Reviewers weigh in on Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl,' and one track in particular Liz Schubauer, USA TODAY NETWORK October 2, 2025 at 11:40 PM 0 Reviewers weigh in on Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl,' and one track in particular Taylor Swift dropped her new album "The Life of a Showgirl" on ...
- - Reviewers weigh in on Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl,' and one track in particular
Liz Schubauer, USA TODAY NETWORK October 2, 2025 at 11:40 PM
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Reviewers weigh in on Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl,' and one track in particular
Taylor Swift dropped her new album "The Life of a Showgirl" on Oct. 3 after nearly two months of anticipation.
Its earliest reviews came from Swift's fiancé, Travis Kelce.
"This album is going to make you dance," Kelce said when Swift announced the album on his podcast Aug. 13. He said it was filled with "banger after banger."
Now other critics have had a chance to weigh in on the 12 tracks, produced with longtime producers Max Martin and Shellback who she worked with on her "1989" and "Reputation" albums along with some "Red" songs.
Swift recorded the album during her behemoth Eras Tour, flying in and out of Sweden between stops to lay down tracks. She has said the album is inspired by the behind the scenes experience of that tour, which overlapped with the beginning of her relationship with Kelce. Songs reveal more about that relationship and her hopes for their future. One song, "Wood," gets particularly detailed about the intimate side of their relationship, and nearly every critic had something to say about the track. Swift also delves into some feuds, old and new.
Here's what reviewers are saying about "The Life of a Showgirl."
Ahead of the release of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," Spotify set up a three-day pop-up experience for fans in New York City. Scroll through for an inside look at the event.
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Ahead of the release of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," Spotify set up a three-day pop-up experience for fans in New York City. Scroll through for an inside look at the event.
">Ahead of the release of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," Spotify set up a three-day pop-up experience for fans in New York City. Scroll through for an inside look at the event.
" src=https://ift.tt/LhQsTaY class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience" runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, 2025 from noon to 9 p.m. ET daily.
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience" runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, 2025 from noon to 9 p.m. ET daily.
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience" runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, 2025 from noon to 9 p.m. ET daily.
" src=https://ift.tt/K1qNbXg class=caas-img>Fans discover hidden Easter eggs and capture exclusive photo moments, all inspired by Swift's 12th studio album.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/hAf6uc0 class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
Fans discover hidden Easter eggs and capture exclusive photo moments, all inspired by Swift's 12th studio album.
">Fans discover hidden Easter eggs and capture exclusive photo moments, all inspired by Swift's 12th studio album.
" src=https://ift.tt/hAf6uc0 class=caas-img>The experience gives Swifties a chance to listen to the next era before its official arrival.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/tPIriyh class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
The experience gives Swifties a chance to listen to the next era before its official arrival.
">The experience gives Swifties a chance to listen to the next era before its official arrival.
" src=https://ift.tt/tPIriyh class=caas-img>The venue is surrounded by the music and visuals from Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" album.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/tKsSeFV class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
The venue is surrounded by the music and visuals from Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" album.
">The venue is surrounded by the music and visuals from Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" album.
" src=https://ift.tt/tKsSeFV class=caas-img>lit up Times Square with a mysterious Spotify code.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>It all began on Aug. 12, when a billboard lit up Times Square with a mysterious Spotify code.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/XILA2Zn class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
It all began on Aug. 12, when a billboard lit up Times Square with a mysterious Spotify code.
">It all began on Aug. 12, when a billboard lit up Times Square with a mysterious Spotify code.
" src=https://ift.tt/XILA2Zn class=caas-img>curated playlist on Swift's official Spotify profile.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>The activation was part of a broader rollout across 12 locations worldwide, with each billboard linking to a curated playlist on Swift's official Spotify profile.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/inb7JdB class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
The activation was part of a broader rollout across 12 locations worldwide, with each billboard linking to a curated playlist on Swift's official Spotify profile.
">The activation was part of a broader rollout across 12 locations worldwide, with each billboard linking to a curated playlist on Swift's official Spotify profile.
" src=https://ift.tt/inb7JdB class=caas-img>The three-day event by Spotify will be latest chapter in a global campaign designed to build anticipation for the album and bring fans closer to the music, according to Spotify.
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The three-day event by Spotify will be latest chapter in a global campaign designed to build anticipation for the album and bring fans closer to the music, according to Spotify.
">The three-day event by Spotify will be latest chapter in a global campaign designed to build anticipation for the album and bring fans closer to the music, according to Spotify.
" src=https://ift.tt/5nvS1rR class=caas-img>Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
" data-src=https://ift.tt/6XfcYdZ class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
">Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
" src=https://ift.tt/6XfcYdZ class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" data-src=https://ift.tt/14b6ceF class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" src=https://ift.tt/14b6ceF class=caas-img>Fans will be treated to visuals and pieces inspired by Swift's 12 album.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/PIDdtS1 class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
Fans will be treated to visuals and pieces inspired by Swift's 12 album.
