Kallen Hansen | The Chronicle
Album Review
A year and a half after introducing her fans to poetry through lyricism in The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album The Life of a Show Girl filled with iconic and upbeat hits falling into a category Swifties like to call “glitter-gel pen” songs.
Her lead single “The Fate of Ophelia” starts the album strong with hopeful messages and music production that makes you want to get up and dance before you’re even 13 seconds in. The album remains upbeat, with the occasional heartbreak anthem in the midst of songs portraying the true, pure, and honest love she says she now finds herself in with her recent engagement to the infamous Travis Kelce.
Additionally, Taylor gives her listeners more insight into what it’s like to take the stage with a large audience watching her every move. She enlists help from the quickly rising popstar Sabrina Carpenter in the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which emphasized the cons of being the center of attention.
Though it can be argued the album isn’t as “lyrically inclined” as past projects, the return of old friends and producers Max Martin and Shellback breathe life into these stories with the backing music that makes the album as magical as it is. This is the life of a showgirl.
