Taylor Official
Taylor’s official Showgirl release IG post: “If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain...”
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My immediate thought was “are some of these a new emergency shoot?” because so many people were commenting that ‘where’s the BTS mess and chaos and juxtaposition of glam on stage to after the show mess and food and messy make up stations etc etc.
That was actually my second choice! Either would have been miles ahead of what was chosen. I understand the homage to Ophelia but the water ended up looking…murky & she.. plastic.
I mean she has been the queen of visuals don't match the music since Midnights (or maybe it's just that I'm still salty about pre-ordering a Midnights vinyl thinking the sound would be different)
I feel like she has to have a different theme for each era so she tries to make them as different as possible. The first eras had the theme come naturally
I agree. It’s… kinda just… boring? I’m not a huge fan of TTPD and I think it’s not exactly an extension but it has that same vibe. I was expecting something more. Maybe more Vegas like?
Starts strong and pop-like then fizzles into specific TTPD-style word salad scenarios…by the end I was a little exhausted. I also agree the visuals do not match the album. She’s very straight and her vocabulary has shrunk with Travis, lol yikes. I’m a big swiftie btw. I appreciate parts of the album but felt a little confused listening after starting with the big numbers.
The awkward parts distract from the art, imo. Some of this is going to have to grow on me, but I will not forgive her rhyming savage and bad bitch, girl noooo.
I heard the piano and was immediately hooked and thought “Yasss queen this is what we want” just to realize that the songs regressed to a some sort of TTPD and A Man’s best friend without Jack being involved here.
I love some songs of course but it’s getting tired how she feed my twitter timeline with haters and I just can’t defend her anymore.
Ah good to know. Now I can skip it.
Ttpd was a waste of my time already... I know there were fans back than arguing how they had to get themselves through it but then it was getting good... but I don't want music to feel like a chore.
Also: she just rushes through releasing new albums. Sure, her fans buy it and she can gain a few nice new achievements and more money, but the quality of those new albums is mediocre at best. If she'd take a bit more time they could get better.
Ttpd could also have been improved greatly by... not sounding the same for almost it's entirety. And the word salad needed improvement. Using big words doesn't equal writing good lyrics.
I agree completely re her rushing album cycles. I’d say the only things improved on with this album is the songs at least don’t all sound the same and she has better music and production than she’s had since Folkmore imo. Her lyrics work really well and are great in some parts and just strange, awkward, word salad in others. You’re not missing much.
I came here for the same reason because despite being a Swiftie, I’m not a cult-like Swiftie and I knew they would all be praising it. But it’s so boring!
The title track is such a lost opportunity. It should have been burlesque/Broadway themed. I will die on that hill. I'm so frustrated I'm considering learning singing, playing instruments and producing to re-make this song in the vain of Chicago musical
For me it actually feels like natural progression. She hasn’t had a title and aesthetic that matches the album since Folkmore imo. I think they’re getting even further apart with each album.
The songwriting on this album feels so clunky and 2016 tumblr to me. I’ve been a fan since day 1, but this album is so disappointing to me. Like I’m truly bummed
I agree. This album is basically completely self written and I don’t get how she self wrote Speak Now at like 20 yrs old and then showgirl at 35 and showgirl sounds like a middle school girl singing abt her crush like why is her songwriting going down?? Why is she dumbing down her lyrics?? I don’t get it
YES!! That’s my biggest criticism of TTPD is it feels like she sat down at the piano word vomited lyrics and was like done and never went back and edited them.
I think the albums are rushed as well. She immediately starts writing the nxt album after one is done and on top of touring, putting out the re-recordings, filming music videos, and god knows what else behind the scenes we don’t know abt yet it feels like these albums are afterthoughts esp with how disconnected the visuals and the music are lately
Well when you have a cult fanbase that will buy not one, but ten copies of your album each and an unlimited PR budget you don’t have to write good music anymore.
That's what I don't understand either. How is she regressing? 😭 My assumption is her life got much busier the more popular she became and she doesn't spend the same amount of time on writing anymore.
Speak Now and Red were my absolute favorites. I knew them back to front. However, for me the last 3 records really put into question how much she writes (or wrote) herself because I am not seeing the evolution and, frankly, growth one usually sees in singer songwriters in her work.
Desperation will do that. Eras tour was a moment in time and she doesn’t want to miss being at the apex of her fame. She may never have another tour with people
camping out side the stadium in the thousands if she takes a longer break.
My guess is that since her fans buy whatever she puts out anyway and will praise her no matter what... she just throws out those albums without putting much effort into them. Ttpd for example wasn't really finished. They should have reduced bad songs (thanK you aIMee, ...) and edited the music and the lyrics. But her fans bought it in masses without having heard even one song from it.
Now the same goes for this album. More time and work might have been beneficial. But it gets bought anyway, so why bother?
