Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl is out and, despite reports from quarters that she's "not hot anymore," it's smashed records. According to a statement from Republic Records, Swift's 12th album "earns the biggest first week in music history with over 4 million U.S. and 5.5 million global album-equivalent units. Upon release, the album shattered countless records and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking another historic milestone in Swift’s career. Dominating across all platforms, The Life of a Showgirl amassed more than 1.5 billion global streams, securing the largest debut of 2025."
Swift commented, “I’ll never forget how excited I was in 2006 when my first album sold 40,000 copies in its first week. I was 16 and couldn’t even fathom that that many people would care enough about my music to invest their time and energy into it. Since then I’ve tried to meet and thank as many people as I could who have given me the chance to chase this insane dream. Here we are all these years later and a hundred times that many people showed up for me this week. I have 4 million thank you’s I want to send to the fans, and 4 million reasons to feel even more proud of this album than I already was. Thank you for going out to celebrate this project in the movie theaters, investing in vinyl, streaming, watching the video, buying CDs, reading the poems I wrote inside the packaging, and immersing yourselves in The Life of a Showgirl. I’ll cherish this feeling forever.”
The reviews have been mixed, including among MC writers. But such is life for an artist. Here are our ten favorite moments:
The chorus, and video, for "The Fate of Ophelia"
What an introduction to the album, the themes, the concept! And the video is fabulous.
The time travel empathy on "Elizabeth Taylor"
The hyper-intense focus placed on Taylor clearly resonates with Swift, decades later. "You're only as hot as your last hit, baby."
The infectious chorus on "Opalite"
Unforgettable.
The key change in "Father Figure"
There's a Madonna-esque quality to the softly uttered yet focussed verses, and the key change at the end is immaculately executed.
The switcharoo of "Actually Romantic"
This is how you win. When haters appear obsessed, you switch it on them. "It sounded nasty but it feels like you're flirting with me." Ha!
Photo by Eva Rinaldi, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
