"me leaving my tortured poet body to become a showgirl..."
Taylor Swift (Credit: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott/MCA Nashville)
Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated twelfth album, The Life Of A Showgirl, has just dropped, and we’ve gathered some of the early reactions.
Officially announced on her fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, which he hosts with his brother Jason, back in August, Swift revealed the album artwork, but continued with an unconventional rollout.
The album’s release date was revealed soon after Swift’s appearance on New Heights, with the cardigan singer unveiling multiple versions of alternate artwork for the 12-track album. Before the album’s release, no singles or music videos were shared. Fans went into the album blind, and they already have plenty to say.
As you enjoy the album, find out more about what’s in store.
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Swift has directly involved fans with the rollout of her new album. In September, it was announced that fans would get to experience an 89-minute “release party” event, “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” from Friday, 3 October, to Sunday, 5 October. For Australian fans, the release parties will take place next week.
The release party will feature the music video premiere of Swift’s forthcoming single, The Fate Of Ophelia. In addition to the music video premiere, the release party will include footage from behind the scenes of the music video shoot, lyric videos for other songs on the record, and Swift’s “never-before-seen personal reflections” on her latest record.
While previous albums from Swift have featured collaborations with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Future, Florence + The Machine, Post Malone, and more, there’s only one feature on The Life Of A Showgirl. The closing song, also the title track, features Sabrina Carpenter—one of the openers on Swift’s Eras Tour, and one of the biggest names in pop.
However, there is a pretty significant sample, with Swift interpolating the George Michael song, Father Figure, in her song of the same name. The British music icon received a posthumous writing credit for the track.
In a statement posted to Michael’s official Instagram account, his estate thanked Swift for sampling the song.
The statement reads: “We were delighted when Taylor Swift and her team approached us earlier this year about incorporating an interpolation of George Michael’s classic song ‘Father Figure’ into a brand-new song of the same title to be featured on her forthcoming album.
“When we heard the track, we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists, and we know George would have felt the same. George Michael Entertainment wishes Taylor every success with The Life of a Showgirl and ‘Father Figure’.”
While the rollout for The Life Of A Showgirl worked to ensure nothing would leak, potential lyrics apparently leaked on the eve of the album’s release.
Swift fans alleged that lyrics from a potentially leaked track, Actually Romantic, swipe at Apple hitmaker Charli XCX and even reference her song, Everything Is Romantic.
Fans on X argued that Swift’s line, “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave,” is a direct callout to Charli, as the latter has written about drug use in her music. The song is out now, and the leaked lyric turned out to be real.
Since last year, Charli XCX fans have speculated that her song, Sympathy Is A Knife, is potentially about Swift. A song that explores Charli’s self-doubt in the music scene around big pop stars, a key lyric is, “This one girl taps my insecurities / Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiralling.”
Clarifying that no songs on her latest album, Brat, were diss tracks, Charli XCX stated on social media last year, “I’m seeing online that some people think there are diss tracks on Brat and I just wanted to come on here and clarify that there aren’t — apart from maybe Von Dutch, which kind of is — but the other tracks in question aren’t diss tracks.
“They’re really just about how it’s so complicated being an artist, especially a female artist, where you are pitted against your peers but also expected to be best friends with every single person, constantly.”
Full lyrics to Taylor Swift's Charli XCX answer song "Actually Romantic"#TSTheLifeofaShowgirl #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/nvWF4JCaFe
— Pancake Buffalo (@tankedwbk) October 2, 2025
i actually feel genuinely sad for charli. this is just such a hurtful thing to do…to be the biggest pop star in the world & call an industry peer a cokehead bc she wrote a vulnerable & beautiful piece of music abt how she respects u so much that she feels small in a room w/ you https://t.co/j8Xjg4iENy
— emma rose parker (@machzazerov) October 2, 2025
The entire song, charli admits that taylor makes her insecure, that she's spiraling, paranoid and sometimes feels so uncontrollably envious of taylor that she thinks of shooting herself dead. It's not a diss, it's just charli talking about her feelings. Immature of taylor https://t.co/57qai5ApsD pic.twitter.com/7TcuQNYqEN
— Shɐymin (@SlayingShaymin) October 2, 2025
It seems Taylor Swift fans are so keen for her new album that they’ve reportedly crashed Spotify. We love to see it. Read on for more reactions from fans below.
🚨| Taylor Swift has officially crashed Spotify for the 6th album release in a row for the release of 'The Life of a Showgirl'! #TSTheLifeofaShowgirl pic.twitter.com/t8VIhgL2bL
— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) October 3, 2025
me leaving my tortured poet body to become a showgirl pic.twitter.com/p1Ucv60gIU
— verónica (@soitfuckingoes) October 2, 2025
Only three songs in and The Life of a Showgirl is the album of the year #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirl
— kelsswiftie❤️🔥 (@kelsswiftie) October 3, 2025
just listened the first two tracks of showgirl. ALBUM OF THE YEAR
— ghada (@xrayeyedgirl) October 3, 2025
THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL ATE
— :/ (@aimtysss) October 3, 2025
ELIZABETH TAYLOR IS INCREDIBLE I AM SCREAMING RIGHT NOW ?????????? #TSTheLifeofaShowgirl pic.twitter.com/0OGkmAEYUU
— carah is a showgirl ❤️🔥 (@hauntedcarah) October 3, 2025
just realized that the life of a showgirl (the song) is from the pov of sabrina watching taylor on stage and then becoming a showgirl pic.twitter.com/RtIuWlQOcn
— maya 🪩 (@allmychampagne) October 3, 2025
IDGAF what yall saying! I’m vibing! I’m a showgirl baby pic.twitter.com/6vupKDLFEJ
— 💫 (@heyjaeee) October 3, 2025
THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL THE PERFECT CLOSER THAT YOU ARE pic.twitter.com/u0ISrYmaCM
— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) October 3, 2025
i was not prepared for the eras tour outro on the life of a showgirl ARE YOU KIDDING ME #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirl pic.twitter.com/TXb0ddfqfa
— Zain (@cowboylikezain) October 3, 2025
The Life Of A Showgirl is the Taylor Swift album of my dreams come to life.
— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) October 3, 2025
the life of a showgirl is a beautiful combination of all of taylor’s musical history in a way that she hasn’t quite captured before and also something uniquely its’ own, i’m so obsessed 🙂↕️🩷🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/AYlqBBNDQM
— elise (@fireplaceashes) October 3, 2025
wow life of a showgirl bangs #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirl
— isabelle (@youdrewstars) October 3, 2025
Enough time has passed. The Life of a Showgirl >>>>>>> TTPD
— Corporate giants & machines (@BarbiexBalboa) October 3, 2025
The Fate of Ophelia has a funky little beat I’m into it #Showgirl
— C is battling the Universe rn ᯓ✦ (@starchjunkie) October 3, 2025
showgirl is SO gaggy omg i CANNOT.
— ro |-/ | SUIT $7 PATREON ‼️ (@takethehighro) October 3, 2025
Me rn with the life of a showgirl #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/7VdcGpApPY
— France ⸆⸉ ❤️🔥 (@TSismyreligion) October 3, 2025