At 11 p.m. on Oct. 3, I was ecstatic.
Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” had just been released.
The overall vibe of this album was like no other.
The jewels, the glitter, the ’50s outfits with Taylor’s modern twists, the teasers… I could go on for hours about the marketing of this album and how the unique and eccentric energy drew people in.
But did the excellent show-off of this album come back to bite Taylor?
I was thrilled for these songs to bless my ears.
But when I opened my Spotify account to listen, I was repulsed.
For someone who had a huge obsession with Swift and her work during my freshman year, you would think I wouldn’t be so harsh, and I would defend her with my life, like many other fans are doing.
However, this album was so bad that I couldn’t stand to even listen to all of the songs the whole way through.
The only decent song is “CANCELLED!”
“Opalite” and “The Fate of Ophelia” are a little catchy, but still very corny like the rest.
I hate to say it, but it’s obvious that Taylor is on a bit of a success high from the Eras Tour and “The Tortured Poets Department,” which people either love or hate.
After listening to the album, I scrolled through TikTok live streams to see that my opinion was similar to many – people are very disappointed.
Taylor has gotten so much positive support from her work for her past five albums.
TTPD was some of her best work, which could be one of many reasons why this album was such a let-down.
It sounds like a bad parody of TTPD with different colors and a third of the songs.
She tried to make up fake stories and names like she had done with Folklore and TTPD, but it didn’t work out the way Swift intended.
“Elizabeth Taylor” could never compete with songs like “betty,” “Clara Bow,” etc..
All of this to say, it’s still a good album.
Just not for Taylor.
Taylor still exceeds millions of songwriters and their work daily.
She is a brilliant lyricist, and despite this absolute miss of an album, she is still one of the greatest of all time.