Taylor Swift has addressed the criticism she’s received for her latest album, ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ – see what she had to say below.
Swift released her 12th studio album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ on Friday (October 3), the follow-up to last year’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. Since then, fans have been vocal about their thoughts on the album – with some calling it “her best album” and the return of “pop perfection”, and others declaring it “the worst Taylor Swift album yet” and “boring and basic”.
In a new chat with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Swift has addressed the criticism she’s received for the album. “I welcome the chaos,” she began. “The rule of show business is if it’s the first week of my album release, and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping.”
She continued: “I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art — I’m not the art police. Everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want and what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror. Oftentimes an album is a really, really wild way to look at yourself — what you’re going through in your life is gonna affect whether you relate to the music I’m putting out at any given moment.”
“What I often love seeing my fans say is ‘I used to be someone who didn’t like relate to Reputation, and now that I’ve been through some other things in my life, that’s my favourite album.’ Or ‘I used to be a Fearless girlie, now I’m obsessed with Evermore.’ I’m playing for keeps. I have such an eye on legacy when I’m making my music — I know what I made, I know I adore it. I know that on the theme of what the Showgirl is, all of this is part of it.”
Elsewhere during the chat, Swift said of the album when comparing it to last year’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’: “This album by personality was a funnier album. The character attributes I was highlighting in that writing process were much more serious and sensitive and introspective, and oftentimes more earnest and stoic — the characteristics of a poet.”
Swift continued: “This one was like, showgirls are mischievous, fun, scandalous, sexy, fun, flirty, hilarious … I’m so proud of this song craft. I’m so proud of these melodies and these lyrics and these stories, and going in and out of character and kind of playing with your style speak.”
“Making this album was really something I’ve been wanting to do for my entire career, because I have always wanted to have fun in this type of way,” she told Lowe. “To have fun, to exhibit mischief and be flirty, and fun, and make jokes, and get to have that side of my personality. That’s a huge part of my personality.”
The singer has denied she will quit music upon getting married to her fiancée Travis Kelce, playfully adding that it was “shockingly offensive” to suggest so. Speaking to Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2, she said: “I’m really right now just like really stoked about the idea that I get to marry this person. I’m gonna think about that and then I’m gonna put out this album and then I’m gonna think about other things after that.”
For now, the singer has ruled out touring off the back of her record-breaking Eras tour, adding: “I’m gonna be really honest with you. I am so tired, like when I think about doing it again. Because I would want to do it really well again, you know?”
She has also turned down playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show, denying to Jimmy Fallon that the rejection was over footage rights. “This has nothing to do with Travis,” Swift reasoned. “He would love for me to do it, but I’m just too locked in.”
She has also recently said that she used to fear that her songwriting would “dry up” if she were ever in a happy relationship. “What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain?” she said. “And it turns out, that’s not the case at all, and we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.”
NME gave ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ three stars, writing: “To seek escapism is not a sin, but the best pop music makes the personal feel like life or death. ‘Speak Now’, ‘Reputation’, ‘Folklore’: her greatest works could be genuinely transformative. For the first time, ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ sees Swift not catalysed into artistic growth by love, but merely comfortably secured by it.”
