Taylor Swift The Life of A Showgirl is released today

I listened to the first four songs. Not a big Taylor fan and more of a casual listener. It seems okay, but I don't think this is earth shattering music. Every new release from her is treated like a royal decree. "I give you my latest masterpiece." It's more like mid-level pop. A bit lukewarm, if anything.

The Guardian gave it 2/5:

Then there’s Wood, a song that, metaphorically speaking, drunkenly clambers on a table in Wetherspoons pub with a skew-whiff bridal veil on its head and an L-plate around its neck and favours everyone in earshot with a loud paean to the size of her fiance’s penis, which it variously describes as his “magic wand”, his “redwood tree” and his “hard rock” (there is also a regrettable degree of punning on the word cocky)

These are my favourite songs of hers:

Style, I Knew You Were Trouble, Bad Blood (Kendrick Lamar version), Out of the Woods, Delicate, End Game

There's nothing to match those on the new album.

No doubt this will be treated like she has bestowed on the music world another masterpiece the likes we haven’t seen since the Beatles. Seriously, she is treated like she is the most gifted songstress and no one comes close. It is all bought reviews. This will be the biggest “selling” album of the year, by far. I don’t get it. She’s middlingly talented, but she’s far more talented than Ariana, Dua, Beyonce, Olivia, Doja, Lady Gaga.

[quote]a loud paean to the size of her fiance’s penis, which it variously describes as his “magic wand”, his “redwood tree” and his “hard rock” (there is also a regrettable degree of punning on the word cocky)

This reeks of protesting too much.

Like Tom Cruise couch-jumping, Deborra-Lee Furness "Hugh wears Wolverine hands to bed" levels. "I quite simply cannot get enough of heterosexuality!"

The tunes drip with superhetness.

The album’s panties are soaking in it.

SO

MUCH

SUPERHETNESS

They just said on the news that fans stood in line to be the first to buy a copy of the new album after midnight. That really surprised me. I thought everyone streamed their music now or downloaded it off of iTunes. Shows how much I (don’t) know.

Can anyone really picture Taylor Swift as a Showgirl?

R8 I feel like she would be Penny in Showgirls if I had to imagine her as one. Kind of awkward, and a drip compared to most.

R9, yeah, same. I was just thinking "Taylor could never play Nomi". In this case, that's bad.

Reviews are coming in and predictably over the top. JHFC.

She could fart an album and they'd say it's the best album of all time and she is the most gifted artist ever.

I saw a news human interest story about how nine year old girls and their mothers were big fans. Dickmatized?

[quote] She could fart an album and they'd say it's the best album of all time and she is the most gifted artist ever.

Not a Taylor fan at all but I will say nobody's talent is/was hyped more than Gaga's.

She and Beyoncé are the most overrated “artists” of all time with the most bizarrely unhinged fans.

R14, on reddit, some girl posted a college essay she wrote on "how much sexism Taylor Swift has dealt with". As you can expect, it was not convincing.

I'm also remembering how humorless Swift is. Remember when she got pissed at the Golden Globes because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made a joke about her pursuing Michael J Fox's son? She got so pissed, she posted the Madeleine Albright quote "there is hell to pay for women who don't support other women". All because of an innocent joke. And I'm pretty sure Madeleine was thinking of politics when she made that comment, not jokes made at a celebrity's expense. Taylor did the same thing regarding the show Ginny and Georgia.

Can she and her canned, craptastic 'music' just FUCK THE HELL OFF, already? Oh, and take all the dumb-shit 'friendship' bracelet JUNK with you, Tay-Tay.

This album is horrible.

She’s channeling Vengeful Bad Girl Taylor again, and it’s even more laughable now. You’d expect a self-made billionaire and pop culture phenom to be above reheating dead beef and proving moot points.

The never-subtle references to Kelce’s dick game are very uncomfortable. Those family reunions will never be the same again.

No lyricism shines here. It’s often clunky and cringey. These feel like drafts of songs that would’ve could’ve should’ve gotten scrapped.

Max Martin and Shellback - usually a pop hit factory - deliver nothing exciting here. One of these songs is bound to dominate radio, but it’s hard to tell - or care - which one will it be.

‘Elizabeth Taylor’ crams in the name - an already worn-out reference for Swift - so brashly that the song ventures into Eurovision fodder area.

‘CANCELLED!’ is a horrid name for some horrid lyrics in a rare (if only) song that somewhat excites sonically. A boplet.

Sabrina Carpenter is featured on the last song. The pairing is utterly predictable - two successful parties agreeing on a safe business deal.

None of this ties in with the showgirl aesthetic.

Such a rushed and unnecessary effort.

Some critics are luckily keeping it real - The Guardian, linked above, and Financial Times with their 2/5 review.

As for Rolling Stone, any semblance of integrity they may have still had is definitely gone, now that they gave this hot mess a 5/5.

It’s getting mixed reviews. Daily Mail gave it 2 stars and The Standard gave it 1 star.

[quote]As for Rolling Stone, any semblance of integrity they may have still had is definitely gone, now that they gave this hot mess a 5/5.

I feel like they lost their integrity sometime in the '80s. Remember Peter Travers' hilariously over-the-top movie reviews? Which were probably just a ploy to get the mag's name on movie posters.

I found several songs here catchier than from her last one. So I guess that's good.

Taylor Swift attempting to be sexy is so revolting. That pic at R18 is embarrassing.

I keep thinking sooner or later she’ll have her Shania Twain flop/comedown, but so far no. She’s getting old for Top 10 on the actual singles chart but the album will probably do great. Just taking a quick listen now… mixed bag? Title track and “Ruin The Friendship” and the dick song are embarrassments. Opalite is adorable though, and I liked a few others for 30 seconds each.

Taylor has been able to retain her fanbase because she is the exact same person she was at 17, just with more money. She has not grown as an artist or as a human. That's why her fanbase was able to grow up and still like her. Her fanbase hasn't grown up either.

No wonder more people aren't taking college seriously.

[quote]While there’s no degree for being a Swiftie, universities across the country are embracing the 14-time Grammy award-winning singer and are offering courses inspired by the superstar and her music catalog.

Annie Lennox did it better.

Sounds like an over stuffed mess like the last album. She needs to go back to Folklore/Evermore era.

