Taylor Swift is the name on everybody’s lips this week. Her 12th studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” was not received with the overwhelming praise her albums typically are. For many Swifties, this was the first album released by the superstar that left them feeling disappointed.
While I truly believe that Swift is a brilliant artist and musician, she is an even better capitalist. Capital and art are direct opposites, and in the end, one was always going to win out, and the release of this album has solidified the capitalist winning.
It all started before the album was even released. The desperate grab for money from her loyal fans began as it always does — with the merchandise. She released not one, but 11 variants of her album, including three CD variants and eight vinyl variants.
Swift incentivizes fans to purchase not just one copy of her records but multiple with different posters and photos in each variation; you are not a real fan unless you have them all. With each vinyl costing $35 and each CD costing $15, she is asking her dedicated fans to spend $325 before the album is even released.
This is not to mention other merchandise such as her cardigans or shirts; the incentive to buying them is their rarity. Her marketing is genius in that she is encouraging fans to buy as fast as they can for the risk of not being able to get their hands on it again.
Purchase links for these CDs and vinyls were released before the album cover was, forcing dedicated fans to buy before they know if they will even enjoy the album, purchasing off her name alone, not the quality of the art.
Beyond merchandise, Swift also released a film, which consisted of one of her music videos and extra content that did not make up an actual story of any kind. This film grossed $33 million at the box office.
As someone who has purchased Swift merchandise in the past, both from her website and at the Eras Tour, I can say it is low quality and highly priced. The design on the shirt I purchased faded after only two washes, and the tote bag I bought on her tour pilled all over after only one use.
All of this to say, I enjoy some of Swift’s music, I attended the Eras Tour and used to consider myself a Swiftie. I began to fall off of her music after the release of “The Tortured Poets Department,” as I found the amount of variations and number of songs (31) overwhelming.
I enjoyed about 11 out of the 31 songs, so I was disappointed but still felt she had made quality art within the mass release.
Swift started the multiple variants with her tenth studio album “Midnights,” but it had some creativity behind it as all the variants made a giant clock and kept with the theme of the album. When it came to “The Tortured Poets Department,” the amount of variations felt like too obvious a cash grab for me.
When it comes to “The Life of a Showgirl,” the variations have almost no creative merit besides being different colors. It was also extremely disappointing to realize how much money fans had spent on the album before actually listening to it.
Swift is known as a master lyricist, and in some aspects, I would agree. I think her albums “Folklore” and “Evermore” have some of her best work; she was able to take a step outside of her unrealistic and unrelatable billionaire lifestyle to write from a different perspective.
When comparing the lyrics from “Folklore” to “The Life of a Showgirl” it is clear she did not take her time: it is extremely lazy, cliché and tone-deaf writing.
In her song “Actually Romantic,” she says:
“It sounded nasty, but it feels like you’re flirting with me / I mind my business / God’s my witness that I don’t provoke it / It’s kind of making me wet (Oh.)”
This song is widely speculated to be a diss track on Charli XCX and her song “Sympathy is a Knife.”
Charli has since come out with a statement saying there are no diss tracks on her album “Brat” and clarified the song was about her personal insecurities surrounding feeling inadequate and her struggles as a female artist.
Swift is using queerness as the punchline in this context, trying to make it seem like Charli is obsessed with her because she has some sort of crush on her.
This is a complete opposition to her album “Lover” where she celebrates queerness. The entire album was centered around pride and queer love.
It feels like a slap in the face to the queer community, throwing around queerness as an insult when supporting them doesn’t benefit her brand anymore.
Overall, it is clear Swift can make quality work when she gives herself time and space and tries to step outside of herself, like she did during the pandemic.
She has the ability to create meaningful art but chooses to release multiple albums in the shortest time frame possible to keep her name in headlines and money in her pocket.
“The Life of a Showgirl” feels like a clapback to made-up, one-sided drama and a rip-off of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend” released solely to add more money to her empire.
Freeman can be reached at [email protected].