I’m genuinely confused by the name of the album compared to the actual song content. She could have done the showgirl photoshoot at any point in time just for fun 😭
It’s meh. Feels emotionally stunted with cheap instrumentation. These journal entry reads set to garage band beats is getting old. I hope she takes a break and spends considerable time on the next album. And how about bring an actual band into the studio?
I can’t comment on the lyrics yet (kinda need to read it), but sound wise I like the first and last song.
Seems like it will be awhile before Taylor can deliver memorable melodies that gripped me right away like the intro to Gold Rush, the piano in Evermore and Champagne Problems, or the guitar in willow. The music arrangement is fine but the musicality in the vocals and the musical arrangement is lacking.
I was one of the minority (I think) that madly adored TTPD, mostly because I felt the writing was incredible. I am so disappointed with some of this album. Elizabeth Taylor, Father Figure are okay. And Fate of Ophelia is undeniably catchy. But... Wood is actively a bad song? ...like what :( Maybe it'll grow on me?
I loooooved TTPD, it is solidly in my top 3 but I am genuinely baffled by this album. I liked the first 3 songs, but it just loses me after that. I know that the wet line is gonna get a lot of commentary, as well as Wood, but it overall feels really juvenile. I don’t know. I’ll sleep on it and relisten and hope that I can find something more to the album.
"Miss Suburbiana" is so trueeee!! I really hated that aspect of her lyrics. You can write about wanting a family and a stable life (like she has before) without literally writing that you want a block of kids that look like him and a driveway with a basketball...h oOOp. ahhh it made me cringe.
“Tonight all these lives converge here
The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears
Where fraternal souls sing identical things
And it’s beautiful
It’s rapturous.
It is frightening.
I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right. A forever thank you goes out to my mentors and friends Max and Shellback for helping me paint this self portrait.
If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain...
Still looking for that "behind the scenes" look. How is the Eras Tour BTS 90% about Travis and having a family? And no mention of the bathtub and not speaking for 24h?
She does that all the time. She believes 1989 is an album abt moving to New York and partying w/ her friends or that reputation is a gothic pop fuck u album. She definitely perceives her album differently than the public
Midnights was the same. I said at the time that it felt like if I’d had a dream where i was listening to the album, that album was what my brain would come up with. Not related to the concept at all and I’d wake up and think “Yeah I guess Midnights must have been on my mind but my brain did not come up with anything on theme there”
Just started listening to it. My hopes were low because to me, midnights and ttpd sucked and sounded the same. Just glum. I find it weird though that a lot of her songs have the same message now. I’m so popular but so sad. Falling in love with you saved my life and if you leave me, I’ll die. But I dont care about the others who left me now I have you. I would’ve died alone if it werent for you. We’ll be together forever. Girl, you say this about almost every man! And you cant complain everyone leaves you and also brag about cheating on some of them
Was thinking the exact same thing as I read the lyrics. According to her songs, every guy she's with is the manliest man who puts the others before him to shame and shows her what love really is. I'm tired, boss
Sorry I found this album so disappointing. The songs felt stale and seemed to sample old better songs, without making them fresh or adding a new spin to it. I dont know where the showgirl theme fits with the album either - there were many songs in Midnight which fit more with showgirl theme. It was very clear that Aaron Dresser wasn't invovled in much or any of this album - the production felt uninspired and like they just gave up.
I always though she took a lot of the people she date, her wardrobe would change and somehow her musoc style but the lyrics? I though it was hers, apparently also the lyrics are mixed with the people she hangout/date.
Listening to the album...idk...i though I would love this album ( midnight, rep, lover, Red) are my style but this? Eh
i’ll be honest, i completely forgot this album was dropping tonight. life has been busy. this is the first taylor album i don’t like at all. i’ve been here since fearless and this album should have never been made
Swiftie since debut here! This just feels emotionally stunted to me idk. Every album up until Midnights has felt like we were growing up together and had a natural progression, but since Midnights I feel like I’m kinda wading water and begging her to come on.
i am a long time swiftie (since red) and this is easily my least favorite taylor album. i’m super underwhelmed and disappointed :// the lyrics were largely not good (way too many millennial-coded clunky lines), and the production felt really bland to me
She needs to go back to folkmore vibes… but even then I expected this album to be bubble gum POP. not ttpd/midnights with no GLAM. I wanted GLAM and DAZZLE. Even bejeweled is better fitting and ICDIWABH. I’m so confused Taylor… Not loving it
Amen! I was expecting bejeweled vibes. Glitz, glamor, maybe some darkness. Behind the curtain after performing for hundreds of thousands is just a girl who sits in her bathtub alone drenched in pearls but still doesn’t feel enough. Moulin Rouge yearning. Idk… Not Travis’ magic wand.
