The Japan Times - Taylor Swift strides into 'Showgirl' era with sparkling new album

She dropped her 12th studio album on Friday, "The Life of a Showgirl," a collection of bouncy pop songs about love, marriage, success -- and score-settling.

The 35-year-old artist reunited with Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback for the hotly anticipated album, and their influence is clear in the driving beats and catchy hooks.

"Tonight all these lives converge here, the mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears... I can't tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right," Swift posted on Instagram after the album's release, along with photos of her in showgirl outfits.

The megastar described the album as a "self-portrait" and thanked Martin and Shellback, adding: "If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain."

The album's release comes with a special release-party event in movie theaters all weekend -- including the premiere of the video for lead single "The Fate of Ophelia" -- sure to be attended by legions of fans in Swift's signature color this time around: orange.

Elated fans, many dressed in orange, packed into a Melbourne theater on Friday to be among the first to jive to the album at one of the dozens of listening events across the region.

"Showgirl" is the most pre-saved album ever on the Spotify streaming platform, breaking the record set last year by Swift's previous album, "The Tortured Poets Department."

While "Showgirl" still features plenty of introspection, the 12 tracks reveal a lighter, happier Swift -- in love with her NFL Super Bowl champion fiance Travis Kelce, happy to have bought back her music catalog and proud of her record-shattering Eras Tour.

"I just want you, have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you... Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop," she sings on the dreamy "Wish List."

Swift, who was in London on Friday, told BBC Radio 1 in an interview that "we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record."

"I used to have this dark fear that if I ever were truly like happy and... nurtured by a relationship -- what happens if the writing just dries up? What happens if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain? And it turns out that's not the case at all," she said.

In the title track featuring pop princess Sabrina Carpenter, who opened for Swift at some Eras Tour stops, Swift tells the story of a showgirl named Kitty, and how that life became her own.

"And now I know the life of a showgirl, babe / Wouldn't have it any other way," she sings.

- 'Only as hot as your last hit' -

"Showgirl" represents a departure from Swift's recent work -- the folksy pandemic-era "Folklore" and "Evermore" in 2020, the pensive "Midnights" in 2022 and the introspective "Tortured Poets" last year.

Swift said ahead of the release that the new album "comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life."

Some of that drama comes through on "Elizabeth Taylor," on which she sings: "You're only as hot as your last hit, baby."

Then she seems to go for the jugular on "Father Figure," an interpolation of late pop crooner George Michael's hit of the same name that his estate said it had "no hesitation" in greenlighting.

The figure in question could be Scooter Braun, the music industry heavyweight whose company bought her previous label, which gave him a majority stake in the master recordings of her first six albums.

"My dear boy, they don't make loyalty like they used to," she sings.

"You want a fight, you found it / I've got the place surrounded / You'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drowning."

Fans will be combing through the lyrics and liner notes for more "Easter eggs" -- coded words and phrases that could reveal things about Swift's life or future projects.

"Showgirl" is available on streaming platforms. Special editions will be sold by retail giant Target, including the "Portofino orange glitter vinyl" or the "summertime spritz pink shimmer vinyl."

Aside from the "Ophelia" video, the weekend screenings will also feature behind-the-scenes footage.

The one-off cinematic event is estimated to gross between $30 million and $50 million, according to film industry website Deadline.

Swift then hits the talk show circuit next week to promote the album.

M.Matsumoto--JT