she's not your average showgirl
On Taylor Swift's new album, Sweden's artistic legacy, and pop beef
“She’s not your average showgirl. Allow Miss Taylor to sing the blues.” - “WTP” (2018)
I.
Taylor Swift has always excelled at masking petulant defiance as an Alfred E. Neuman-esque “What, me worry?” attitude. Take, for instance, admitting on her fiancé’s podcast, New Heights, that she flew back and forth to Stockholm to record The Life of a Showgirl in between European Eras Tour stops. For someone who’s earned the nickname CO2 Barbie for frequent use of her private jets, it seems like an incredibly out-of-touch thing to admit on a podcast. But we know Swift is constantly aware of criticisms against her and loves to address them in her music. Which means she probably just doesn’t give a fuck.
And why wouldn’t she want to use the jet at her disposal to reunite with former collaborators Max Martin and Shellback to produce their first record since 2017’s Reputation? My favorite Swift record (Folklore is a close second), particularly because it was such a departure for her and it feels so messy and raw1. In addition to her relationship with Joe Alwyn and breakups with Tom Hiddleston and Cavin Harris, Reputation forayed into her feud with the media, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian. Tracks like “I Did Something Bad” embraced her new enfant terrible status.
Thematically, Showgirl addressed many of the themes in Reputation. Swift has once again gathered Martin and Shellback to whip up songs on her current relationship (Travis Kelce, rather than Alwyn), her enemies (this time Charli XCX, Scott Borchetta, and possibly Olivia Rodrigo), and the media. Unfortunately, none of the songs exceeds their last creative endeavor. If anything, the album feels like a collection of leftover songs from the Reputation era. On Reputation, Swift compared herself to actress Elizabeth Taylor’s tumultuous relationship with Richard Burton. “He can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor, every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure,” she quips on “…Ready for It?” On Showgirl, she makes an entire song out of the comparison “Elizabeth Taylor” and sings, “be my NY when Hollywood hates me.” This lyric would’ve made sense circa her relationship with Alwyn, but unless she’s talking about Hollywood hates me in the literal sense (her string of horrible films like Amsterdam and Cats), she’s fresh off her billion-dollar Eras Tour that had damn near every (white) celebrity in Hollywood in attendance. Hate where, sis?
Aside from references to Elizabeth Taylor’s relationship with Burton and her 1991 fragrance White Diamonds, Swift doesn’t have anything remotely interesting to say about the actress either. I remember enjoying Swift’s foray into directing with the “All Too Well” short film and a surprisingly interesting Directors on Directors interview with Martin McDonagh, where she cited some of his films as her faves. You’d think, then, that Swift might have anything of substance to say about Elizabeth Taylor’s work other than reducing her to a tabloid fodder relationship with Burton. You know, like she often chastises the media for doing to her. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Butterfield 8, and A Place in the Sun alone have a multitude of parallels to Swift’s life to draw upon. Hell, even The Sandpiper is as maudlin as Swift’s lyrics at times. It would be completely on brand for Swift to visit the Criterion Closet (they’re already letting just about anyone in there these days…) and gush over her favorite Elizabeth Taylor movies. Which is why I suspect that Swift has never seen a goddamn one.
II.
Sweden has made indelible contributions to the art world. August Strindberg, known as the father of modern Swedish literature, also ushered in expressionism to the theatre world. Expressionism largely involves a focus on characters’ inner turmoil and the use of melodrama and exaggerated dialogue to tell stories. This is Swift’s modus operandi. When she rails against the constraints that the media and the patriarchy put on her, she’s summoning the spirit of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.
Strindberg’s work largely influenced Ingmar Bergman, one of the greatest modern film directors, and a huge influence on Swedish and European cinema. I recently watched Autumn Sonata for the first time, which features his signature emotional vulnerability and depiction of the contradictory personal obsessions of the bourgeois class. In the film, Ingrid Bergman plays a renowned pianist who reunites with the daughter she has a fraught relationship with, and the disabled daughter she has altogether ignored. Charli XCX reviewed it on her Letterboxd in August: “my most favourite Bergman film yet. emotionally devastating. highly triggering. i guess the apple’s rotten right to the core vibes. feels thematically ahead of its time (??) but maybe that’s just because people from Scandinavia know themselves far better than British people probably ever will. incredible performances all round. had to go for a massage after.”
