A brand strategist has declared Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl is “flopping.”
The album has achieved commercial success but provoked a very mixed reaction from both fans and critics, with some saying the visual arts did not match the music.
Newsweek reached out to Swift’s representative via email for comment on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl—which she announced on fiance Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast in August—has sparked a significant conversation in the music industry and among fans, as it experiences divergent reactions: mixed reviews from critics alongside extraordinary commercial performance.
The simultaneous box office success of its companion film, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, highlights the unique position Swift occupies in popular culture, where questions persist about the longevity of her dominance as both an artist and brand.
What To Know
The Life of a Showgirl debuted on October 3 and immediately made headlines for breaking streaming records—over five million pre-saves on Spotify, the highest in the platform’s history. Preorders for the special vinyl edition sold out within an hour. At the same time, its companion film, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, secured the number-one spot at the global box office, opening with $46 million worldwide, including $33 million domestically and $13 million internationally, during its limited three-day theatrical run, Variety reported. Swift partnered with AMC Theatres for distribution, bypassing traditional Hollywood channels, a strategy reminiscent of her 2023 concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Despite this commercial success, critical response to The Life of a Showgirl has been tepid. Pitchfork gave the album a 5.9 rating, calling it “a little schmaltzy.” Esquire, meanwhile, said Swift “too often settles for overworked metaphors, characters and one-liners.” The reviewer also called “Wood” a “forced and very unsexy tribute to the size of her fiancé’s genitals,” referring to the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Rolling Stone, however, gave it five stars and ABC News said the songs contain “a treasure trove of deliciously quotable lines.”
“The Life of a Showgirl is flopping,” brand strategist Morgan Battista said in a viral video posted to Instagram on Friday. “There was a world that was built from the moment she was on the New Heights podcast and was talking about how she viewed this album, what the inspiration was, which was the behind-the-scenes of a showgirl—what the showgirl life is like after you get off the Eras Tour stage, when you get home at night or you get to your hotel at night and you’re in the bath and you’re taking the makeup off and your body is sore and tired from, you know, having to push yourself to the extremes every single night. That’s what we were given.”
Battista explained that the album art was “very glamorous but also kind of dark” but that “the actual music did not match that.”
“There was an incongruence between the world that was built and then the actual songs,” she said in the clip, which has garnered 1.4 million views and 39,300 likes. “That’s one of the biggest mistakes.”
The self-proclaimed Swiftie added that the 14-time Grammy Award winner “is a lyricist” and a “great songwriter,” but that one of the lines in the album “literally said something makes her wet.”
“I just don’t associate that with Taylor Swift,” Battista said. “What I associate with Taylor Swift are things like ‘Guilty as Sin’ from The Tortured Poet’s Department here which is: ‘My bed sheets are ablaze / I’ve screamed his name / Building up like waves crashing over my grave / Without ever touching his skin / How can I be guilty as sin?’ So we’re talking about sexy stuff but it’s clearly from this elevated perspective. What she did in this album I feel like it just doesn’t fit with who we think Taylor Swift is.”
Amid the criticism, Swift’s fan base remains robust, spanning generations and showing unwavering support through album sales, streaming and box office participation. Analysts note that her strategy of cultivating loyal “Swifties” and tight control over her public image and music rights continues to bolster her commercial appeal.
What People Are Saying
Fans were divided in the comments underneath Battista’s Instagram video.
Some criticized the take:
@nahlabarkley wrote in a note with 825 likes: “Is the flopping in the room with us?”
Nikki GarcÃa added in a message with 1,302 likes: “I think that’s exactly what makes it interesting. In this album, she’s the tired girl after the show, not the self-reflecting poetess strolling in the woods. She’s allowing herself to be free from elevated lyricism to please the critics, the fans, or even her well-read self. She’s the girl that pursued an extremely difficult path, excelled in it, and needs to go back to some kind of normality when she gets home. Hence that darkness in the showgirl photos. There’s no such thing as ‘flop’, just rigid expectations from some fans. Who we think Taylor Swift is doesn’t matter. She just is, and wants to be. And that’s a great lesson to learn for all of us, including her. I’m happy she’s there.”
@feltbetteralive said in a line with 305 likes: “the only people hating on this are the ones that hate on her for everything she does already. no real swiftie thinks this is a flop in any way.”
Others, meanwhile, defended the perspective:
@_veronikagonzalez shared in a reply with 2,296 likes: “people, i have loved taylor’s music since i was 13 in 2006. i love all of her albums except this one. and i have seen a lot of peoppe saying the same. THAT is the flop aspect. not that she isn’t making money. she could make money singing the alphabet and we know it. this album was a letdown for a lot of people and it’s okay to talk about it.”
@goodboyrein posted in a comment with 9,309 likes: “The album isn’t at all what she marketed it as. We wouldn’t have been as disappointed if she marketed it the way it sounds. It’s not a big pop production. It’s a lot more subdued and relaxed than the cover/photoshoots suggest. Like tbh [to be honest] the photoshoots and the music feel like two completely separate eras.”
@natthesaturnstone said in a remark with 5,914 likes: “She’s not saying the songs are bad, just that they didn’t match the visuals and I agree! I was expecting something jazzy or over the top that sounds happy but reveals tragic lyrics but it’s not like that.”
What Happens Next