Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl was released at midnight Friday, and the reviews flooded in soon after. Reaction to the superstar's 12th album is so far largely positive (as of this writing, its Metacritic score is sitting at a healthy 79), in a bit of a contrast to the last time around. A sampling:
- "Contagiously joyful": At Variety, Chris Willman writes that this is Swift's most unapologetically, uncomplicatedly sunny album yet. She's coming off her epically successful Eras world tour and is newly engaged, but "it's still just slightly startling how light-hearted the near-entirety" of the album is. And the diss tracks? Some of the happiest-sounding songs of the whole thing. Full review here.
- "Every song is a potential smash": At USA Today, Melissa Ruggieri uses words like "brisk" and "playful" to describe the songs, only two of which are more than four minutes long (and not much more at that; the album's 12 songs clock in at just over 40 minutes total). She notes that while there's also Swift's trademark "delicious snark," the album is "bookended by a declaration of romantic salvation and a narrative from the perspective of a weary, yet defiant showgirl." Full review here.
- "Bangers for Adults": At Billboard, Jason Lipshutz is one of many making 1989 comparisons—for this album, Swift returned to working with the producers who were behind some of her biggest "pop smashes" last decade—but he notes that this is a more "mature" version, "a collection of songs that are immediately engrossing and among the most affecting of Swift's career." Full review here.
- "Some of her best songs in years": At Business Insider, Callie Ahlgrim admires much of the album, but writes that it also includes moments of Swift at her "cringiest," with the last half of the album full of "unfocused and self-indulgent" songs. The result is "the most brazenly pop-forward, melodically savvy, and structurally polished album that Swift has released in about a decade," and yet not all of the songs live up to Swift's best lyrical work—much of which has come during that decade. Full review here.
- "Dull razzle-dazzle": Not everyone was impressed. At the Guardian, Alexis Petridis gives the album two stars out of five, calling it full of "breezy, easy-on-the-ear soft rock: acoustic guitars, misty synth tones, subtle orchestrations and breathy backing vocals" with no "genuinely memorable moments." Full review here.
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For more, you can read about one song in particular that many are reading as NSFW, or another song that may be a diss directed at Charli XCX, or there's always the rabbit hole of the Swifties on Reddit.
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