Last Friday, October 3rd, 2025, Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, was released. The album consisted of twelve tracks: The Fate of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor, Opalite, Father Figure, Eldest Daughter, Ruin the Friendship, Actually Romantic, Wi$h Li$t, Wood, CANCELLED!, Honey, and ending with The Life of a Showgirl, featuring Sabrina Carpenter. Few were well received; the remaining tracks were strongly disliked. The album itself received over 6.5 million streams per song, totaling about 78 million streams. It’s the most-streamed album of 2025, and it received this title in just under eleven hours post-release. It was also titled the most pre-saved album, with over 6 million digital pre-saves. So why, with all of these incredible records and statistics, was the album so poorly received?

First and foremost—what’s up with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Of course, it’s expected that Taylor would include notes of Travis in her songs, not only because it’s what she always does with her partners, but also because they are now engaged and to be wed. No one seemed surprised at the concept itself, but rather, at how it was executed. Fans were put off by the album simply from the way she announced it—on Travis and his brother Jason's shared podcast. All of her previous albums have been announced through elaborate ways of social media, music award ceremonies (including the Grammys!), and even announcing albums on her tours. So why would she choose such a low-impact announcement for such a highly anticipated album?

To follow up with this, a lot of Taylor’s lyrics regarding Travis have rubbed fans the wrong way. Without going into significant detail, this album is Taylor’s most explicit, containing eight out of twelve songs with an explicit tag on Spotify. Fans are a little disheartened by this fact, not because Taylor is unable to write explicit material, but simply for how empty the lyrics felt.

A majority of fans are commenting on the album's lack of substance. Taylor Swift has been praised egregiously for having many poetic and inspiring albums, including Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department. So why, of all albums, is this one so lacking? After endless promotions of a presumably dark, emotional, and glamorous aesthetic, why would it merely consist of boring soundtracks and lyrics that feel like a poor attempt at staying within the media and being “trendy”? Did she seriously think “Did you girlboss too close to the sun?” was a hit?

Another important topic that fans aren’t thrilled about is the horrible tribute to George Michael with the song Father Figure, which supposedly also sampled the song itself within hers. Both Taylor and George’s teams were heavily influencing the appeal to this song, claiming it’s something George himself would have loved. This led listeners to believe that the sample would be significant, including lyrics, music, or at least some other more prominent dedication. Unfortunately, this theory fell through when she revealed she used only one single line from the song, which itself wasn’t perfectly accurate—“I’ll be your father figure.” This left fans bored and unimpressed, as the song continued to play on “family dynamics” and “power structures.” Don’t hold your breath. She’s only talking about how much better she is than Satan himself.

Furthermore, throughout the album, Taylor continues to brag about her use of capitalism and consumerism, simply proving that she truly is a false feminist billionaire. One of the most prominent reasons is the fact that at least three of her promotion videos for the album were very clearly AI-created. Taylor decided to use a method of placing QR codes in twelve different cities for fans to scan and see a fun promotional video. After giving it a simple lookover, viewers immediately were able to tell that the videos were made with AI. Glossy footage, a lack of people present, and the most telling being certain buttons and objects blending with text that formed no actual word. This only proves that, paired with her unnecessary net worth and her extreme carbon emissions, it’s clear she has little to no care for the environment. 

She also shows no care for her self-assigned feminist title, at least not after her song “Actually Romantic.” The song is a diss track to fellow artist Charli XCX, who released the song “Sympathy is a Knife” on her album Brat, which was awarded multiple Grammys. The song depicts Charli’s deep-rooted insecurities and jealousy of Taylor’s success, which was intended as a therapeutic song for her to acknowledge those problems and that they weren’t serving her well. Fans expected Taylor’s response to be similar to Lorde’s when the two sang “Girl, So Confusing” together, only for Taylor to shock her audience. The response was rude and dehumanizing, almost mocking Charli and depicting her insecurities as a one-sided love obsession. She references Charli being an addict with just the first line, refers to her as a dog, makes explicit commentary about Charli, and continues to demean her.

Tied to her lack of feminist foundation, she makes certain references within her songs, claiming to be a poet. This is most notably depicted by her line in “So High School,” “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.” Taylor references Ophelia, the main love interest from Hamlet, in the titular song “The Fate of Ophelia.” The song mentions the lyrics, “And if you’d never come for me, I might’ve drowned in the melancholy,” directly referencing the story of Ophelia’s suicide. The reason there is such an issue within these two lines is the very story of Ophelia herself. Ophelia’s character was written to play into the message of toxic masculinity and anti-female messages within Hamlet. Her entire life, she has been directed by her father, brother, and Hamlet, her lover. The finality of Ophelia committing suicide is not just because of a spiral of madness, but because it was the only decision she was allowed to make for herself. The tragedy of Ophelia’s life and death is an extremely complex one, and to merely have it watered down to a love story of being saved by a man completely disregards the intention itself. It feels less empowering and more based around a man. 

The common theme among many of these disapprovals by fans is the fact that she has shifted her focus to being entirely around her relationship with Travis Kelce. Turning a tragedy into a love story, creating an entire explicit song dedicated to him, sneaking him into every crack that she could fit to make it about him. Even the song “Opalite” was dedicated to him, as opal is the October birthstone, and Opalite is a man-made version of the gem. The biggest concern for fans is that Taylor is losing herself to Travis, and her music and fanbase crumble with it.