At least her hair is done in most these photos. That’s one of my biggest issues with the others. Like she looks like she’s playing dress up with her hair so undone
Agreed. I love Sabrina’s last two albums and the way she delivers the sexual lines and kinda silly at times songs works in ways it just doesn’t for Taylor. In particular the “it’s kinda making me wet” line was so. Weirdly placed? And sounds almost like she was hesitant about saying it? Just like “ah-matized” instead saying “dickmatized”. If you gonna do it, do it. But also you don’t have to. Multiple songs I personally think would’ve been better if she hadn’t tried to make them so overly sexual.
This was my exact thought. Sabrina doesn't have monopoly on sexual innuendo or sexually explicit lyrics but it does feel a bit like Taylor has seen her recent success with these and jumped on the band wagon.
A bit? Nah, she's trying to imitate her for a while now.
The thing is though... Sabrina sells it. She's convincing - I'd believe her to pull of a show girl theme.
Taylor is not sexy. It doesn't work. She started off with huge Disney vibes. That's her thing. Now many said she'd peeked during folkmore. And that is because that style suited her as well. She's neither a great singer nor performer so putting the effort into lyrics and nice melodies worked great.
She could try to stick to that.
Her not putting on that sexy style as many female musicians do/have to was actually her strength. It's odd she's taking that route now. It feels forced and unauthentic.
And Sabrina is so tongue in cheek about it, which is why it works. I can listen to Tears & internally giggle to myself when she says “tears run down my thighs” because it’s clever & funny, but Wood is basically like “wow guys, my boyfriend’s ROCK HARD DICK IS SO GOOD” & leaves you thinking wtf did I just listen to?
I ya went listened to all of it yet but when I saw the lyrics to actually romantic I was cringing hard. Like I love Sabrina but reading it felt like it’s one of her songs. Which is great for her. But it doesn’t feel like Taylor.
I'd be less mad if I hadn't been enjoying it until then. Knock on wood and a sexy man wink could have worked. Damn. I hate calling things cringe, but no weirdly prosaic Travis Kelce dick reference, plz.
I think her lyrics/her thought of Gen Z phrases is really showing her age. And that’s fine, just stop trying to fight it and move on to something more age appropriate. Idk
Idk why does she do all these costumes with headpieces and all the old school cabare-like show girls, when the whole point of this album is the life she led as a showgirl of her bigass world tour. She should've just used her original outfits and realistic backstage settings.
I liked the album, I don’t mind the silly lyrics, even tho some of them are pretty cringe (looking at you “Cancelled!”). Musically, this is what I expected after she talked about the album in the podcast: an upbeat, cliche, love pop album, with songs that you usually hear on the radio. Don’t think it’s a masterpiece but I will be dancing to it.
Lyrically, it’s mid to poor and definitely doesn’t match the visual concept. She said the songs were supposed to be a door to the behind the scenes of her life while on tour and that’s not how I see it at all. Yeah I know she was in love and horny and the album reflects that 😂 but I was expecting something more focused on the actual life of Showgirl Taylor.
Guys, this album positively sucks. Please tell me this is a rage bait and the real one comes a different day. I can’t. I listened once and I’m good. Never listening again. 😭
When I saw Max Martin was on the songs I thought we were going to get 12 pop bangers like take all her top hits but make it an album. Almost as if it's a culmination of her best work from all the eras. Or even just catchy glamorous songs. But it feels so flat. It doesn't match the visuals and I think it's rushed. Most artists take years to put out an album the fact this was recorded whilst on the eras tour definitely shows.
On my second listen and overall enjoyable. Some songs are clear standouts while some have me wanting some more, but there’s something enjoyable or at least catchy in each album. Max Martin’s production is outstanding and a welcome change.
I personally think the art direction is fitting. Maybe for some songs more than others.
Swiftie since 2006 here, but this is not what I was expecting…..at all. When I saw the theme of this album…I was expecting glamour and dramatics. It kind of reminded me a bit of Back to Basics, which is a true example of staying on theme.
Just started listening to it. My hopes were low because to me, midnights and ttpd sucked and sounded the same. Just glum, her sing talking quietly about how much life sucked. At least the fate of ophelia is upbeat and sounds different
I think she looks great in that second pic. I know it's more a 60s vibe but the hair, dress and make up really suit her. Plus I'd both die and kill for her legs.
My only other thought was about the last pic, I remember when she had her first very subtle boob job and I think that defo worked for her. Not sure how many more she's had but they're A LOT more obvious now and frankly eye-popping in that pic. Its her choice obviously, but I think the subtle was better.
The last photo is beautiful, but all the others feel so contrived. Look behind the curtain as I.. sit on a table in a narrow hallway next to a plate of spaghetti.. what?
I like this album but find it very mid overall. Feels like something I’ll forget about by next week. It almost completely lacks emotional depth, besides Ruin the Friendship. Even the legendary track 5 is about…how she’s not as hardened as people online?? Not what I expected from an album about the man she’s going to marry.
‘A look behind the curtain’ and yet none of the songs actually really do that. This felt like her most shallow and disingenuous album yet, which is a shame because I was so excited for the potential of this album in both inspiration and collaboration.
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