When I wrote the my last culture roundup post, I knew the then brand new Taylor Swift album was going to be polarizing, but I could not have predicted the absolute meltdown it created, especially among her detractors. As much as I’m loath to participate in that sort of content, it’s been fascinating to watch unfold. Meanwhile the album has been setting all kinds of new records in terms of sales, and, like a lot of Swift’s albums, its reputation is already starting to improve among those who actually listen to it. So, I’ll share a few thoughts on all that in my focus section. But first, the roundup.
Roundup
Music
Songs
- “Oblivious,” by Jake Bugg
- “Tie You Down,” by HAIM
- “Elizabeth Taylor,” by Taylor Swift
- “Honey,” by Taylor Swift
Albums
- Pretty Idea, by Amber Mark
- The Life of a Showgirl, by Taylor Swift
- The Art of Loving, by Olivia Dean
Reading
Literary prize season, when most of the major literary prizes announce their long lists between August and September, has become one of my favourite times of the year. But by the time I’ve made my way through as many of those titles as I can get my hands on, I’m always ready for some lighter fare. The past couple weeks I’ve read some wonderful books that are great without being quite as taxing on the mind. Here are some recent highlights:
- Heart the Lover, by Lily King (2025)
- The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vols. 1-6), by Beth Brower (2019-2022) (Yes, these were so good I devoured the first six volumes over four days!)
- A Rival Most Vial, by R.K. Ashwick (2023)
In Focus: Thoughts on “The Life of a Show Girl” Two Weeks In
As a fan of Taylor Swift’s music who nonetheless exists quite happily outside the parasocial Swiftie fold, I’m used to laughing at the over-the-top reactions to her albums from her most devoted fans. But this time around, there was a noticeable shift, where the people melting down and obsessing over the album in unhealthy ways were the people who hated it. I simply can’t fathom spending that much time and energy over hating someone or something. As is so often the case with Swift’s music, a lyric from the album (and from one of the most polarizing songs on it) perfectly summarizes the situation: “But it’s actually sweet, All the time you’ve spent on me. It’s honestly wild, All the effort you’ve put in. It’s actually romantic.” While the intensity of the hatred of the album (as opposed to thoughtful criticism, because there is a lot that can be critiqued on the album) has been shocking, the opposition itself is not. Those of us who have been around a while know that there’s nothing more predictable than people hating on a new Taylor Swift album. Fearless ‘relied too much on collaborative writing’; Speak Now was ‘petty and leaned too heavily into rock’; Red was ‘too sonically incoherent’; 1989 ‘abandoned her country fans’; Reputation was ‘too trendy and too dark a departure from 1989‘; Lover was ‘cringe’. Even the widely adored Folklore faced criticism for ‘abandoning pop’, and Evermore was criticized basically for not being Folklore. Midnights was ‘too cryptic’ and ‘sonically weird’. Then The Tortured Poets Department was ‘bloated’, ‘too literary’, and ‘over-written.’ The point is that you can’t keep hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people happy with every album. And The Life of a Showgirl is no exception. But the more I listen to it, the more I like it (again, a common theme for Taylor Swift albums) and appreciate what she’s doing, even if it’s not quite the album I was hoping it would be.
Two weeks in, here are my song rankings so far:
Excellent
- “Elizabeth Taylor” (track 2): An interesting reflection on fame and loving-while-famous, this is possibly the song that most lives up to the album’s ‘behind the glamour’ premise. (Rating 9/10)
2. “Honey” (track 11): This is both sweet (as pure a love song as she’s ever written) and an insightful exploration on the power of relationships in changing how we think about language. (9)
3. “The Fate of Ophelia” (track 1): I don’t disagree with some of the criticism of some of her lyricism in this song, even as I see the intention behind it. But this is the perfect opening song for the album, tying back to the themes and tropes of Tortured Poets while demonstrating just how much her life has changed since she was locked “in her tower,” begging the gods to “change the prophecy.” (8)
4. “Opalite” (track 3): Sonically this is like ABBA crossed with Wham!, which I admit I find a bit cloying and dated. But it’s also super fun and carries a powerful message of making our own beauty in the world. (8)
5. “Father Figure” (track 4): It’s fascinating to me that an album that has been (unfairly) criticized as rejecting feminism contains a song that is an open celebration of her business acumen and power. (8)
Almost there but not Quite
Unlike most of Taylor Swift’s albums, there are no songs here that I think are weak or that don’t work for me. I think the other seven songs on the album are all solid, but are all just missing something that keeps me from loving them.
6. “Wood” (track 9): This Jackson-5-inspired bop is a lot of fun and I love its message of freedom from superstitions and signs, and the way it contributes to the ‘expanded cinematic universe’ of her albums (see “The Fate of Ophelia” above). This would be absolutely a top-level Taylor Swift song, but, oh my goodness, the dick jokes in the second half of the song! The song reads as a conversation with a friend that goes off the rails as the wine flows. Again, the awkward lyrics (‘cringe’ as they may be) is intentional; she knows what she’s doing. It’s not that serious. But it doesn’t make it any easier to listen, or sing along, to. (7)
7. “Ruin the Friendship” (track 6): This is well-written and has a different and interesting sound for her, but it’s also a very sad song about regret and tragic death, which makes it a bit less listenable than I like in my music (7)
8. “The Life of a Showgirl” (featuring Sabrina Carpenter) (track 12): This is a solid story song with a fun, if a bit plodding, old-timey country sensibility. But it feels more like a Sabrina song than a Taylor song, and only really comes alive when Sabrina comes in on the second verse. (7)
9. “Eldest Daughter” (track 5): An ode to the pressures of eldest daughters everywhere, this is beautiful even if it doesn’t quite resonate with me personally (7)
10. “Actually Romantic” (track 7): The quasi-diss track that launched a thousand think pieces. Few people can use language as effectively as Taylor Swift to win a beef, no matter how petty. But this is pretty uneven, with really successful lyrics undermined by others that really don’t hit the mark. But removed from the context of the particular relationship it seems to be about and its effectiveness as a diss track, it’s fun, sounds great, and has some pretty effective messaging about the time people these days waste on things and people they hate. So for me the song still works (7)
11. “Wi$h Li$t” (track 8): Far from the betrayal of feminism some are saying this is, this is a sweet song about what it means for her to be in a successful relationship when it’s the one thing that has eluded her. And anyone who think she’s ever not wanted to settle down and raise a family has really not been listening the past eighteen years. But there’s something about the lyrics here, especially the repetition when she talks about hoping others “get what they want” that bugs me. Its musical similarity to her previous song “Glitch” is also a bit distracting to me. (7)
12. “CANCELLED!” (track 10): For me this suffers because of the way the idea of ‘cancellation’ has evolved over the past few years. This song uses it to describe her own experiences from 2016, but since then it’s taken on a life of its own and been appropriated by bad actors who want to avoid responsibility for their actions. So the song just feels a bit tone deaf and not really appropriate for 2025. All that said, it’s got a great groove and works as a pop song, so I can’t dock it too much. (7)
Matthew Root 