[quote] 6/12 songs are about Travis Kelce and his giant dick, including one called Wood where she says he 'dickmatized' her with his 'magic wand'.

Ew.

I mean...the first 5 songs are...okay. Nothing groundbreaking. Chill out.

The album is so boring. Its the same old bullshit.

The term ‘Showgirl,’ is bestowed, not self-appointed.

Well she certainly knows how to get attention.

We're losing our way. Where are the pics of Travis's dick?

Gross oversharer.

My biggest issue is the fact she considers herself a Showgirl. Shes never been that.

She has not grown as an artist. She’s almost 40 and this is the music of a 22 year old.

Lazy and bland, and the production is curiously flat, considering who is involved. She is at her best when she is frazzled and out for revenge. The content and dickmatized version of Taylor is not interesting. I¨ll wait for the divorce and Travis cheated on me-album.

She is so … un-sexy. She’s fine looking but she exudes zero sex appeal.

Lady Gaga is the most overrated artist of all time.

Most reviews are over the top good. 😂

She definitely pays for good reviews, and she's not alone.

Oh yeah, the reviews giving it 5/5 stars or 100 scores are def paid off.

There was an article in "The New Yorker" a few weeks ago about how pop music criticism doesn't really exist right now. Gone are the days of "Rolling Stone" giving a record less than two stars or being snarky about a name performer's record. People want to read positive things about artists they like.

The "Rolling Stone" review above proves that thesis.

She’s richer than Croesus and still embittered.

She’s a very boring woman.

R42, that is so true. Anything that goes against the grain is considered "contrarian" or "elitist".

[quote]The Guardian gave it 2/5: Then there’s Wood, a song that, metaphorically speaking, drunkenly clambers on a table in Wetherspoons pub with a skew-whiff bridal veil on its head and an L-plate around its neck and favours everyone in earshot with a loud paean to the size of her fiance’s penis, which it variously describes as his “magic wand”, his “redwood tree” and his “hard rock” (there is also a regrettable degree of punning on the word cocky)

We just went through all of this with Nicole Kidman and that Urban guy. Lots of bragging, everything's great, we have lots of sex! I sense a copycat version here with Taylor and Kelce.

[quote] She’s middlingly talented, but she’s far more talented than Ariana, Dua, Beyonce, Olivia, Doja, Lady Gaga.

Bitch, she is only more talented than Beyonce or Gaga in YOUR dreams. She is the epitome of mid, mediocre, milquetoast wonderbread pop.

Agreed R46. They can both out-sing and out-perform her by miles.

Taylor's claim over Gaga and Bey was her lyrics and catchy, easy listening songs. I do agree that she's been a pretty great lyricist over the years - if a bit juvenile. But the lyrics on this album are just pure cringe. Terrible. And while the songs are catchy enough, they bleed into each other. I can't really tell where one ends and the next begins.

Also, Gaga's Mayhem is light years better than this boring, mid, totally meh album by Taylor.

Btw, I don't hate Taylor at all. I think Folklore, Lover and 1989 are pretty fantastic albums.

I admire her business acumen and how she stands up for herself, but have never gotten the appeal of her music. But hey, I’m gay, 54, and anxiously hoping the rumours that Madge is releasing a single next Friday are true, so what do I know?

R42 I think it’s cause pop music has died as a big money maker and there’s reason to uplift it more than ever.

Even the Grammys have become like the VMAs now.

R48 To me, she’s more of an influencer than an artist. She knows this because she didn’t have to release teasers, a lead single, a music video, or promote the album - she knew her fans would buy it.

It’s truly a product being sold by a famous person. The music on it is irrelevant.

Who knew her innocent little girl fans really want to hear songs about her boyfriend's dick!

Dua Lipa has a much better voice and so many bops.

Swift is a plagiarism.

"The Life of a Showgirl" → Jonas Brothers’ “Cool”

"Opalite" → Post Malone’s “Circles” and "Xuxa" song

"Wi$h Li$t" → Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You”

"Actually Romantic" → Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”

"The Fate of Ophelia" → Foster the People's “Pumped Up Kicks”

Wi$h Li$t" → Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You”

"Ruin the Friendship" → Taylor’s own “Forever Winter”

"Father Figure" → George Michael’s “Father Figure”

"Wood" → Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”

Some critics are ripping her apart.

I think the last album opened the door that critics can get away with shitting on her and they’re not doing to get cancelled.

As it should be.

The thing is because of streaming, her fans just turn on Spotify and stream the album in a loop. Who knows for how long.

She’s popular but it’s definitely a core audience driving everything.

She’s not Michael Jackson.

Can anyone actually imagine people still listening to Taylor 50 years from now? I can't.

R55 To continue, her core fanbase basically act like bots for her.

They have to work overtime this time because she’s not offering anything outside of one version of a physical and one digital format for 12 songs.

So she’s purposely made it tougher for them. Maybe it was on purpose cause she wants to see how she can do organically.

But yeah if 100,000 of her fans just play her album in a loop on Spotify for the next week, it’s about 190,000 in sales lol.

[quote]There was an article in "The New Yorker" a few weeks ago about how pop music criticism doesn't really exist right now. Gone are the days of "Rolling Stone" giving a record less than two stars or being snarky about a name performer's record. People want to read positive things about artists they like.

That started in the late 90's. I remember Rolling Stone giving Britney Spears second album four stars and I thought "How far we've fallen". Giving that whole teen pop era credibility as legitimate artists ruined the music business. It's never recovered.

What do lesbians know about dick size?

I saw on ESPN that the host of one of the shows ask: Which Taylor Swift song best describes ( Giants qb) Jaxson Dart?

^asked

The Guardian is out to get her. ouch!

About the bitchy song on Charli.

Taylor can’t touch “Brat”. Charli has a great knack for melodies and phrasing and she can write to anything.

“Apple” is such a great pop song.

Agreed with everyone above - 'Wood" - please. Girl, you're almost 36 years old.

Seems too relationship promoting to me.

And you KNOW he's going to be in all the videos. This fauxmance just doesn't feel real.

So I guess this is her "slutty" transition, right?

Like Britney did in 2001 with "I'm a Slave 4U", Christina with "Dirrty" and Nelly Furtado with "Promiscuous".

