her old material to capitalize on the success of the Eras Tour instead of actually sharing more songs from the Vault.
Before the drop, Showgirl promised vulnerability and behind-the-scenes access to Swift’s life as a celebrity. However, what fans received was a bunch of soft rock tracks with lyrics that rhyme “kitty” with “city”...or that a man is the key to solving a Shakespearean tragedy.
Yeah, we read all the bad reviews and almost everything everyone had to say about Showgirl, and it’s all true to some degree, but there’s only one problem.
Like before, Showgirl is an autobiographical album from Swift, except that this time, she’s actually happy. The tracks were written during the Eras Tour, aka her legacy era, which also coincides with her meeting and falling in love with her now fiancé, Travis Kelce. For the first time, Swift wrote a dick track to celebrate a guy’s manhood. Whether some of the songs are truly about Kelce or not, it really sounds like he lifted her spirits in ways that only people who had this experience would understand.
Taylor Swift is happy, and Showgirl documented this era in her life.
I’m sure if she wrote this album at another time, she’d have something different to say about fame and the music buz, but she didn’t write it at another time. She wrote it during the Eras Tour and kept her subject fairly narrow — her choice, her life, her pain and joy. Showgirl comes out as a celebration and a recognition of her accomplishments. It’s not a dark comeback like Reputation or a launch like 1989 or a quiet retreat like Folklore and Evermore.
There are plenty of documentaries that explore all the ugliness in the industry and how it turns a star into a victim, but that’s not the story Taylor Swift is telling at this time because it’s not where she is now. She built what she has today. She didn’t allow the industry to consume her, define her, or change her story. Her life wasn’t swallowed up by greedy men’s schemes and evil pursuits. She took the helm. She claimed the throne.
And after years of being surrounded by scandals and heartbreaks, she found someone who made her turn a Shakespeare tragedy into a happy song...
Why are we hating on her when all she did was being herself just like before? Are we really that consumed by our misery and suffering that we can’t even bear her happiness?
The sad truth is, perhaps we are or close to be, at this very particular point in history.
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