On Oct. 3, Taylor Swift released her new album “The Life of a Showgirl.” It includes twelve songs, each with its own unique story.
The title song of the album features guest singer Sabrina Carpenter. Swift also released one music video for the first song on the album, “The Fate of Ophelia.”
To celebrate the album, theaters hosted a release party the weekend of Oct. 3. The film showcased the production of the music video and played each song in the album while Swift appeared on screen to talk about them. Fans learned the background of the album and Swift’s inspiration for her work.
“I kind of wanted to match the framing ideally to the album cover and kind of just frame it exactly like that, so that people are like, oh, so the cover is a reference to the Ophelia painting, and this ending is a reference to the cover. So it’s art history for pop fans,” Swift said while working on the music video.
The two most heavily featured songs, “The Fate of Ophelia” and the title song “The Life of a Showgirl,” are very catchy. It’s easy to see why they are the most marketable songs on the album. They are upbeat and radio-worthy.
“Right now, all these different ways in which, over time periods, historically, you could be a showgirl, right? Like how, how they would be, how you would be in the public eye back during the 1800s when you’d sit for a pre-Raphaelite painting. Or you could be a showgirl by, you know, being a cabaret burlesque club performer,” Swift said during her theatrical release party.
Many of her songs have clear messages behind them, but “Honey,” “Father Figure” and “Eldest Daughter” stand out the most for the stories they tell. Swift said her motivation for writing “Honey” was to convey the different ways people use the name, whether genuine or contradictory, which is a relatable topic. “Father Figure” and “Eldest Daughter” share similar messages about Swift taking on a leading, almost maternal role.
“I am the eldest daughter in my family, and I, you know, you talk to other eldest daughters of their family, and you kind of somehow, usually have a very similar experience with the world and with fear and with feeling like you have to sort of do it all, and these kind of issues with like the constant quest for perfectionism, almost to the point where you can get in your own way,” Swift said.
Some of the songs lose their messages to the tune of the music. The beats sound hypno-pop-like and don’t convey as much feeling as the others. These songs include “Opalite,” “Wish List” and “Actually Romantic.”
Overall, Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” offers a variety of sound and emotion. Many elements are meaningful, while others don’t seem as deep.
