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THE RELEASE OF Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl today was received with a mix of delight and disappointment – particularly when it came to her alleged Charli XCX diss track and Travis Kelce inspired lyrics.
The 12-track record, which was created during the European leg of Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour, has been described as everything from a ‘triumph’ to ‘lacking sparkle’.
Her twelfth studio album is a love letter to the highs and lows of life in show business, and its fun-loving catchy lyrics mark a departure from her previous albums.
Swift’s NFL-player fiancé Kelce is emphasised as a particular high, but the unglamorous side of a life under the spotlight was also discussed.
Notably, she hit back at British popstar Charli XCX whose song Sympathy is a Knife on her 2024 album Brat is largely speculated to be about Swift.
Swift and Charli were one-time friends, with Charli appearing as the opening act on Swift’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour, but things seem to have taken a turn since.
Swift and Healy were first reported to be romantically linked in 2014, though Healy denied any relationship between them at the time. In 2023, after Swift’s long-term relationship with partner Joe Alwyn ended, Swift and Healy are believed to have dated for a couple of months before breaking up.
Many of Swift’s songs from her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department are thought to be about Healy.
Charli, who is married to Healy’s bandmate and good friends with his new fiancé, wrote about her feelings of insecurity about another woman last year, which many speculated to be Swift.
“Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick,” she said in Sympathy is a Knife.
Swift seemed to have taken the dig well. After Sympathy is a Knife came out, Swift praised Charli’s musical talent for an article in New York Magazine.
“I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011. Her writing is surreal and inventive, always,” she said.
But Swift’s new song Actually Romantic is still thought to be a response to Charli’s song, with the title a nod to the seventh track on Brat, Everything Is Romantic.
“I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave,” she said, before saying she is flattered at the attention.
“Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face / Some people might be offended / But it’s actually sweet / All the time you’ve spent on me.”
Neither party has yet confirmed that either song was directed at the other, however, both artists are known to have fanatic followers, and war is already being waged online over Actually Romantic’s meaning.
Fans were expecting a change in style for The Life of a Showgirl due to the album being co-produced by Max Martin and Shellback, who she last worked with on her 2017 album Reputation. Her previous recent albums had been largely created with producer Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who seemed to favour a more indie-pop style.
Fans expected The Life of a Showgirl to feature more pop ballads as per Reputation rather than lovelorn poetry as per The Tortured Poets Department – but it didn’t really deliver either.
Instead, The Life of a Showgirl is a goofy, fun-loving album which isn’t taking itself too seriously – and people have a variety of feelings about it.
Some fans online are calling the Kelce-inspired lyrics in the song Wood – which name drops her fiancé’s podcast – as cringey, corny and potentially containing some thinly-veiled sexual innuendos.
But others are calling it a “no skip album” and her best record yet.
REVIEW: @taylorswift13 Conquers Her Biggest Stage Ever on #TSTheLifeofaShowgirl
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 3, 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read the Rolling Stone review: https://t.co/whXHa7P3zk pic.twitter.com/h2LYracngo
The reviews have been mixed, while many major outlets rejoiced in Swift’s happiness, others felt the album was just fine.
Rolling Stone gave it five out of five stars, saying Swift “shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom”. It added that The Life of a Showgirl features Swift at her “happiest, and most fun”.
Variety said the album is “contagiously joyful”, while the BBC described it as a “triumph”.
The Times said: “The Life Of A Showgirl is essentially a companion piece to Reputation, but where that album railed against the vagaries of fame, this one accepts them, possibly because a fairy-tale love story has made Swift a lot happier and more capable of handling it all. That’s why it is so much fun.”
The Guardian only gave the album two stars, saying much of the album “floats in one ear and out the other”.
The Financial Times also gave it two stars, it said the “promised bangers fail to materialise” and noted an overall lack of sparkle.
The Telegraph gave it three stars, describing it as a “fine album”.
It said it is “a witty, literate, mellifluous collection of overwhelmingly romantic singer-songwriter-style pop songs about the triumph of love, almost certainly spelled L-U-R-V-E. But for all its sophistication, Showgirl showcases Swift at her least dramatically intense.”
As Swift once said: “Haters gonna hate, hate, hate.”
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