Just when you thought she hadn’t even left yet, Taylor Swift is back again with yet another album, complete with a color-based theme (orange), theatrically released music video, and multiple vinyl variants. “The Life of a Showgirl," which dropped October 3rd, is her third fully new album in four years; between 2019 and 2025, she has released at least one new or rerecorded album every year. Like any savvy creative in the influencer era, Swift knows the importance of feeding the beast with an unceasing flood of new content!

Sure, her primary medium is confessional pop hits, not a curated Instagram grid. But Swift’s business model — the frequent drops, the mining of her personal life for intriguing material, the outsized parasocial relationship between her and her fans (in which she is positioned both as aspirational and, increasingly implausibly, as relatable), and the harnessing of backlash, outrage cycles, and “haters” to fuel her career — is almost perfectly optimized for an influencer-based attention economy. She’s figured out how to make sure we pay attention to her. And pay attention we did.

So what did we think of “TLOAS,” and what did we think of the discourse around it? Is it badly written and hollow? Is it boring because it’s about being happy and in love? Is it full of half-baked, ripped-off songs? Is it mean-spirited, petty, and punching down at less famous women? Are there too many old memes in it? Is she a tradwife now? Is it a needless album, born of greed, without a single bop to be found? Is it a misunderstood instant classic?

We listened to the album a few (dozen) times, read a few (dozen) reviews and takes, and went through a few (dozen) changes of heart about the songs before recording this. And while we’re not music critics or Swifties, we did wind up with some strong feelings and opinions! In this episode, we discuss our favorite parts of the album, Taylor Swift’s ambitions and influencer-esque savvy, the cringe lyrics (you know which ones), the difficulty of reviewing a Taylor Swift album without reviewing Taylor as a person, the “WI$H LI$T” tradwife discourse, and so much more.

Hope you enjoy! xo

Reading List:

Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker: “Why Does Taylor Swift Think She’s Cursed?”

Ira Madison III, “She’s Not Your Average Showgirl”

Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone: “Taylor Swift Conquers Her Biggest Stage Ever on ‘The Life of a Showgirl’”

Anna Graca, Pitchfork review

Tyler Foggatt, The New Yorker: “Do We Still Like Taylor Swift When She’s Happy?”

B.D. McClay, The Substack Post

Kelsey McKinney, Defector: “No Good Art Comes From Greed”

New York Times roundtable: “Taylor Swift Keeps Getting Bigger. Can the Music Keep Up?"

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