For those who criticize her songwriting...

You won't like this. I'm not defending her, I'm just saying.

She succeeds Dick Clark as the world’s oldest teenager.

R65, Britney didn't really transition into anything, she was a slut from the opening five seconds of that Baby One More Time video.

Good songwriters don’t need Max Martin.

People often mistake him for a “producer” in the sense of a beat-maker, but that’s not his role. Martin sits at the piano, builds the melody and chorus, and shapes the lyrics. He then hands it off to a co-producer — the one who actually handles the beats, programming, and sound design. Very rarely has he ever built a track entirely on his own.

With Taylor, the process likely goes like this: Martin brings in a track loop, hums out a melody with a full chorus in place, and Taylor writes the lyrics to fit that melody, maybe shifting it slightly to match her phrasing. Together, they finish it in the studio with the co-producer layering on the “bells and whistles.”

Yes, there are clips of Taylor “writing” in the studio with Max Martin in the background, but those are staged moments — the real architecture of the song is already in place. Most fans don’t realize Martin’s actual role in production.

The same applies to Jack Antonoff. I love Bleachers, but his fingerprints are all over their collaborations. “Anti-Hero” doesn’t just sound like a Taylor Swift track — it could pass for a Bleachers song, lyrics and all.

And I say this in R69 to cut through the hype — because people act like Taylor is some pop version of PJ Harvey or Fiona Apple. She isn’t. Her process and abilities put her much closer to artists like Madonna or Janet Jackson: sharp collaborators, hands-on with their material, but not solitary auteurs writing and producing masterpieces from scratch.

Look at the credits: she’s never listed for performing instruments, arrangements, or programming. That “self-made songwriter” image comes from country, where the machine is built on ghostwriting and ghost-producing. Riley Green even admitted he doesn’t know who produces his music - demos get sent to a factory of session players who build the track, then ship it back for the artist to record vocals. Songs also start in writing rooms where artists often walk away with full credit, even if the heavy lifting was done by others.

That’s why, once Taylor left country, the illusion faded - she stopped getting sole writer credit, because pop doesn’t work that way.

Sabrina Carpenter was talking about how the song “House Tour” from her new album was created.

I didn’t believe a word of it.

These artists are not around when the song is being created. Beyoncé’s story of coming up with “Bootylicious” or Robin Thicke’s story of writing “Blurred Lines” with Pharrell - all debunked via lawsuits.

Madonna is one of the only female pop singer I know who can make hits without a “factory” and it’s because she had experience being a musician in NYC in the late 70s. “True Blue”, “Like a Prayer”, “Erotica”, “Music”, “American Life”, Confessions on a Dance Floor” are mostly her with another producer making the music together.

So I put Madonna above Taylor as a songwriter but no one would ever give Madonna that credit.

I'm not so sure she isn't AI.

[quote] So I put Madonna above Taylor as a songwriter but no one would ever give Madonna that credit.

I do. My favorite Madonna songs were written or co-written by her.

She's not Michael Jackson

Thank fuck! We don't need another prolific pedophile.

She’s not Michael Jackson — she’s not the universal star she’s made out to be. Yes, she’s successful, but it’s all carefully curated and controlled. Michael Jackson had a propaganda machine too, but his fame was validated by genuine global appeal.

A U.S. study on Taylor Swift’s fanbase found it’s largely white, liberal, suburban women. Michael Jackson’s audience was universal; there was no demographic limit. The same was true of Adele, and at times Madonna, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, and Beyoncé, artists who reached every corner of culture. Taylor never did.

There’s a difference between Thriller selling 50 million albums, The Immaculate Collection, Come On Over, or 21 and 25 selling 30 million — and a rabid fanbase streaming one album on loop or buying eight different versions to game the system.

Taylor even leaned into that strategy: releasing new editions and scattered bonus tracks week by week to keep her album at the top. That’s not organic popularity, it’s manipulation of the charts.

And yes, she has global reach — but it’s heavily influenced by American market appeal. Her success travels because American media dominates, not because she connects equally across cultures. She’s globally distributed, but not universally embraced. Her imagery, storytelling, and persona are deeply rooted in American suburbia and millennial white culture, which doesn’t translate everywhere.

Artists like MJ, Madonna, and Adele transcended those cultural limits. Their appeal wasn’t about marketing infrastructure, it was about universal connection. Taylor’s influence, by contrast, feels curated through one lens, creating the illusion of universality without the same cultural weight true global icons once held.

I mean...this is her 7th record in 10 years or so. She and Beyonce REALLY need to find an island somewhere and give the universe a fucking break.

You know Oscar Wilde said...

You couldn’t pay me to listen to this dreck.

And just to point out terms of popularity.

Bruno Mars is #2 on Spotify and hasn’t released an album in almost 10 years.

While he’s not capitalizing off his extreme popularity, he’s way more popular and universal than Taylor Swift as far as modern artists go.

R65 - that’s *slutty era* to you…

the album is basically an ad for obsession with her celebrity. it's vile.

R65 No, “Reputation” was the closest she got into being more hip / urban with EDM and copying Beyonce in “Look What Made You Made Me Do”.

It didn’t have as much appeal to her white female audience so that’s why with her next album “Lover”, which came out the next year, she was in princess dresses and did a pastel color palette for everything and looked like a white girls dream and everyone else’s nightmare.

She plays it safe.

She’s dirty on this album talking about Travis Kelce’s cock but she’s 35 and it’s just coming off immature.

[quote]While he’s not capitalizing off his extreme popularity, he’s way more popular and universal than Taylor Swift as far as modern artists go.

Her fanbase is middle-class and upwards, white people who have the means to buy her albums and concert tickets. They buy multiple copies of each album to pad her sales. It's all manipulated.

Bruno Mars has more people around the world that listen to his music.

Ariana Grande had 10 million people in Ticketmaster queues last month trying to buy tickets for her upcoming mini concert tour, and that was just for a few dates in the US and London. For comparison, Taylor's record-setting Eras Tour sold a total of 10 million tickets in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America and grossed $2 billion.

Taylor is all about charts and setting records, while other artists like Bruno and Ariana couldn't care less about that stuff.

The funny now about her last album and this album is people are trashing them on social media.

