The Life Of A Showgirl

I woke yesterday to my social media feed full of references to Taylor Swift’s latest album titled “The Life of a Showgirl”. Yes, I am a proud Swiftie and yes, I ordered her album but no, I did not stay up for the album drop. What I did however was listen to the album all day long yesterday. I listened once to get a feel for the album. The second time, I listened using my air pods because I wanted to focus on the lyrics. Then, I had it on speaker as I walked, as I cooked, as I worked and, as I walked the dog. By the end of the day I clearly was in love with The Fate Of Ophelia and Opalite. I quite liked Cancelled and Honey. I was not skipping any yet. I preferred the clean version of Wood to the explicit. Eldest Daughter and Father Figure are yet to grow on me.

Overall, I liked the album.

It was everything I had expected from Taylor and she delivered. Did I expect vocal artistry? Maybe. Did I expect clever lyricism, yes. Did I expect everyone to love the album, most definitely not. Like all art, what appears as the end product is pieces of the artist mixed in with imagination and a whole lot of cultural commentary. Is every song on every album a piece of autobiographical lore? I think not. Is it influenced by who she is and who she is becoming? Definitely yes.

For me a Taylor Swift album release is a production. It is bonding with the Swift-dom over easter eggs, countdowns and, speculating which song is about whom. It is the collective experience which makes it special.

I love Taylor Swift’s music because it is relatable. She makes picking petals of daisies and sitting on the bleachers okay. She makes wanting a basketball hoop and a block full of kids okay. She makes girl bossing okay. She makes Shakespeare references cool. She makes it okay for us average mid people to have ordinary lives and have yearnings. She makes it cool because she is a rich person cosplaying the average person. That is why I pay for her albums and get her $75 hoodies. Fandom is about relating to the artist in whatever way makes it relatable to you, the consumer.

I stan multiple kpop groups. I barely understand Korean, yet I take the trouble to go read up the lyrics and hum along to the music. I know more about these artists’ personal lives than I should care about. Artists make the art accessible and relatable. I am not looking for my pop idol to fight wars and solve for world peace. I am not looking at my pop idol to crusade against genocides. It absolutely will make happy if they do but I do not expect them to.

There is a reason I have Dolly Parton and Mackenzie Scott on my imaginary list of people I want to meet in real life someday.

If stanning an artist whose world view does not match yours makes you uncomfortable, stop consuming them. It’s that simple.