Taylor Swift‘s new album The Life of a Showgirl is now out in the world and the critics are reacting with their reviews.
The singer’s 12th album features 12 songs and she does not plan on releasing a deluxe version with extra songs, as she has for her previous two albums.
“Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons. You couldn’t take one out and it be the same album, you couldn’t add one. It’s just right. That focus, and that kind of discipline with creating an album and keeping the bar really high is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,” Taylor said on the New Heights podcast.
Fans are voting right now in our poll to name their favorite song!
So, what do critics think?
Keep reading to find out more…
Check out a roundup of critics reviews below…
Rolling Stone – 5 out of 5 stars: “Only a sucker would think the curtain close of the Eras Tour marked the end of Swift’s almighty reign in the pop sphere. With her twelfth studio album, the musician shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom — and hits all her marks.”
Variety – No rating, but highly positive: “It’s too late for Swift to have a ‘song of the summer,’ but this feels like the Album of the Summer — the calendar be damned. It’s giddy, funny, touching, silly, haughty and moving in about equal measure, but most of all, it’s got a sunstruck kind of love that besottedly seeps through the orange LP grooves and might even make you believe in romance again, too. Bring your own SPF 50.”
Billboard – No rating, but highly positive: “The limit does not exist to how high Swift can keep soaring — anytime her downfall (or even a notable downturn) has been predicted, she climbs higher and winks at her naysayers. By pivoting back to pop anthems with humor, empathy, a little fury and a lot of wisdom, Swift ensures that ascent will continue. The Life of a Showgirl is one of the most grounded, well-rounded projects of Swift’s career — a surprise, in the context of the hype preceding it. That doesn’t make it any less successful.”
The New York Times – Critic’s Pick: “On her 12th original album, the pop superstar sounds hungry to embrace her future — but not until she attends to some unfinished business… The Life of a Showgirl serves as an implicit capstone to Taylor Swift’s career to date, as several significant narratives come to a conclusion.”
The Independent – 4 out of 5 stars: “The Life of a Showgirl might be one of her most uneven records, but she’s as compelling as she’s ever been – the showgirl, the ringmaster and the circus all in one.”
The Telegraph – 3 out of 5 stars: “The Life of a Showgirl gives us romance and wit, but it lacks the drama of her earlier music.”
The Guardian – 2 out of 5 stars: “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, and it leaves you wondering why. Perhaps romantic contentment simply writes whiter than vengeful post-breakup bitterness, or perhaps it wobbles your judgment. Perhaps it was rushed. Or perhaps its author was just exhausted, which would be entirely understandable. Even the immortal, it seems, sometimes need to take a break from pop’s constant churn and unceasing clamour for content.”
The Sydney Morning Herald – No rating, but negative: “The Life of a Showgirl is a musically and thematically confused album – there’s a lot going on, but it never quite coheres.”
If you haven’t heard the album yet, we have links for all 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” featuring Sabrina Carpenter.
Taylor will be promoting the album over the next week with a lot of interviews scheduled on talk shows and radio stations. There are also plenty of fun activations that fans can attend!
Source: justjared.com