Album cover for The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift. © 2025 Taylor Swift / Taylor Nation LLC / Republic Records. Used under fair use for review purposes. Source: Wikipedia.
On Oct. 3, America’s famous pop star, Taylor Swift, released her twelfth studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Swift announced the release of the album on her fiancé, Travis Kelce, “New Heights Podcasts” on Aug. 12, 2025. Along with the release of the album, Swift announced that fans could go to their local movie theaters to watch the exclusive world premiere of “The Fate of Ophelia” music video, featuring behind-the-scenes footage, new lyric videos and stories behind each song from the album. This marks the second piece of work Swift put in theaters, along with skyrocketing ticket sales.
The album consists of 12 tracks, with a runtime of approximately 41 minutes. This is Swift’s shortest album she’s released; fans believe it is because she’s so busy and overworking herself. They feel as if she wasn’t able to put enough time and dedication into this album as she did with her previous albums, such as “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology”, released back in 2024, which ran approximately 2 hours and 2 minutes and featured 31 tracks.
Many fans have said that this new era of Swift’s career is vastly different than in the past. The songs presented on this album show a more fun, love-pop side of Swift, rather than her deeper, more poetic projects. Many believe this is because of the recent changes in her life, such as getting engaged to NFL star Travis Kelce.
“She’s engaged, she’s happy,” senior and Taylor Swift superfan Spencer Healy said. “…so I feel like we should celebrate that and not trash her down. It’s all beautiful, it’s just your interpretation and your perspective.”
With this new album, it’s more of an upbeat, theatrical pop album, highlighting the recent joys and successes in Swift’s life. The title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” featuring Sabrina Carpenter, highlights the balance between a public and private life in the spotlight, most likely talking about her infamous Eras Tour that lasted over two years. Multiple tracks, such as “Opalite” and “Honey” are about her fiancé. Many fans are disappointed with the effort put into these songs and think that Kelce is making her songs weaker and less poetic, however, others defended this interpretation with the fact she was heartbroken while writing her previous album, “The Tourtured Poet Department”, she had just got out of a six year relationship, so with this album she was able to express her new joys in life, just like she did in her seventh studio album, “Lover”
Although this album is a different vibe than her previous albums, some songs remind fans of previous albums, like “Lover” and “Reputation”. Songs like “CANCELLED!” and “Actually Romatic” bring back memories to fans of Swift’s sixth studio album, “Reputation”.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s a vibe,” senior Makenna Sekany said. “It reminds me of like ‘Lover’ with a little bit of ‘Reputation’.”
Fans have expressed their personal favorites, specifically through TikTok. Songs like “Eldest Daughter” and the title track “The Life of a Showgirl” have gotten much love for their bridges and the vocals given on the track. Fans loved the mix of Sabrina Carpenter and Swift’s vocals on the title track and how perfectly they fit together. The “Eldest Daughter” expresses Swift’s love for her fiancé, with the lyrics “A beautiful, beautiful time lapse / Ferris wheels, kisses and lilacs” tying in her typical poetic lyrics.
“I think that’s beautiful because it really shows the vulnerability of loving some and how happy it can be,” Healy said, speaking about the bridge of “Eldest Daughter”.
Fans’ feelings have begun to change the longer the album has been out. The love of the new work from Swift is becoming more appreciated and has already hit the top of the charts. Though it may not be some fans’ favorite, they are still showing the love they have for Swift herself.
Many were hoping Swift would go on tour along with the release of the new album, however Swift told BBC Radio 1 on Oct. 3, 2025 that she will not be touring for her new album because she is “so tired” after the Era’s Tour and wanted to make sure she did her next tour “really, really well” when she is not so exhausted.
Fans believe this is definitely not the end of Swift’s career and are excited for what’s to come from her in the future. They are ready to hear her new stories and successes she presents through her music, with hopes to get back to her more poetic, storytelling style. The next question is, what’s next for Swift?