Her curated charade is kind of getting exposed. She has a rabid fanbase and it’s getting more obvious she’s not “popular”.

R82 100%.

They don’t manipulate, exploit, and capitalize it the same way she does.

She’s very reminiscent of Mariah Carey where her whole career was built on chart mechanics, not consumer reach.

“21” and “1989” are both 14x Platinum. Does that make sense to anyone? Of course not!

If this album accomplishes nothing else, at least it gave us a Pete Hegseth showgirl meme that's captioned "Heard you were calling generals fat when the booze had you feeling brave."

[quote] So I put Madonna above Taylor as a songwriter but no one would ever give Madonna that credit.

I agree. People dismiss pop songs as "just pop songs" but writing good pop lyrics is difficult. I would argue songs like Into the Groove, Express Yourself, Like a Prayer, Live to Tell, Sanctuary, Falling Free, etc. have great pop song lyrics.

[quote] Bruno Mars is #2 on Spotify and hasn’t released an album in almost 10 years.

It's because of Die with a Smile. Without him, that song would not have reached number one. But even when he's not releasing music, he's still in the top 20 of Spotify. He's one of those artists who is accepted as very talented and cool by everyone (and I say that as someone who didn't like his first album at all). He can go years without releasing anything and people are still interested in him.

Taylor is the McDonalds of pop music. Vaguely okay but forgettable because it’s so bland.

This couldn't have come along at a better time to grind her beauty and success into Trump and Musk's envious faces. You KNOW they'd like nothing better than to treat her like an Epstein girl. And the fact that with all their power they can't do that and the best they can get is subprime whores like Melania and Grimes absolutely kills them.

R86 Absolutely. She says the first song she ever wrote was “Tell the Truth”, her boyfriend at the time says it was “Over and Over”. Both demos are on YouTube.

So her gift of songwriting was always there.

And I believe Patrick Leonard when he said she’d come over, they’d just sit down and bang out a hit song in a half hour.

And Patrick, Shep Pettinone, and Stuart Price have said that a lot of the vocals from her demos were used on the final version of the song.

So Madonna is beyond a “pop”. For someone who’s accused of being so phony and manufactured, she has a stronger artistry than some rock bands who are deemed more credible.

Oh, no. Taylor is hands down a better lyricist than Madonna--and I'm a Madonna fan--but that's irrelevant because they're not even peers, so why compare?

It's pretty obvious when Madonna decided she wanted to take a more hands-on approach to her writing. I believe it started with American Life. Ever since that record, she's been obsessed with being perceived as deep instead of a dance music icon. Now most of her songs are about how being a celebrity is a burden or how being a mother changes you, BUT it comes across as shallow because the writing is so weak.

Gaga is also a better lyricist, but that's not a big revelation.

[quote] I believe it started with American Life

Eh? I think it started with True Blue, LAP if we are being conservative. But it began much, much earlier than American Life.

I have friends who are Swifties and they say Taylor's album cuts are dramatically different from her singles and are actually well written. If that's the case, fine. But that also shows me that she is afraid of taking risks and is a pussy. If she had balls, she would release her album cuts as singles to get her superior songwriting out there to the public. But she won't. The hype around Swift reminds me of the hype about Gaga's talent. The way Gaga and her fans brag about her talent, you'd think she was more talented than Prince. Yet for all her "talent", she couldn't write a better song about abuse/rape than "Til it Happens to You". What's the point of all that talent if your songs themselves aren't all that great?

R92 I'm not talking about just the subject matter. I'm talking about the quality of writing. On True Blue, she was still working with her crew (Leonard, Bray) so the writing was better.

Stephen Bray wasn’t writing lyrics.

Taylor Swift is lyrically a one trick pony. There’s videos of people making fun of her with a formula of how to write a song. Very predictable.

[quote]That really surprised me. I thought everyone streamed their music now or downloaded it off of iTunes. Shows how much I (don’t) know.

Get with the times, gramps. iTunes doesn’t even exist anymore.

[QUOTE] iTunes doesn’t even exist anymore.

What kind of spaz are you? Here it is.

Apple shut iTunes down in the fall of 2019.

Taylor jumped the shark when the “Swift effect failed” during the 2024 election. She had Time calling her the most influential woman and think pieces saying she could have an influence on the 2024 election.

She actually believed it herself, that’s why she came out of her apolitical image and endorsed Kamala.

And it was a total fail. That definitely hurt her image.

She should take some time off, go to college, and learn how to really write.

I haven't listened, but I've seen the lyrics, and I'm astounded she not only wrote them but thought they were good enough to be part of a song. The sex lyrics ("It's making me kind of wet" and the references to Travis' dick) seem like she's chasing Sabrina Carpenter's "I'm so horny" shtick, but completely missed the point. "Actually Romantic" being a response to Charli XCX's "Sympathy is a Knife" shows she also completely misread that song's meaning -- the song is about Charli feeling insecure around Taylor; it's not about criticizing her. And just the fact that Taylor, at nearly 36 and supposedly about to marry the love of her life, still feels the need to write these types of songs is eye roll-inducing.

The album will probably set records and be the best-selling of the year, but it's starting to feel like the decline is beginning. She's officially over the hill as a pop star. She needs to go away for a few years and figure out a different path forward.

R91 You are not a Madonna fan. Madonna solo wrote 5 out of the 9 songs on her first album. An entire book was written about how talented Madonna is as a songwriter where dozens and dozens of the worlds greatest songwriters and musicians put her in their league. Lady fucking Gaga is a shit songwriter. As soon as RedOne left her, her music went to shit fast.

Her fans are 10 year old girls. They’re going to be having sleepovers singing about being dicktamized by Travis’s big dick and "It's making me kind of wet". WTF? Isn’t Taylor Swift supposed to be the wholesome safe choice for kids to listen to. She isn’t thinking of her fans at all.

How did she get away with lipping every show of the Eras Tour?

R101, that shows how defensive Taylor is. And she REALLY is.

One college football team loves the album.

[quote]If you're an Ohio State fan, you can relax and worry not about your team's prospects of coming away with a Week 6 victory on Saturday. Why, you ask? Taylor Swift dropped a new album.

