Has Taylor Swift lost her touch?

Taylor Swift, praised for her poetic lyrics and original composition, may have released an album that is more criticized than it is loved. Her twelfth studio album, not including her four re-records, “The Life of a Showgirl” is about Swift being in love and where she is in life right now. 

Swift’s writing in the past has been highly regarded, with lyrics like “Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire / Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons / One single thread of gold tied me to you” from Invisible String. Now, it seems that she’s trying too hard to relate to her younger fans and overuse gen-z and gen alpha slang. 

Lots of the lyrics in “The Life of a Showgirl” are very cringey and very tasteless. And the whole album has much less poetic lyricism than in past albums. It makes fans wonder if she’s losing her touch. 

Swift had mentioned prior to the release that this record is a sister-album to 1989 and Reputation. The vibes are definitely pointing towards 1989, but doesn’t compare to either in the world of lyricism.

It also seems like lots of the music has samples from many existing songs. It left me wondering if there is any original music in the album.

The album had no singles released prior to the album coming out, so fans didn’t know what to expect. Social media was quickly filled with negative comments about both the lyrics and music. Some Swifties that don’t want to admit she wrote a bad album even claim the album is satire. 

The songs with the most negative reviews are “Wi$h Li$t” and “CANCELLED”, the album’s eighth and tenth tracks. 

“Wi$h Li$t,” is about Swift wishing for a private, picket-fence life with her new fiancee. This song was met with criticism because it sounds like she’s out of touch. Multiple comments on TikTok talked about how their wish lists would include healthcare and rent money, but Swift’s just includes some kids and dogs with her fiancee. One person commented “this whole song is insane coming from a billionaire.”

Lots of people are also overreacting, claiming that Swift’s lyrics, “Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you,” are racist. The claims come from people looking for any excuse to criticize Swift. 

“CANCELLED” criticizes cancel culture, trying to highlight that people get cancelled over the most absurd things. While the song could be a good idea, it was not executed well. She is trying too hard to sound edgy and trendy, two things that don’t always mix well. “Did you girl-boss too close to the sun?” is arguably one of the worst lines Swift has ever written. It doesn’t match the image she has made for herself, and it sounds so chronically online and off-putting. After hearing this, I wouldn’t have been shocked if she had used terms like “rizz” or even “skibidi.”

It isn’t all bad, though. There are some good songs and good reviews. “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite” definitely outshine the rest. 

“The Fate of Ophelia” references the story of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. Swift writes about being saved from Ophelia’s unfortunate ending. It’s a very upbeat and romantic song and some of the lyrics are really nice, like, “Locked inside my memory / And only you possess the key”. It has far more positive comments than negative, and rightly so. 

“Opalite” is also very upbeat. It’s about finding happiness after difficult experiences, and having to “make your own sunshine.” While there have been some rumors about Swift attacking her fiancee’s ex in the song, it’s a pretty far reach.

Sabrina Carpenter also had a feature on the album on the title track “The Life of a Showgirl (Ft. Sabrina Carpenter).” Carpenter opened for Swift during the Eras tour, and they sang together. Fans had been anticipating a collaboration between them for a while. But, it isn’t what people expected. The reviews are pretty split, with some great comments and some criticism saying that Swift shouldn’t have collaborated with Carpenter because she sounds like a far worse singer compared to Carpenter. 

I don’t think the song is bad, it’s actually within my top five on the album. There aren’t any lyrics that stand out as bad. There are a few cliches, but many songs have cliches. It doesn’t make it any worse. 

There are also some songs that don’t stand out as good or bad like “Wood” and “Honey.” There isn’t much that stands out, and I think that makes the album worse, because songs that aren’t bad but aren’t good aren’t going to compare to the amount of incredible songs she has. “The Life of a Showgirl” simply does not reach the bar Swift has set for herself.

Overall, the album is not a great one. It is almost definitely Swift’s worst album. But, that doesn’t mean that it has no redeeming qualities. I will not be spending money collecting the million different vinyl records and CD variants, but there are some songs I’ve added to my playlist.