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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Skidmore chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
By Jana Coppola
On Friday October 3rd we officially entered the showgirl era! Swift’s
12 track, 41 minute pop gem has shown us just how happy she is with
her life right now. After her engagement to Travis Kelce, she is
thriving and joyful, and this album is the culmination of all the
beautiful ways her life has developed since the second half of the
Eras Tour began. She works with collaborators Max Martin and
Shellback on this album, a pair that is responsible for helping her
create over 5 of her most popular songs ever (Style, Blank Space, 22,
etc). Let’s go track by track to review the album’s new sound and
lyrics! (This is all opinion-based!)
1. The Fate of Ophelia
One of her strongest track 1’s in a few years, The Fate of Ophelia
takes the doomed tragedy of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet
and turns it into a love song that you simply can’t get out of your
head. This song has already garnered thousands of TikTok’s online in
which fans are doing the dance Taylor did in the music video. This
song is in my personal top 3 on the album because of the catchy
tune, classic poetic lyrics, and fun vibe!
2. Elizabeth Taylor
This song has grown on me every day since the album came out.
When I listened to the album at midnight on release day, it was the
beat drop for the chorus on this song that solidified the fact that this
album was nothing like what I expected. The bridge is addicting with
its descending chords and shows us, yet again, that Taylor doesn’t
want Travis to be anything but hers.
3. Opalite
Happy Taylor is back! I haven’t heard Taylor fill a song with this much
pure joy and excitement since Paper Rings on her 7th album Lover.
While this song could also be interpreted to be about Travis, Taylor
herself said in the release party movie that this song is really an ode
to creating your own joy and happiness despite your past and
whatever is going on in your life. “You had to make your own
sunshine”. What a sweet sentiment!
4. Father Figure
This song has also grown on me every day! On the first listen I
immediately tied this song to her old mentor, Scott Borchetta, who
discovered her at 16 in Nashville and took her under his wing before
he betrayed her and sold her masters to Scooter Braun in 2018. This
song is such a cool way to proclaim her power after reclaiming her
masters and showing that SHE protects the “family” (interpreted by
fans to be her 6 masters since she repeats this phrase 6 times). A
proclamation of power done right.
5. Eldest Daughter
Taylor has taught Swifties that her track 5’s are typically the most
vulnerable and raw on her albums, and while this is no different, it
personally misses the mark. I am willing to understand that the
internet-based lyrics are meant to be satirical and a reflection of her
struggle to feel cool but I am personally opposed to Gen-Z slang
lyrics even if they come from my favorite singer! That being said, this
song has the most classic Taylor Swift bridge of the whole album and
reminds me of her Speak Now writing. Young Taylor is still in there!
6. Ruin the Friendship
This is my favorite track on the album! A rollercoaster of emotions,
this song slowly reveals that it’s not only about telling your best
friend that you like them, but doing it before it is too late. The song
chronicles a high school-aged Taylor having a crush on her friend but
not doing anything about it and later finding out that he passed
away. Her advice is to “always ruin the friendship, better that than
regret it for all time”. Teenage girls all over the world are about to
make big decisions!
7. Actually Romantic
This song closes out my top 3 on the album because of its subtly
reputation-esque confident energy. Taylor twists the narrative that
hate about her is offensive and hurts her feelings, instead saying that
the time people spend talking badly about her is actually romantic. I
think that this is such a hard-core way to address the hate that she
receives for every single thing she does (including this album). I love
the energy, especially the adlibs in the outro!
8. Wi$h Li$t
While the sentiment of this song is incredibly sweet, this song is still
growing on me. I love the chorus, but overall, the production seems a
bit too understated to me. I don’t think it supports the lyrics of the
verse which leaves both of them lacking. I do love to hear that she is
ready to “boss up, settle down” though, and that she sees that for her
and Travis.
9. Wood
What to say about this song… Well to start, I’m obsessed with it. I
truly thought it was about superstitions for a while, that is until she
hit the post-chorus! I can’t say much about the content of this song,
but it contains the most explicit content we’ve heard since Dress.
The beat is so old school and danceable and the lyrics just make the
production even more fun.
10.CANCELLED!
This is another one of those songs that feels too on-the-nose for me.
It seems too overtly edgy in a performative way, which I know is her
brand in some senses but I didn’t think it worked as well with this
song. She also uses internet slang (ie. “Did you girlboss too close to
the sun?”) which I have already established is not my favorite.
Bottom 2 of the album in my opinion.
11. Honey
When I was hypothesizing what this song would be about, this was
not in the list of options I had thought of! I think the idea of the song
is really sweet but the beat is very generic and almost gets lofi
sounding at times. It is definitely sweet and catchy but repetitive at
times.
12.The Life of a Showgirl (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
I was pleasantly surprised by the sound of this song! Sabrina fits into
this track so beautifully, and her voice is showcased in such a cool
way. I love the theater vibe of the bridge, and the way Sabrina says
“false lashes” is mesmerizing. It is classic Taylor storytelling that
incorporates a fictional character as well as her own reality, which
she has done masterfully on many occasions. And the Eras Tour
audio at the end wraps this album up very nicely.
Overall, I would say that this album is very low in my ranking of all of
her albums, but not because it is bad. The internet has already had a
lot to say about this album, some I agree with, but much of it I don’t.
Many of the songs are amazing and only time will tell with how the
world’s opinion of this album will shift.
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English (US) ·