The record-breaking album “The Life of a Showgirl” by Taylor Swift hit stores and all streaming platforms on October 3, and has set high expectations for all other albums coming out in the near future.
“The Life of a Showgirl” is Taylor’s twelfth studio album and just like the others, she has already made history with the album. This album has the largest first week in music history. According to ABC News statistics, she has sold 5.5 million album units and has been streamed over 1.5 billion times globally. Both Spotify and Apple Music have crowned “The Life of a Showgirl” as the biggest album of 2025. The first song on the album, “The Fate of Ophelia,” had the most single-day streams, with a whopping 31 million.
This new album shows a new side to Swift. Freshman Alexis Latek states, “Taylor’s ‘Showgirl identity’ is almost like an alter ego that people blend with her true authentic self. People forget that she’s not just a performer, songwriter, musician, but she’s also human.”
Sophomore Grace Gooding says, “The public thinks that female performers are supposed to always look perfect, always smile, and entertain, no matter what they’re fighting internally and externally. It shows how the public sometimes sees them as just a part of the show instead of real people.”
Gooding says, “This new album is about Taylor Swift becoming stronger and taking control after going through so much. It’s about love, fame, betrayal and always being in the public eye.”
Each song on this album tells a different story, but all center around the overall theme; it focuses on her career that started in high school and continues to flourish. One song that shows the more sprightly side
of her career is “Ruin the Friendship.” Latek says, “The song ‘Ruin the Friendship’ is a reflection of lost opportunities and the regret of never expressing your feelings towards someone. In the song, it’s shown romantically, but can also be represented as a friendship too.”
The song “CANCELLED!” shows the more recent years of Taylor’s career. Gooding says, “The song ‘CANCELLED!’ is about being judged, misunderstood, and talked about by the public and people who don’t know her truth. Taylor knows what it feels like to be canceled but also how she learns to stay strong. The song shows how Taylor’s learned who her real friends are. The lyrics, ‘They stood by me Before my exoneration’ shows how Taylor had people by her side despite the circumstances”.
The title of the album also has a song. Latek says,” The Life of a Showgirl” is about always being on stage under bright lights and always being in front of people. Being a showgirl is physically, emotionally, and mentally hard to do. She has to balance the her show girl life and her normal day to day life.
Taylor Swift is an absolute “mastermind” and she has truly outdone it with this album. Each song “hits different” than the one before it. This album has taken on the role as one of the best albums of 2025 and it truly deserves it. Each song tells a story and shows the complexity of Swift.