[quote]The Buckeyes face off against Minnesota at home and coincidentally, Swift's latest album entitled "Life of a Show Girl" was released on Friday. Since Swift began releasing music in 2006, Ohio State is undefeated in each of their games immediately following an album drop.

She’ll retreat over this round of reviews, seethe, and come back with something like Reputation. Travis will get dropped off along the way.

[quote]Madonna is one of the only female pop singer I know who can make hits without a “factory” and it’s because she had experience being a musician in NYC in the late 70s.

Oh please. Madonna has been sued numerous times. I think Frozen can't even be played in parts of Europe because of a plagiarism lawsuit she lost.

She's the first artist to have websites dedicated to how she blatantly copied other artists looks, visuals and music over her career.

She's nowhere near Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush or Laura Nyro, who are true artists and writers.

R108 EVERY FUCKING SONGWRITER has been sued dozens of times you dumb fuck. And she eventually WON that lawsuit. I’ll take the words of the greatest songwriters of all time saying SHE is in THEIR league over some haters websites lying. Oh she is absolutely in Joni, Kate, and Laura’s league. Lucy O’Brein is a highly respected musical journalist. She interviewed tons of songwriters and musicians who all put Madonna’s songwriting in the ALL TIME GREATS category. Read it and cry.

[quote] And it was a total fail. That definitely hurt her image.

Not with her fans.

R109, I hope you get the help you need.

R108, if you trolldar it, is a huge Mariah Carey fan and loves shitting on every female artist. It posts dozens and dozens of times in Madonna, Taylor, Beyonce, and other’s threads shitting on them many times 5 to 6 replies in a row.

r103, most ten year old girls these days know the facts of life.

R108 You’re comparing her to artists who are just as niche and white-female-centric as Taylor Swift.

You’d never say the same about the Stones, Zeppelin, or the Beatles, who all built careers ripping off songs.

Joni Mitchell is old maiden bullshit by the way and her later albums are far worse than Madonna’s.

R114 Still has his Britney posters on his wall

2.7 million copies.

She’s going to break Adele’s “25”.

But the issue is, it’s not gonna sell as much as “25.”

Front loaded, pre-sales, etc.

Not denying the success but it’s a bit smoke and mirrors as its fanbase mobilization than cultural impact.

Poor Travis. Can you imagine the shit he is getting in the locker room from his teammates? Or his brother and sister inlaw?

R115 I don’t listen to Britney. Just cause I don’t want to listen to a medieval wench yodeling must mean I only listen to bubblegum pop. No.

I understand Joni Mitchell, the folk music of that era, and she sucks.

Kate Bush sounds like Tiny Tim getting a prostate exam her first 3 albums.

Inaccessibility doesn’t always equal more talent than artists who are accessible to everyone.

I love Kate but let’s not be pretentious here.

And she'll continue to win Grammys, Billboard awards, American Music Awards, VMAs, etc. It's always the same : Swift, Dua Lipa, Eilish.... even though they don't always deserve a nomination.

Taylor is now what, 35? Is due to be married soon, which stands to reason that at least one baby will follow shortly after. How long can she continue to be this icon to teen white girls? How much longer will this current wave of popularity hold, given she is nearing 40 and will likely take time off for kids.

I see her fame and target audience shifting quite a bit over the coming few years. Her audience will age up a bit as her life situation matures.

She has the means to retire now. Do it Taylor, while you're young and can enjoy yourself.

That article in The Guardian takes itself as seriously as does Taylor Swift. I couldn't finish it.

R121 Disagree. Many of her fans are aging alongside her, mostly white suburban women like Taylor herself. That’s the key to her longevity: they’ve grown up in parallel. Even her engagement feels calculated, aligning with her fanbase’s current life stage of marriage and family. Nothing she does feels spontaneous; it’s all deliberate strategy.

And honestly, that’s part of why she’s been so successful.

I’m around the same age, and when I was a teenager I loved artists like Pink, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, and The Killers. They were about a decade older, so over time they drifted away from my generation’s wavelength. Very few artists truly grow up with their audience.

The Killers, for instance, are now considered “dad rock,” even though their fanbase started as teenagers. They’ve aged into Gen X territory because they are Gen X.

When my mom was 14, Madonna debuted. By the time Madonna turned 40, my mom was only 29, which created a huge generational gap. Taylor’s advantage is that her audience is her age or slightly younger, and that synchronicity makes all the difference.

40 and 29 is NOT a huge generational gap.

[QUOTE] She’ll retreat over this round of reviews, seethe, and come back with something like Reputation. Travis will get dropped off along the way.

Nope. As she says in the song Wish List from Showgirl, the only wishes left are 'you and two kids' (you being Travis). She's 36 next month and her fertility is about to drop off a cliff. She will be prioritising conception over the next year.

[QUOTE] She’s going to break Adele’s “25”.

Adele had one version of 25. It came on vinyl, cassette or cd. One of each. Taylor has eight different coloured vinyl records, eight different cds, eight different cassette tapes and fans stupid enough to buy copies of all of these. She's scamming her way to breaking Adele's record and the whole industry knows it and is laughing at her desperation.

Her response to Charli is so infantile especially as Charli’s song was about her own insecurities. The biggest pop star in the world is a self-pitying victim.

And the images accompanying this album are so literal. It’s like “Now that I’m pushing 40 and am engaged, mom and dad are letting me be sexy and get fillers”.

She will never be sexy, same way Travis will never be sexy. There are a few pics of his dick showing through tight shorts and he has more of a button mushroom than a 'redwood tree'.

Harry Styles will always be the one who got away for Taylor. She'd have married him but he dumped her for being too petty, dramatic and intense.

Taylor is as sexy as cardboard. But cardboard has more depth.

R129 if you like big, oafish, burly men Travis is nearly perfect.

He is very sexy to a ton of men and women.

Agree re Taylor. She's about as sexy as a comma.

Six songs about his dick and none about how smart he is.

"The biggest pop star in the world is a self-pitying victim"

I'm constantly being tested..

I try to let people like what they like but a nearly 36 year old woman with an army of teen fans singing about her actual partner's intimate body part is exceptionally weird.

I'm calling it now. They never marry.

He's going to dump her.

She’s got her sights set on one person’s records- Madonna. She’s desperate to be crowned the best selling female artist of all time. She’ll do it in 10 years.