The dissection of an artist who struggles with a work-life balance and fraught relationships clearly spoke to XCX, who dove into many of those themes on Brat, particularly “Sympathy is a Knife,” where she explores her insecurities with craving pop stardom but feeling as if she’ll never measure up to someone like Taylor Swift. When XCX sings, “I don’t wanna share this space, I don’t wanna force a smile, this one girl taps my insecurities, don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling,” it’s reminiscent of Liv Ullman in the film, lashing out at her mother. XCX gets even more raw when she prays that Swift and then-boyfriend Matty Healy break up. Healy is the frontman for The 1975, the band in which XCX’s husband, George Daniel, is the drummer and primary producer. “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.”
Swift’s response to this song is “Actually Romantic,” a song which has been called a rip-off of The Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?” and Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.” On it, she calls out XCX for gossiping about her: “I heard you call me Boring Barbie, when the coke’s got you brave. High-fived my ex, and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me. Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.” I would be a hypocrite if I argued that Swift is not allowed to respond to XCX on her own album. XCX wrote a song about her! My only issue is that it’s so… lame? And she takes the time to tease XCX, calling her a barking chihuahua, which doesn’t quite hit as hard as Cardi B calling Bia a “labrador” on the diss track “Pretty and Petty.” I’m not suggesting that Swift be nice to XCX, but it is a harsh response to a song where XCX muses, “Why I wanna buy a gun? Why I wanna shoot myself?” If anything, Swift seems to be masking her real anger with phony bravado. In “Actually Romantic,” she claims to find XCX’s insults “sweet.” A cursory familiarity with XCX will tell you that she’s never been afraid of speaking her mind. “Boring Barbie” seems like too nice of an insult for someone you hate. So I’m left wondering what insults Swift really heard and sanitized to “Boring Barbie,” rather than putting something much nastier on wax.
And not for nothing, XCX also wrote about her fraught relationship with Lorde on Brat in “Girl, so confusing.” The only difference is that the song prompted Lorde to ring up XCX and work it out on a remix. It produced one of the best pop songs of last year. That’s because Lorde is cool. She spun a beef into something iconic. Swift responded with a catty song that sounds like two better songs. That’s a little boring, Barbie.
III.
The Swedish pop group ABBA won Eurovision in 1974 with their song “Waterloo.” They’re one of the best-selling pop acts in history, continuing a tradition of the Swedes being better at storytelling than the rest of us. ABBA Gold features a collection of the best pop songs ever created. Their 1979 album Voulez-Vouz is a masterpiece (and features my favorite song, “If It Wasn’t for the Nights,” a glaring omission from Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again).
Max Martin is one of the best songwriters of the 21st century. It’s no wonder Swift wanted to work with him on Red; she grew up listening to him craft hits for Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC. Martin’s greatest contribution to pop music is “…Baby One More Time.” BSB’s “Shape of My Heart” is a song about romantic regret and forgiveness, which is Swift’s wheelhouse. “Tell Me, Tell Me... Baby” off *NSYNC’s 2001 album Celebrity is Reptuation’s mother. Listen to it and tell me I’m wrong.
When Swift announced that she was teaming up with Martin and Shellback again, most fans assumed we’d be getting pop anthems. Granted, Martin is also responsible for “Delicate,” a decidedly non-upbeat song more in line with the general vibe of Showgirl. But none of the songs on Swift’s latest take sonic left turns like the tracks on Reputation, and frankly, the songwriting doesn’t match it. “Wi$h Li$t” has my favorite chorus on the album2, but when you actually listen to the lyrics, you wonder what the hell Swift is talking about. “We’d tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do.” You announced this album — that no one was begging for after last year’s 21-track slog The Tortured Poets Department — on Kelce’s podcast. Kelce was on the cover of GQ. His mother is on the new season of The Traitors. I think it’s you all who won’t leave us alone, but the private jet isn’t gonna pay for itself.
Maybe my expectations were too high for Martin to match. With Swift in a creative rut on Showgirl, Martin was never going to be the producer to pull her out of it. Take this description of Martin from Swedish pop royalty Robyn in an interview with Pitchfork: “He has a very particular way of looking at songs. He is a hit machine. That’s his specialty. But that’s what he does. He writes songs. He’s not an artist.”
Edit: I originally referenced Ibsen’s A Doll’s House when I meant to reference Strindberg.
I came to love Reputation over time, in spite of its messiness. I still largely stand by my initial GQ review, but it’s my most listened to of her albums despite Folklore being “better.”
The MAGA accusations of wanting some kids and a basketball court are silly, though the eugenics did jump out with “have the whole block looking like you.”
“I think it’s you all who won’t leave us alone, but the private jet isn’t gonna pay for itself” LOL forever!
This album pissed me off so much that I spent the whole day reading critics tear it apart! So, I thought I had enough, but the whole piece was really good, Ira!
not Mama Kelce catching strays!