Taylor Swift’s latest album may be her most polarizing amongst critics.
The multiple Grammy Award winner’s latest musical project was recorded during the European leg of her Eras Tour in 2024. There was a great deal of anticipation that the Fearless singer would knock this one out of the park just like she has on many of her previous records.
The Life of a Showgirl, however, doesn’t seem to have struck a chord with all music journalists.
Reviews show The Life of a Showgirl is one of Taylor Swift’s most contentious album releases
No one would deny that Taylor is among the most influential female singers of all time.
It’s mind-blowing to think of all her successes in the industry. The Life of a Showgirl, though, hasn’t blown everybody away like her previous discs. Reviews of her 12th album may be the most contentious she’s ever had, as renowned publications are all over the map in their assessments.
The best score on Metacritic comes courtesy of Rolling Stone, who say that the singer and musician “shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom — and hits all her marks,” with this album. They gave it a score of 100.
The Guardian, though, disagreed with that assessment, giving it the lowest rating on the website at 40. They note that the song Wood on the album is messy, while they don’t believe it’s anywhere close to the standards we are used to seeing from Taylor. “In fairness, Wood is one clanging misstep on an album that isn’t terrible: it’s just nowhere near as good as it should be given Swift’s talents.”
The album overall has plenty of variance, leading to considerable intrigue about what some songs are really about. The estate of George Michael loved her rendition of the late Wham! singer’s solo song Father Figure.
Three reviewers rated it below 50, though only five gave it a grade of 70 or more.
The Life of a Showgirl was released on October 3.
TELL US – WHAT RATING WOULD YOU GIVE THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL ON A SCALE FROM 1-100?