">Fans will be treated to visuals and pieces inspired by Swift's 12 album.
" src=https://ift.tt/PIDdtS1 class=caas-img>Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
" data-src=https://ift.tt/yCYfN6n class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
">Spotify's three-day "The Life of a Showgirl" event, inspired by Taylor Swift's 12th album
" src=https://ift.tt/yCYfN6n class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" src=https://ift.tt/YvlwbjZ class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" data-src=https://ift.tt/P4q6naX class=caas-img data-headline="See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC" data-caption="
"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" src=https://ift.tt/P4q6naX class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
" src=https://ift.tt/zFcgAUt class=caas-img>"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
">"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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"The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience"
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1 / 18See inside 'The Life of a Showgirl' fan experience for Taylor Swift fans in NYC
Ahead of the release of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," Spotify set up a three-day pop-up experience for fans in New York City. Scroll through for an inside look at the event.
For her 12th album, Swift shakes off the melancholy of 2024's "The Tortured Poets Department" for a dozen brisk songs infused with the playfulness of "1989" and the velvet-sheathed-knife lyrics of "Reputation."
But even though she's still tossing out delicious snark such as, "Like a toy Chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse, that's how much it hurts" ("Actually Romantic," a bullseye smackdown that will incite internet sleuths), Swift is floating more than she's punching.
Read the full review by Melissa Ruggieri.
The New York Times
Swift is hungry — hungry to move on from the battles of her past and into the embraces of her future.That sentiment is all over her 12th original album, a deceptively modest set of songs about the facade of fame, and what it takes to scrape it away and claw past it. Swift has been pop's alpha figure for more than a decade, a spot she's clung to ruthlessly. "Showgirl" isn't precisely a goodbye to all that, but it does cast a wary eye on her past while greeting her future with a glee that verges on the unbridled.
Read the full review by Jon Caramanica.
Despite these Darth Vader moments, "Showgirl" is generally a sunny album, its pleasure rooted in its basic motivations: Swift's happiness with Kelce and her joy in flexing in the studio with Martin and Shellback. The love songs that set its mood are unreservedly sexy and most of all funny — including that dirty "Wood" — expressing genuine affection and delight.
Read the full review by Ann Powers.
The Guardian
In fairness, "Wood" is one clanging misstep on an album that isn't terrible: it's just nowhere near as good as it should be given Swift's talents, and it leaves you wondering why. Perhaps romantic contentment simply writes whiter than vengeful post-breakup bitterness, or perhaps it wobbles your judgment. Perhaps it was rushed. Or perhaps its author was just exhausted, which would be entirely understandable. Even the immortal, it seems, sometimes need to take a break from pop's constant churn and unceasing clamour for content.
Read the full review by Alexis Petridis.
Billboard
And while "The Life of a Showgirl" is composed of classically designed pop tracks, with standard verse-chorus arrangements and rarely exceeding four minutes in run time, Swift's eagerly anticipated Return to Bangers is not, say, "1989" Pt. II. Instead of coming back with party tracks, Swift has synthesized the commitment to pristine hooks that she shares with Martin and Shellback, an increasingly idiosyncratic lyrical slant, and the mid-thirties perspective of her past few albums. The result is a collection of songs that are immediately engrossing and among the most affecting of Swift's career, while also focusing on topics like Hamlet and suburban bliss. Call it Bangers for Adults.
Read the full review by Jason Lipshutz.
Variety
He's flirted with writing an album focused on a love that is actually realized before — most notably on the half of "Reputation" that was about her then-burgeoning relationship and not about Kimye-gate. But on that record, even the happiest songs had a kind of love-among-the-ruins feel, where the romanticism seemed hard-fought. On "The Life of a Showgirl," though, love seems easy-fought. And the belief that it might actually be a breeze, instead of, like, the eye of a hurricane, makes for an album that stands as close to being an uncomplicated good time as anything she's ever done.
Read the full review by Chris Willman.
People
(Swift, Max Martin and Shellback) co-wrote and produced all 12 tracks on "TLOAS," her most radio-friendly collection of pure pop songs since her 2014 crossover album "1989." Reunited, and it sounds so, so good. Thematically, the record is the spiritual sister of "Reputation."
Like that 2017 masterpiece, there's some score settling, but at the heart of "TLOAS,"it's a love story. Not since 2019's "Lover" has Swift — who got engaged to Chiefs tight end Kelce in August after two years together — sounded so head over heels.
Read the full review by Jeff Nelson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Read the reviews for Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl'
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