She's always been the musical equivalent of a British chip butty

R51 and R103 I’m not sure why you think her fan base is so young. Her main fan base is well into their 20s and 30s now. I love Taylor and went to several of the Eras Tour shows - the audience is not preteens or even really teenagers. You have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.

R139 She has a lot of teen fans. A lot. You did not go to her shows.

If she's so dickmatized, then I respectfully request Kelce dick pics be provided so we can judge for ourselves how bad (or good) she has it.

She actually said dickmatized? And wrote about his dick in multiple songs? Please say no.

R141, Not sure as I haven't listened, but the comments about one particular song being about Kelce's dick are many.

Considering her dating history, I'm sure the fact that Kelce is using his dick on her at all must seem pretty amazing.

I think I agree with the sentiment that her best lyrics came from when she was with Joe Alwyn who has an English degree.

This album sounds like it’s exactly the kind of album Kelce would inspire- a constellation of plastic.

She’s never had sex with a man so she’s definitely a fiction writer.

She is doing everything correctly to usurp Madonna as the best selling female. She tours for way longer, and more often, than Madonna. She does far more dates per tour than Madonna. She doesn’t disappear for 2/3 years like Madonna did ( after True Blue), but instead releases album after album in multiple formats. She largely stays out of controversy which allows all those sheltered White children to buy her music. She pays for tons and tons of great press. All that money she’s earned goes back into making sure the public hears nothing but great things about Taylor. Madonna is too cheap to do that. Her record company has her back, unlike Warner did with Madonna (and Prince).

I wonder how many more albums/singles/etc. Madonna would have sold if she wasn't so polarizing?

R147 Seeing as she is the best selling female of all time even being as polarizing as she was I’d say A LOT more.

Of her four main peers: Il say Rihanna is (was) a far better pop star, Beyonce is a far better performer, Adele had a much bigger peak, and Gaga is far more talented and interesting than Taylor.

Taylor just has the numbers.

[quote] Can anyone really picture Taylor Swift as a Showgirl?

Of course. She's a blank slate for her clueless fans to project their delusions on to. She doesn't need to be the most convincing because the Swifties will convince themselves that it's real.

Taking full advantage of this, Taylor and her team will contort and mold into whatever is most financially beneficial. It's all about the money, the album sales and getting more press than the competition. In other words, she's a media whore darlin'.

Lady Gaga is so overrated. Taylor has crushed her. LG hasn’t had a solo hit in 14 years.

I loathe this cutthroat cunt. Taylor is not an artist—at this point, she's an industrialist marketing machine. She's also a nasty person. Anyone who has paid close attention will notice that she has a pathological tendency to try to control/absorb any female peers who are on the rise and/or a threat to her ego. She'll invite them to open for her on tour or guest on her shitty albums, but not because she wants to—it's because she wants to get her witch claws into them and keep them in her orbit as a means of domination. There is always an ulterior motive.

She's done it to more than I can count: Charli XCX, Lana Del Rey, Phoebe Bridgers, Sabrina Carpenter, Camilla Cabello—the list goes on. I remember when she had Lana sing on one of her songs from "Midnights", which was reduced in post-production to what were essentially backing vocals. Then, when Taylor won the Grammy for it, she literally dragged her award loser "bestie" Lana onto the stage with her elongated talons so Lana could stand there awkwardly for the acceptance speech. Lana looked horrified and the entire thing felt like a high school shaming ritual. It was disgusting.

Aside from her being a monstrous cunt, she's also tacky as fuck and is now hocking her "The Life of a Showgirl Release Party" in cinemas where tweens and mentally-stunted women can sing along to an album about her inbred, CTE-ridden boyfriend's cock.

R151, I was about to correct you and looked up abracadabra on wikipedia. Apparently it didn't go higher than number 13 in America! It reached number one in only 5 or so countries. Considering how people would hype that song up, I was thinking it hit number one in a bunch of places.

I've respected Swift's stardom and career management even though her music has the same effect on me as listening to the 40 lb. bag of wood pellets in my garage.

But I've always looked askance at that Girlfriend Power stuff and now this song about Charli XCX?

"Mean Girl" is now an antiquated phrase but what it lacks in immediacy is more than made up for in its accuracy in describing Swift picking on someone in a lower league.

The other boyfriend Joe was extremely private, she kept a lid on things during that relationship but Wood is the real Taylor, tacky and trashy.

R147 I always say Taylor Swift is if Madonna kept making “True Blue” for 30 years.

Does Travis eat her pussy?

^^that’s the next album

R151 we know how you feel. You say the same thing in every pop music thread.

R152, Taylor Swift is the epitome of mean girl. Dropping a new digital version of TTPD on the day when Billie Eilish released her album. Taylor does this all of the time. Not to mention how Taylor (and others) pursued & got royalty credits from Olivia Rodrigo.

R159 oh well. It’s true.

I can't wait for her next ERA in which she will be seen driving her SUV, with her toddler on her lap.

I went and saw the movie today. I didnt realize Taylor is a neurodivergent lesbian

I'm not sure if you're joking, r163 but the aspie lesbians I've known have seemed to have these washed out eyes. It's hard to explain but I do see it in her as well. Not unfocused and not blank but kinda ... washed out. I dunno

Lyrics to Wood

Wood"

Daisy's bare naked I was distraught He loves me not He loves me not Penny's unlucky I took him back and then Stepped on a crack And the black cat laughed

And baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious (Superstitious) Fingers crossed until you put your hand on mine Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck A bad sign is all good I ain't gotta knock on wood

All of that bitchin', wishing on a falling star Never did me any good I ain't got to knock on wood It's you and me forever dancing in the dark All over me, it's understood I ain't got to knock on wood Forgive me, it sounds cocky He (Ah!)matized me And opened my eyes Redwood tree It ain't hard to see His love was the key That opened my thighs

Girls, I don't need to catch the bouquet To know a hard rock is on the way

And baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious (Superstitious) The curse on me was broken by your magic wand Seems to me that you and me, we make our own luck New Heights of manhood (New Heights, manhood) I ain't gotta knock on wood

