“The Life of a Showgirl” is Taylor Swift’s 12th album that goes deeper behind the scenes and less of the performance. She works with producers Shellback and Max Martin to get the album out on the third of October. The album uses pop/soft rock and hints of ‘80s disco.
The album consists of 12 songs, her most popular being the first three: “The Fate of Ophelia”, “Elizabeth Taylor” and “Opalite.”
There are already a lot of controversies and negativity going towards the album since it came out. People are pointing out microaggressions, lyrical criticism, and lack of authenticity.
The first track of the album, “The Fate of Ophelia,” makes people wonder if Swift really understood the Hamlet play by Shakespeare. In the song, she romanticizes Ophelia’s life and talks about her own relationship with her fiance, Travis Kelce.
Ophelia’s character portrays how women in her society were affected by the patriarchy and how Ophelia herself was ruined and controlled by the men in her life, including her lover, Hamlet.
Swift sings about how Kelce saved her from the fate of Ophelia, which leaves you wondering if she sees Kelce as the Hamlet of her story, who saved her, or if because of Kelce coming into her life, she was saved from the same fate of Ophelia by not being driven to madness by men.
This song is a fan favorite because of the catchy hook and her strong vocals.
The next track on the album, “Elizabeth Taylor,” is my favorite due to how we see into Swift’s fears. Elizabeth Taylor is a late Hollywood actress who Swift sees as a fellow showgirl, who also is known for her loud and complicated dating history.
The album is supposed to go into the hidden sides of being a showgirl, and in this song we see some of Swift’s true feelings that sway due to her lifestyle. She wonders if love could really be forever and the impact of her past relationships.
Swift also sings about how society and the music industry view her by using lyrics like: “Be my NY when Hollywood hates me” and “You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby.”
A lot of people like this song due to Swift’s vulnerability and expression of fame and anxiety. It also has many tributes to the late actress within the song.
The third most popular song and also the third song on the album is “Opalite,” which has quickly become problematic. The track describes the journey of finding the right people and touches on her feelings about her past relationships.
Swift has also been seen connecting her exes to different colors, and opalite is commonly used as a calm color as well as opal being Kelce’s birthstone.
She also compares “onyx night” and “opalite skies” to represent the light and calm feeling in her current relationship versus her dark and cloudy feeling about her past relationships.
Swift has admitted “The Life of a Showgirl” is about her relationship with fiance Kelce. The album has sparked controversy, including his dating history, allegations of microaggression, and underlying meanings.
Swift is a popular artist and is commonly associated with leaving hidden messages and Easter eggs in her work, so it’s not shocking that people have speculated about her lyrics and intent.
This can also cause wonder of how no one caught these theories, with what you can only assume to be a large production team.
Swift has a net worth of $2.1 billion dollars following the “Eras” tour.
She has an extremely wealthy lifestyle, and it proves in a few of her lyrics where she mentions aspects such as a 5-star French hotel and luxury brands like Cartier and Gucci. One of her signature strengths is connecting with her audience through feeling, but her show of wealth in this album is hard to find relatable.
In her song “Wi$h Li$t,” Swift waters down her money and even her achievements and instead says: “I just want you.” This is a recurring trend in the album, where it seems as though Swift is playing into a stereotypical housewife role, which makes me inclined to believe this is because of her public engagement.
Lyrics like: “Have a couple kids,” and “Honey, I’m home, we can play house,” support this idea.
Swift is easily ranked as number one in the pop-genre, and her reducing how big her achievements are might hint at it if Swift has plans of retiring soon in hopes of living a normal family life.
While ranked as number one, she still manages to put other pop artists down, seen in “Opalite,” it is believed that she makes a comment towards Kelce’s ex-girlfriend, who already gets a lot of hate for dating Kelce in the past, and as far as the public knows, she would have no relation to Swift apart from Kelce.
In “Father Figure,” Swift talks about how mentorship can become betrayal, and people speculate that this is about other pop artists who looked up to Swift.
Again in “Actually Romantic,” where Swift criticizes women who don’t like her, claiming it’s romantic and even obsessive about how they talk about her.
Swift sings throughout the album in ways that seems as though she is belittling other women, despite how wealthy and powerful she is; fans, and myself included, are uncomfortable with Swift’s need to put others down.
The final piece of public theorizing is about the authenticity of the songs. Some of the tracks sound similar to other popular songs.
Whether you love or hate the new album, it is hard to deny the controversies that Swift has sparked. She shows us the colors of a true controversial artist.
