Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl in the spotlight, a track-by-track look
The Life of a Showgirl is Taylor Swift's 12th studio album. (Supplied: Universal Music Group)
Taylor Swift has released her 12th studio album, and despite fears that her love life would result in music that is somewhat less spirited, The Life of a Showgirl is not a romantic album.
Swift, who announced her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs NFL player Travis Kelce on social media, has delivered an album that's instead described as "fun", but not as poetic as her previous outings.
Fan culture researcher Georgia Carroll says, however, that the beats and the production on the album almost make you forget that the lyrics aren't up to scratch.
Swift announced the new release on her fiancé's podcast.
"It's not an album full of happily-ever-after songs," Dr Carroll says.
Dr Carroll has taken ABC News on a track-by-track journey through the album.
The Fate of Ophelia
This is a frozen Daiquiri on a hot day, despite the title being a nod to a tragic character from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Dr Carroll says Swift is good at pairing upbeat sounds with moody lyrics.
"I think that's why it does sometimes take fans a few listens to really fall in love with some of the albums," Dr Carroll told ABC News.
"Because you listen on the first go and you get the beats and you're like, 'oh, this is great' or, 'I'm not sure about this', and then you go back and you're like 'oh, wow, now I know what she's saying. This adds layers to it."
Dr Carroll says the song sounds fun, despite having dark undertones, and is a good start to the album.
"From the very beginning, I was like, 'oh, yeah, I'm into this'."
Elizabeth Taylor
It isn't new to name a track after someone famous (think Elon Musk by DDG featuring Gunna, and there are many songs named after Elizabeth Taylor).
Swift has name-dropped Elizabeth Taylor in previous songs. (Supplied: Universal Music Group)
It's also not the first time Swift has name-dropped Taylor, despite her younger fans perhaps not being so privy to the late 1950s Hollywood star.
Dr Carroll says this song is one of the few that play on the album's overall theme.
"I was expecting kind of more songs, maybe with a bit of the vibes of Elizabeth Taylor, that kind of throwback to other famous showgirls,"she said.
"But again, I thought it had a good beat and it kind of was really setting the scene for what was to come in the rest of the album."
Opalite
Dr Carroll says Opalite is her favourite song on the album, and she's not alone in that.
"It's the one I've seen the most people online saying is their favourite so far,"she said.
"I'm a big pop girly, so from first listen, especially the chorus, it is just so upbeat.
"It just makes me want to dance and has that positive vibe.
"But I'm going to need to listen to the lyrics to actually dive down deep."
Father Figure
This song interpolates George Michael's song of the same name.
"There was rumours about it and then his estate have come out today and said they got permission and they were really happy when they heard it," Dr Carroll says.
As for Dr Carroll's interpretation of the song, she believes it's a commentary on buying back the master recordings of her first six albums and staking her claim.
"She's reclaiming her masters and her kind of power with it," Dr Carroll says.
"And it wasn't what I was expecting from the song, but it it makes sense in the context of what her career has been, and obviously the commentary and the powerful men she's had to come up against.
"So, I think it's a creative way of addressing that."
Eldest Daughter
Dr Carroll says Swift has had better tracks in this position on the album.
"I normally love a Taylor track five," Dr Carroll says.
"They're usually her big, emotional songs, and they have a reputation within the fandom of being powerful songs.
"There is just so much expectation around what her track five is going to be that on two listens, it hasn't lived up to the hype for me."
Ruin the Friendship
Dr Carroll said there was lots of discussion within the fandom about what Ruin the Friendship was going to be about before the album dropped.
Ahead of the album coming out, Swift released the cover on social media. (Instagram: @taylorswift)
"I don't think anybody was really expecting it to be what could have been a letter to a dead friend from high school and it it does take that kind of turn two-thirds of the way with the reveal that that's what the song is about," she said.
"I found it more emotional and probably maybe even more suited to being a track five than Eldest Daughter was."
Dr Carroll wonders whether it really fits on The Life of a Showgirl. The broader narrative of the album was written during Swift's Eras tour and while she was falling in love with Kelce.
"But I think it fits into her wider discography and that kind of the storytelling and the weaving in things about her personal life quite well," she said.
Actually Romantic
Ahead of the release, there was speculation that this was a Charli XCX diss track, after the lyrics were leaked.
Dr Carroll says a diss track for Swift is nothing new.
"She's done a lot of these kind of songs before where she's just kind of poking at the general bigger enemy, whether they're people we know about, whether it's critics, whether it's faceless people on the Internet, she's done diss tracks to an extent before," she said.
"It's already created discourse.
"I think we're going to see a few days of fandom wars.
"Musically, I think it's a very fun song and it's clear that some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and I think it has a really interesting sound that again, I maybe wasn't expecting on the album.
"But after reading the lyrics and being a bit worried about what it would be, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got to it on the album."
Wi$h Li$t
Wi$h Li$t is Dr Carroll's least favourite on the album, but she says lyrically it tells fans the most about Swift and Kelce's relationship.
Taylor Swift has released her new album The Life of a Showgirl. (Supplied: Universal Music Group)
"It tells us a lot about where she's at in that stage of her life," she says.
"[Swift is] talking about wanting kids with Travis and kind of having that white picket fence life.
"It's the song I think that comes closest to what we in a lot of ways thought we were going to get a whole album of, that kind of 'I'm so happy and in love'.
"The lyrics are a bit basic but it has some cute commentary on their relationship."
Wood
Dr Carroll says parents should pre-screen Wood before letting their little Swift fans listen to it.
"It is innuendo central," Dr Carroll says.
"It's quite funny, but it's definitely the most explicit Taylor Swift song we've ever received."
CANCELLED!
The next song is about people in Swift's camp being cancelled.
"People are saying it's possibly about Blake Lively," Dr Carroll says.
Lively is caught up in a legal battle with It Ends With us co-star, Justin Baldoni.
"But kind of like Actually Romantic, I think the Blake situation may have sparked part of it," Dr Carroll said.
"But I think it's also more broadly about how women and celebrities are treated and how people rightfully do get cancelled and a lot of people should be cancelled, but we do often just attack people for relatively harmless missteps."
Dr Carroll says the song is reminiscent of a track you might find on Swift's 2017 album Reputation.
Honey
Dr Carroll says Honey "faded into the album".
"I thought Honey was cute," she said.
"I thought the whole double meaning of honey and the way that she talks about the patriarchy and how it had been used as a negative [term] towards her for so long, but now she's in love, I thought that was all a bit cute.
"I thought it had a nice beat.
"But it stuck with me less than some of the other songs."
The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
This is the only song on the album with a feature. Sabrina Carpenter, who joined Swift on the Eras tour, gets her "own time to shine" on the album.
"I thought it was the perfect way to close the album," Dr Carroll says.
"I thought the use of the vocals from the Eras tour at the end was the perfect way to finish.
"And I would love it to be one of the other singles that she uses because I just thought it was fun.
"Sabrina was great, and it encapsulated the vibe of the album."