BY EVIE MASON

The new ‘era’ of TS brings sequins, glamour and bubbly champagne. But does Taylor’s latest album live up to the impossibly high standards the ‘Swifties’ have come to expect of her? The truth is, at least for me – no, it doesn’t. 

Only eight months after the end of the ridiculously successful ‘The Eras Tour’, Taylor Swift has released her latest album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ – and here may be where the first problem lies for me. Part of the fun of Taylor’s music is often the build-up: the suspense, excitement to be immersed in a whole new style and aesthetic. But this time, I didn’t feel much excitement myself or from my friends. It just seemed too soon. Don’t get me wrong, the morning it came out I listened to it when I woke up. However, my usual ‘5am wake up for the release’ alarm was not set. The Swifties have come to expect a lot of Taylor, and possibly too much – it’s not as fun when you’re always expecting more music anyway. 

An album’s online reception, especially from an artist as big as Swift, is everything. Taylor herself has stated in an interview that she ‘has a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art. I’m not the art police’. She seems to be taking any negative feedback in her stride, but it is true that social media will, and has, influenced people’s opinions about anything and everything. And in terms of her album, the consensus seems to be that it’s definitely not her best work – but it gets better after two or three listens. And herein lies my next problem: do you truly like an album if you have to ‘hear it out’ three times? Or have you just convinced yourself? 

Now, these problems I can move on from. When talking about the album itself, individually, it is quite catchy. It’s fun, it’s very pop, it’s a ‘feel good’ album with great visuals and marketing. ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ is great, very catchy, and currently the most popular song from the collection. I have the same opinion on ‘Elizabeth Taylor’ and ‘Opalite’, which I actually think sounds quite Christmas-sy. 

My main issue is this: the lyrics are substandard when looking at the rest of Swift’s discography. Eldest daughter is a good example of this: ‘I’m not a bad bitch/ And this isn’t savage?’ ‘We all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire?’ What happened to the pure poetry of folklore and evermore? I know that an artist needs variety, but maybe she has indeed ‘girl boss[ed] too close to the sun’ (from CANCELLED!) … The lyrics feel like an attempt to remain modern and relevant, to echo the fun and witty lyrics of superstar Sabrina Carpenter, especially when listening to ‘Wood’. But to be honest, Taylor does not need to do this – she has a die-hard, loyal fanbase who adore her music and are seemingly surprised by the unusual lack of poetics from the previous ‘tortured poet’ (persona) herself. The thing is:  I won’t stop wearing my cardigans, listening to evermore on every rainy day or playing Fearless in my car on my way to uni. However, I doubt that I will listening to ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, especially as a whole, very often. But who knows – art is subjective, and changing, and that’s okay. The respect I have for Taylor Swift as an artist, lyricist and performer has not changed, and she most likely will still be up there on my Spotify Wrapped