Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which has left lasting impressions on fans. Since its announcement, the album broke Spotify records for the most pre-saved album, at over 5 million pre-saves, and the highest record of album streaming in a single day in 2025. In the New Heights podcast with her fiancé, Travis Kelce, Swift revealed that she had been working on the album for years, and would fly to Sweden during her Eras Tour to record The Life of a Showgirl.
The album consists of 12 songs: “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Elizabeth Taylor,” “Opalite,” “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Ruin the Friendship,” “Actually Romantic,” “Wi$h Li$t,” “Wood,” “CANCELLED!,” “Honey,” and “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter).”
Swifties on social media had also theorized the subjects of the song; one popular theory had been that “Actually Romantic” was a diss track directed at Charlie XCX. One of the more accepted theories was that “Ruin the Friendship,” a song about losing someone before you can confess your love, had been about Jeff Lang, a crush that Swift had in high school, but had tragically passed away before she could convey her feelings to him. One other theory that Swifties have speculated is that the 12 songs would represent her 12 past albums, reviewing the stages of her life and music career.
This album is very romantic, with songs like “Opalite,” “Wood,” “Honey,” and “Wi$h Li$t,” expressing the feeling of finally having someone who creates their own happiness and spreads it to others, letting them open up and make life worth living.
WMC special education teacher Ms. Katie Critchley is a Swiftie and a big fan of the album. “It’s very nice for people who are just happy and in happy relationships. So I guess because I’m happy it resonates with me in that sense,” Critchley said.
This album also reflects societal pressure and the hardship behind the music industry in songs like “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “CANCELLED!” and “The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)”. Now that she has finally bought back her original recordings, Swift wanted to truly express and expose how difficult this process was for her and bring awareness to other artists who may not have control over their master recordings.
This album mixes pop while experimenting with synth beats, with simple but meaningful lyrics. Similar to her past albums, Folklore and Evermore, Swift adds a storytelling aspect to some of her songs to push themes, which can be seen in “The Life of a Showgirl,” where Swift uses a fictional character named Kitty to act as a mentor and express the complexity of the entertainment department.
October 5th, Swift released a music video for “Fate of Ophelia” along with a behind-the-scenes of the music video, lyric videos for all the songs, along an interview directly from Swift where she explained the significance behind each track on the album, all in theaters. The music video had gained a big audience and support for the listening party, the video itself gaining 8 million views within the first day of its release.