All of that bitchin', wishing on a falling star Never did me any good I ain't got to knock on wood It's you and me forever dancing in the dark All over me, it's understood I ain't got to knock on wood Forgive me, it sounds cocky He (Ah!)matized me And opened my eyes Redwood tree It ain't hard to see His love was the key That opened my thighs

Forgive me, it sounds cocky

He dickmatized me

And opened my eyes

Redwood tree

It ain't hard to see His love was the key That opened my thighs

Better Format of WOOD

Daisy's bare naked

I was distraught

He loves me not He loves me not

Penny's unlucky

I took him back and then

Stepped on a crack

And the black cat laughed

And baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious

Fingers crossed until you put your hand on mine

Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck

A bad sign is all good I ain't gotta knock on wood

All of that bitchin', wishing on a falling star

Never did me any good I ain't got to knock on wood

It's you and me forever dancing in the dark

All over me, it's understood I ain't got to knock on wood

Forgive me, it sounds cocky

He (Ah!)matized me

And opened my eyes

Redwood tree It ain't hard to see

His love was the key That opened my thighs

Girls, I don't need to catch the bouquet

To know a hard rock is on the way

And baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious (Superstitious)

The curse on me was broken by your magic wand

Seems to me that you and me, we make our own luck

New Heights of manhood (New Heights, manhood)

I ain't gotta knock on wood

All of that bitchin', wishing on a falling star

Never did me any good

I ain't got to knock on wood

It's you and me forever dancing in the dark

All over me, it's understood

I ain't got to knock on wood

Forgive me, it sounds cocky

He (Ah!)matized me

And opened my eyes

Redwood tree It ain't hard to see

His love was the key

That opened my thighs

Forgive me, it sounds cocky

He dickmatized me

And opened my eyes

Redwood tree

It ain't hard to see

His love was the key

That opened my thighs

Slut

Even some Swifties don’t like this album.

Taylor Swift will never achieve anywhere near Madonna’s level of global impact, even if she manages to ultimately outsell her.

Those lyrics are terrible.

They are cringe. Like she's trying to be a bad girl badass. It's definitely TMI with no mystery or subtlety. A bit too on the nose.

Not all her fans are kids. On Friday, three of my coworkers were chatting on the team text thread about their favorite songs on the album. They are married women in their 20s and 30s. One of them even took the day off so she could go buy the album. They became fans when younger and stuck with Taylor through the years.

Whoever told Taylor she's sexy needs to be fired.

Compare the atrocity at r166 with something from her Alwyn era...

Our coming-of-age has come and gone

Suddenly the summer, it's clear

I never had the courage of my convictions

As long as danger is near

And it's just around the corner, darling

'Cause it lives in me

No, I could never give you peace

But I'm a fire, and I'll keep your brittle heart warm

If your cascade ocean wave blues come

All these people think love's for show

But I would die for you in secret

The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me

Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

Your integrity makes me seem small

You paint dreamscapes on the wall

I talk shit with my friends

It's like I'm wasting your honor

And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences

Sit with you in the trenches

Give you my wild, give you a child

Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other

Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother

Is it enough?

But there's robbers to the east, clowns to the West [reference to Kanye West]

I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best

But the rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me

But I'm a fire, and I'll keep your brittle heart warm

If your cascade ocean wave blues come

All these people think love's for show

But I would die for you in secret

The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me

Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

R174 She had help! A lot of help.

I've actually never listened to "Wet Ass Pussy" by Cardi B.

It was so instantly famous, I didn't have to. I caught its drift, and tbh, I'll admit to being shocked.

But in a way, I respect that WAP is upfront, no holds, here-it-is-trash.

Otoh, "Wood" which, based upon the lyrics, seems to want to be the Taylor version of that, is only hopelessly cloaked in sophomoric euphemism.

A mark of a great songwriter can be saying a lot with few words. Taylor thinks throwing in more words makes her a great songwriter.

This release seems rushed to me, and kind of thrown together, from the few songs I've heard. Did she need to release new music right now - didn't she just release a full length record just last year? Was the world clamoring for more TSwift tunes.

R179 It’s long rumored she pays an exorbitant amount of money for the best publicity and has ex Mossad on her team.

Taylor became famous when I was a teenager and all the mean girls in my school were the only ones who listened to her music. 15 years later and those same mean girls still listen to her.

TS appeals to the mean girl demographic because, Taylor, like her fans, all see themselves as victims even though they’re always the ones stirring shit.

I never thought TS would still be this popular nearly two decades later. She’s pushing 40 and still writes like a middle schooler 🙄

If she has kids with Kelce, TS will be the new voice of the Karens/wine moms.

The teen TS fans are fine, the drivel she writes is stuck in middle school, they don't know any better. It's the adult Swifties who are pathetic.

Taylor Swift's "music" is like Disneyland. Made for kids, co-opted by stunted Wine Moms.

I most definitely am not joking, R164. No judgment or hate here, just my observations. I think she is neurodivergent and lesbian.

I would never actively seek out to listen Taylor swift but when I hear her music, it’s always just “fine”. She has a nice voice and her songs sound kind of the same and are inoffensive. It’s like the aural equivalent of lentil soup.

[quote]To get their albums to the top of Billboard’s chart, Taylor Swift, DJ Khaled, and other popular musicians slip free downloads of their albums into “bundled” sales of everything from pizza to T-shirts to energy drinks, The New York Times reports

[quote]So, to climb to the top, artists go to great lengths to bundle their downloads with other popular products. Taylor Swift once bundled an album with a large, one-topping pie from Papa John’s (just $22!) — and other artists have done the same with hoodies, T-shirts, keychains, and other gimmicks.

R184 The charts are one huge scam now.

Lentil soup seems a little spicy for a Taylor Swift comparison

R138, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Her Eras movie was a huge hit because tweens kept seeing it over and over and having parties in the theater.

[quote] I remember when she had Lana sing on one of her songs from "Midnights", which was reduced in post-production to what were essentially backing vocals. Then, when Taylor won the Grammy for it, she literally dragged her award loser "bestie" Lana onto the stage with her elongated talons so Lana could stand there awkwardly for the acceptance speech. Lana looked horrified and the entire thing felt like a high school shaming ritual. It was disgusting.

Lana posted an image of herself on Instagram that night holding a Derringer.

Taylor was coked up to her eyeballs that night.

