Taylor Swift released her twelfth album, “The Life of a Showgirl” earlier this month, which has garnered mixed reviews since its highly anticipated debut on Oct. 3. Swift’s lyricism and style in the album are much more upbeat than in her recent albums. However, fans may not understand the storylines and references that she makes, and newer fans may not be used to her more upbeat style. Here is a breakdown of the reviewer's top-five tracks on Swift’s latest album, whose 12 songs span just less than 42 minutes.
“Eldest Daughter”
Throughout this song, Swift describes what it’s like to be a typical oldest daughter, feeling pressure to be perfect and finding childlike joy in her relationship.
Swift sings that “I’ve been dying just from trying to seem cool,” and “Pretty soon I learned cautious discretion.” Part of being the eldest daughter is feeling like she had to be tough but wanting to be seen as cool.
In the bridge, Swift describes getting to be young again and experiencing life in a new light because the person she loves brings out the youthfulness in her.
“Every youngest child felt / They were raised up in the wild / But now you’re home,” she sings in the pre-chorus. She gets to give this person the security that they’d hoped for in the uncertainty of their youthfulness.
“CANCELLED!”
At first listen, this song sounds like a revenge song, but on closer inspection, the listener can hear Swift saying that her friends’ reputations don’t matter to her.
“At least you know exactly who your friends are / They’re the ones with matching scars,” Swift sings. She shares that the criticism from being in the spotlight gives her and her friends something to relate to each other about.
“Everyone’s got bodies in the attic,” is her way of recognizing that everyone makes mistakes.
“It’s a good thing I like my friends cancelled,” is another lyric from the song. In the entertainment industry, judgement runs rampant and so it’s difficult to have friends who aren’t involved in some type of scandal, but here, Swift seems to be saying that those things aren’t a big deal to her.
“Wood”
“Wood” is a song about how superstitions don’t matter when you find “the one.”
“All of that missing, wishing on a fallen star / Never did me any good,” Swift sings. She describes the superstitions she once held to have meaning and how they didn’t make a difference.
“Seems to be that you and me we make our own luck,” she sings before claiming that the strength of her new relationship is such that superstitions don’t matter. The song also includes a number of sexual innuendos, which fans were quick to home in on.
“Opalite”
In the third track, Swift sings about how someone in her life has brightened it, like her fiance, the National Football League star, Travis Kelce.
“Sleepless in the onyx night / But now the sky is opalite,” Swift sings. Onyx, a stone known for having a deep, dark color, is contrasted to opalite, an artificial stone known for its iridescence. She uses this line to contrast her past hardships with the joy that her relationship brings into her life.
Kelce’s birthstone is opal, the stone that opalite is made to look like, and Swift shared in an interview with Capital FM that this song is one of his favorites.
“The Life of a Showgirl” (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
In this song, Swift tells the story of an interaction between a performer in the spotlight and a fan who aspires to be like her; it shares their perspectives of illusion and reality.
“I said, “You’re living my dream”,” the fan says.
The performer tells her fan, “Wait, the more you play, the more that you pay,” and “So you don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe / And you’re never gonna wanna.” She knows the negative aspects of life in the spotlight and warns the fan that fame isn’t all the joy it seems to be.
The fan ultimately becomes a performer herself and realizes this truth but also appreciates the positive aspects of life in the spotlight.
“Pain hidden by the lipstick and lace / Sequins are forever, and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe / Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Swift sings. Some fans believe this tells the story of Swift’s experience in the spotlight. Despite its ups and downs, her journey through 12 albums and a number of eras has been worth it, she seems to say.
Joslyn Hicks ‘29 is a Journalism major at Mercer University. She is excited for her first year as a staff writer for The Cluster. In her free time, you can find her reading a book or singing along to Taylor Swift songs.
