Taylor Swift has made a huge impact on the music industry. Swift’s chart-topping music has led the path to her 14 Grammy Award wins, as well as endless achievements. From her debut album’s country-like feel to the deeper and lyrical music in “The Tortured Poet’s Department”, Swift has broken through on several genres of music. Made during Swift’s record breaking “Eras Tour,” her newest album “The Life of a Showgirl” brings a bright new era into Swift’s career and it’s more different than ever.
“The Life of a Showgirl” explores topics such as self-discovery, romantic commitment and the public eye using a combination of riveting lyrics and melodies. Drawing themes from almost all of her past albums, Swift combines the songs into a cohesive album. While some tracks, such as “Eldest Daughter,” have a slower feel, others, like “Cancelled!” are more upbeat and have a similar vibe to Swift’s “Reputation.”
The album starts with the track “The Fate of Ophelia.” This track alludes to the character Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” who goes mad and ultimately drowns. Swift sings about how she is being saved from the same fate because her lover has come to save her. In the bridge, Swift sings “No longer drowning and deceived, all because you came for me,” showing how her fate has, in fact, not ended like Ophelia’s.
The tune “Opalite” contains lyrics based on the stone opalite, which is a man-made opal. The significance of this stone is that it isn’t natural; it builds itself into what it is, symbolizing how Swift has changed over the years and how she wouldn’t be who she is today without facing hardships. Swift uses a catchy chorus to catch the listener’s attention. During the melody, the lyrics “You had to make your own sunshine” appear, bringing listeners back to the theme of personality growth.
The album slows down on track five, “Eldest Daughter.” Using descriptive and relatable lyrics, Swift opens up a vulnerable side of herself by sharing her struggles of being the oldest child in the family and figuring things out on her own. Swift incorporates lyrics such as “Every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter” and “I’ve been dying just from trying to seem cool” to paint a clear picture of her struggles throughout her life.
The title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” featuring Sabrina Carpenter, is a bold and bubbly track that leads listeners through the story of two fictional characters— a showgirl named Kitty and an audience member who dreams of being on stage one day. The song begins during Kitty’s show, and flows into the audience member praising her and sharing her dream to follow the same path afterwards. However, when she shares this with Kitty, she tells the audience member that being a showgirl isn’t what she thinks it is. The lyrics go “Hey, thank you for the lovely bouquet, you’re sweeter than a peach but you don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe, and you’re never, ever gonna.”
To conclude, “The Life of a Showgirl” combines musical and lyrical elements into a tenacious 12-track album. Even if you haven’t listened to any of Swift’s other works, we still recommend you give “The Life of a Showgirl” a listen.