Kept giving people noogies.

Lana deserved the Grammy for "Do You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard" that year. That was a stellar album. Lana's music has an emotional depth that Taylor's could never remotely reach because, well—the bitch has no soul.

[quote] She and Beyoncé are the most overrated “artists” of all time with the most bizarrely unhinged fans.

There are zero parallels between Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Taylor is not in league with Beyonce in any shape, form or fashion.

And it's OK if you don't like them...they don't care.

The lyrics to that “the altar is my hips” song was very much inspired by Lana Del Rey too.

[quote] [R174] She had help! A lot of help.

We did our best.

R139 ABSOLUTELY. Nothing but teenagers and a few stunted young adult women.

[quote]There are zero parallels between Beyonce and Taylor Swift.

Bullshit. They’re both overrated, and their fans are nuts.

She released a self-directed music video for ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, and the showgirl theme kinda fits this song. It’s a fun, breezy ditty.

Her performance chops have improved. Choreo is still simple, but she sells it.

Some of the visuals are gorgeous. Hair, makeup and wardrobe are flawless.

R195 Add Lady Gaga to that list along with her fans.

Joe Alwyn wrote a lot more of the Folklore/Evermore songs than he's given credit for, and acted as a judicious editor on others, curbing Swift's worst excesses and tendency to be cheesy.

[QUOTE] think she is neurodivergent and lesbian.

This is a popular opinion amongst Tumblr fangirls, the same clowns who think Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are married. Tall girls always get lesbian rumors. Nobody is running round saying Sabrina Carpenter is gay.

Taylor is aggressively straight and can't go without dick for longer than a few days. She was fucking men at 15. Never out of a relationship. She'll marry Kelce and have two kids, and then probably divorce him when she's around 45.

I heard "The Fate of Ophelia" on the radio this morning.

Meh. Maybe it'll grow on me.

The Fate of Ophelia definitely has the bass notes of Foster the People's, "Pumped Up Kicks".

I went to see the band Phoenix at the Kia the same night that Taylor was performing next door at the SoFi. Her fans were some young girls, teens, their moms, and gay men. And I worked in a house (for a commercial in the Valley ) of an older woman (60's) who had a whole basement devoted to Harry Potter for her kids. A co-worker and I commented on some Taylor stuff she had on the walls- up popped her head, and she told us what a big fan she was- she was going to Canada to see her, and she had these special clothes made for her to wear at the concert (bedazzled jean jacket and pants). Co-worker and I oohed and ahhed, but it was kind of embarrassing.

I'll also add that my travel parter, a gay man who is 60, is a huge fan, and goes to several of her concerts in and outside of Chicago. We were driving from Granada to Valencia in Spain for 5 hours, and for 3 hours, I had to listen to Taylor and Celine (it was the Anti-hero album that was just released). I was so happy to drive for 2 hours and not listen to his music. Of course he complained about mine (that electronic music).

Cilian Murphy suffering on Grahan Norton gets all the love in the YT comments.

The album is terrible and the legit reviews reflect that:

NME - 60/100

Pitchfork - 59/100

Slant - 50/100

Beats Per Minute - 48/100

The Telegraph — 60

The Sydney Morning Herald — 60

The Guardian — 40

R104 And Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars.

They should feel embarrassed because very few critics are going along with Taylor’s propaganda machine today and giving it 5 stars exposes that.

Rolling Stone lost relevancy the minute teen pop came on the scene. They went downhill after that. It's a shame because they actually used to have really well-written, thoughtful reviews.

Thank god I've never had to listen to her. She looks so formulaic.

She's so dramatic in the new Ophelia video, like a theater kid at heart. I wonder why she's never seriously gone for a stage or acting career, like a lot of famous singers.

Pitchfork describes Wood as having the spiritual energy of bachelorette-party penis décor which is 👩‍🍳💋

R208 Bitch, I was in "Valentine's Day" with my heterosexual boyfriend at the time, Taylor Lautner, and perhaps you missed my Oscar-worthy performance in the critically acclaimed box office smash "Cats!"

R199, lol, most of her relationships were for publicity. I think some DLers think about dick 24 hours a day and project that onto women

I don't even think she's a lesbian but it's clear she only came up with that "Wood" song because people were making fun of her songs for being schmaltzy and prudish

R209 Who's wood?

Ron Wood, r212.

R213 Oh, okay. I'm not getting the correlation...

R208 Because she can’t control it. She would need to control the entire film.

The movie she was in was a bomb so I’m sure that scared her because she couldn’t control the marketing and etc.

She was in that Christian Bale and Margot Robbie movie, the follow-up to LaLa Land.

Wow, she looks hella old at R203. What happened? If this is what she looks like in motion, then all the showgirl pictures are photoshopped to hell. She looks like a Real Housewife now with too many fillers and can’t even move her face.

[QUOTE] most of her relationships were for publicity

Oh, so you ARE one of those deluded Tumblr fraus who believe that any celebrity relationship you don't like is fake and for PR.

Are you going to say she's in a lavender marriage when she weds Kelce? Lavender kids too? Dumbass.

R217 I noticed that this weekend too! She is getting older in the face. I mean she’s 35 year-old. The work she’s getting done is more obvious now.

She looks like the cat lady Joyceline at R203.

I just listened to "Wood," and I hope she paid the Jacksons to sample "I Want You Back."

Pitchfork gave Showgirl 5.9/10. The site has reviewed all twelve of her albums, and that's the lowest score it's given. The highest was to Red (9).

Taylor should take a three year hiatus from releasing music. She's stale and needs new sounds, new stories.

Taylor Swift is also an alcoholic. She's going to be one of those pregnant ladies who thinks that a few glasses of wine is good for the baby.

[QUOTE] I just listened to "Wood," and I hope she paid the Jacksons to sample "I Want You Back."

She doesn't even credit them. I hope they sue her.

That was a horrible interview. She came across atrocious, spoiled, and shallow. I didn’t know that was her personality. No wonder Cillian Murphy was so appalled.

[quote] She's so dramatic in the new Ophelia video, like a theater kid at heart. I wonder why she's never seriously gone for a stage or acting career, like a lot of famous singers.

Because in the singer-turned-actor department, she’s more Madge than Babs.

She wants to be a film director.