Review of 'The Life Of A Showgirl' by Taylor Swift

Taylor sings about penises and rips off Lana Del Rey and The Pixies.

At this point in her career, Taylor is simply too big to fail. She could drop a whole album of fart noises, and the Swifties would still buy all 30+ variants and the subsequent tour would sell out. 

As it stands, The Life Of A Showgirl is not just fart noises. Neither is it a wishy-washy 31-track slog like her last album, The Tortured Poet's Department. Instead we get a lean 12 tracks and a fair amount of musical variety. There are seductive synthpop songs like opener ‘The Fate of Ophelia’. There are cheeky disco-flavoured numbers like ‘Wood’. We even get some grungy guitar chords in ‘Actually Romantic’.

Unfortunately, however, it’s still not one of Taylor's best. A big reason for this is Taylor’s trademark cringeworthy lyricism. It is refreshing and endearing to hear her singing about being madly in love, but this does result in some cheesy lines like 'you could be my forever night stand'. There's also a surprising amount of penis references on this album, including the jarring line ‘I can make deals with the devil because my dick’s bigger’ on 'Father Figure' and an array of boner innuendos on 'Wood' (the line 'forgive me it sounds cocky/ he ah-matised me and opened by eyes' is particularly awkward. Ah-matised? Is this a self-censored way of saying dick-matised? And if so, why censor the 'dick' when already said the word on 'Father Figure'?).

I think perhaps the most frustrating part of this album however is that the best songs are only decent because she is ripping off other artists. I think 'The Fate of Ophelia' is a good song, but a big part of that is the fact that she's impersonating Lana Del Rey. The guitar chords in 'Actually Romantic' have meanwhile been lifted straight from The Pixies 'Where Is My Mind?'. Great chords, but it's hard not to listen to this song without wishing you were listening to The Pixies.

All in all, it feels like we've reached a late career creative slump, where her best hits are behind her. I do think this album is more varied and complete than TTPD, and she does still showcase a knack for hooky vocal inflections. But the corny lyrics and obvious attempts to copy other artists are often too distracting. 

★★☆☆☆

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