“Good thing I like my friends cancelled,” Taylor Swift sings in “CANCELLED!” off her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” What Swift likely didn’t expect, though, was to be cancelled herself over the album.
Swift released “The Life of a Showgirl” Oct. 3 to much fanfare, with eight different vinyl versions and three talk show appearances. However, many of Swift’s fans, nicknamed “Swifties,” have criticized Swift for the quality of the album itself lacking in comparison to the elaborate era. TikTok users have nicknamed “The Life of a Showgirl” as “The Life of Capitalism” due to the expansive marketing.
“The Life of a Showgirl” is a sharp turnaround from Swift’s previous album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which had more melancholy lyrics and production. However, some Swifties have pointed out that the new album marks a return to Swift’s more pop-focused, fun albums.
Addy Al-Saigh ’27, the president of the College of William and Mary’s Taylor Swift Club, explained that despite her impression of the album as different from “The Tortured Poets Department,” it wasn’t a bad switch.
“Some of the songs, at first listen, let me down a little bit,” Al-Saigh said. “And then, as I kept listening to them, I realized, okay, wait, I actually like this. I thought it was really fun.”
Campbell Tidwell ’27 mentioned that she typically dislikes most of Taylor Swift’s albums at first, and “The Life of a Showgirl” was no exception. However, the album has grown on her in the weeks since its release.
“I think she just becomes too big of a public figure and people get sick of it,” Tidwell said. “It’s kind of a phase and with this album, true critiques of it will come out later.”
The main distinction between Swift’s previous albums and “The Life of a Showgirl” has been the lyricism. Both Tidwell and Al-Saigh mentioned the song “Eldest Daughter” as having a chorus that included pop culture language, coming across as cringeworthy rather than cool. While Al-Saigh has continued to skip the song, Tidwell came around to the song as an intentional satire to Swift being a quintessential millennial.
Leah Perlman ’28 has been a longtime fan of Swift and noticed a switch in how she approaches album releases over the past few years.
“I hate how she has abandoned lyricism and music being the priority in favor of an intentionally crafted and marketable ‘era’ being the first thing, and the music is afterthought,” Perlman said.
Perlman cites albums since “Midnights” as the beginning of Swift’s era-focused approach, where the songs began feeling like “advertisements” rather than pieces of art that could stand alone. For previous albums, the marketing for an album followed the natural aesthetics of the songs.
“The songs were clearly a creative outlet for personal expression, then after everything was written, she curated the era,” Perlman said.
“The Life of a Showgirl” marks a departure from Swift’s usual depth in lyrics despite the publicity for the album, where Swift stated it would be a mixture of the best parts of her previous albums.
Although some of Swift’s fans have critiqued her based on the quality of the album, the backlash has taken a political turn. Some critics have highlighted a piece of Swift’s merchandise, a silver necklace with lightning bolts referencing her song “Opalite.” They see the symbol as mirroring Nazi imagery, namely the SS’s lightning bolt insignia. The merchandise was pulled from Swift’s website recently following the backlash.
Al-Saigh referenced criticism of another song, “Wi$h Li$t,” for its heteronormative lyrics. Users across social media have begun referring to Swift as a “tradwife.” Swift sings about not wanting a fancy life, just settling down with her loved ones and building a family in the lines, “I just want you / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you.”
Swift has been a role model for young girls for years, with a mixture of breakup songs and songs addressing the specific issues women face throughout their lives. With her recent engagement to Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, her music has become less relatable to many girls, drawing accusations of Swift moving closer to traditional values.
Meanwhile, Tidwell disagreed with linking political values to Swift’s increasingly domestic lifestyle.
“If you’re not interested in learning the full context in which an artist has written a song, then maybe you need to think twice before critiquing that song, especially if you are assigning political views to it that don’t align with what the artist’s public political views are,” Tidwell said.
Tidwell’s main issue with “The Life of a Showgirl” isn’t the content of the album, it’s what is missing. Swift has not spoken about political events since her endorsement of Kamala Harris in September 2024. Tidwell referenced Swift’s lack of action in comparison to artists such as Hayley Williams, whose recent release “True Believer” commented on the continued racism and traditional beliefs in the American South.
“The Life of a Showgirl” focused prominently on Swift’s relationship with Kelce and her dynamics with other female artists in the industry. However, Tidwell thinks Swift’s status as a white billionaire puts her in a position where her political opinions may draw controversy, but would give credibility to activists speaking against the same issues.
“She is in a place where she could safely do that, and that’s not gonna get her fired,” Tidwell said. “I think it’s just what you’re willing to give for what’s right.”
However, a common idea among Swifties is that while the release of “The Life of a Showgirl” doesn’t reflect well on Swift’s discography, personal critiques have crossed the line.
“People can so easily forget that celebrities are real people, especially one of Taylor’s status,” Al-Saigh said. “Have your opinions about the album. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But trying to make this woman a villain is not what we should be doing.”
