This post was updated Oct. 30 at 8:41 p.m.
Becoming a pop superstar requires the creation of evergreen hits, but becoming a musical legend requires something more.
No contemporary artist knows the heights of record-breaking commercial success quite like Taylor Swift. Most recently, her 12th studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” broke the record for the biggest Billboard 200 debut of all-time after moving more than four million album units in the first week following its Oct. 3 release. In spite of its gargantuan sales – partially aided by the album being available in 38 different vinyl, CD, cassette and digital download variations – the LP was met with the harshest reviews of the 14-time Grammy winner’s storied career. Even if Swift’s position as one of the most prolific pop superstars of all time is indisputably secure thanks to her vast collection of smash hits, her artistic regression toward bland and unoriginal songwriting threatens her potential to be a true music legend while shortchanging her ardent fans of compelling music.
Even before “The Life of a Showgirl” became her 15th No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Swift’s colossal commercial prowess was dissected in a 2024 article from The New York Times titled “How Big Is Taylor Swift?” The analysis compared Swift to musical icons such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and Beyoncé.
While Swift’s sales figures and roster of inescapable hit singles easily rival or surpass each of these superstars, the diminishing quality of her last few albums suggests that she is not taking the same artistic risks as these legendary musicians. Each of these artists continuously pushed the envelope in their sound and lyrical themes while at the height of their imperial popularity – eschewing Swift’s model for easily digestible material – even if they risked selling fewer albums.
Admittedly, there is nothing inherently wrong with Swift having a sales-driven approach to her music. After all, the music industry is driven by the mass production of art as a profitable form of commerce. The disappointment with Swift’s output – especially “The Life of a Showgirl” and its lackluster predecessor “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” – is that she appears to be making little effort to create art with integrity, passion or a fresh point of view. Her music has become increasingly generic and soulless in a never-ending pursuit of reaching a wider audience.
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What Swift should be doing instead is doubling down on her well-documented songwriting skills to create some of the most impactful, daring music of her career. Thanks to her loyal fan base of millions of Swifties, any music she releases is bound to be popular. It would be so much more valuable – to our culture, to the fabric of pop music, to Swift’s legacy and credibility – if her music made a greater attempt to be experimental with lyrical themes, genre or song structure.
The icons mentioned above illustrate the power of an artist at their peak stretching beyond conventional hit formulas to create complex, thought-provoking music worth remembering. Madonna is perhaps the best example of this originality, propelling her craft far beyond the hit singles of “Like a Virgin” and “True Blue” to explore polarizing topics such as religion on “Like a Prayer” and sexuality on “Erotica.” Her evolution continued by dabbling in genres left of the mainstream on LPs such as “Ray of Light,” “Music” and “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
More recently, Beyoncé could have easily continued to churn out catchy tunes such as “Diva” and “Halo” but instead revolutionized the pop landscape with the sonic experimentation, lyrical introspection and unconventional rollouts she brought to LPs such as “BEYONCÉ,” “Lemonade” and “RENAISSANCE.” Rather than lazy interpolation, Beyoncé has drawn inspiration from decades of musical history to curate encyclopedic, genre-bending albums.
Even as chart records set by Madonna and Beyoncé are broken by Swift, the quality of their musical output puts their discographies in a league of their own. The same level of artistic ambition, sonic richness or thematic sophistication is nowhere to be found on “The Life of a Showgirl.” Despite a few terrific pop songs – such as “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Elizabeth Taylor” – most of the album is an uninspiring retread of superior songs in Swift’s catalog.
To be fair to Swift, some of the fundamental problems with the album might stem from the project being written and recorded during the overseas leg of “The Eras Tour.” Without as much time to concentrate on her artistry while on the road, Swift might not have been in the optimal headspace to elevate her musicianship. Likewise, not every album can be expected to be a masterpiece, and sometimes excellent pop music does not need to have a deeper meaning.
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But Swift has already proven that her most brilliant and vital music has been released in the moments when she took risks in her career. The surprise drops of her insular pandemic records “folklore” and “evermore” represented the biggest gamble Swift has ever taken with her music – and it paid off in spades, demonstrating not only her strongest songwriting to date but adding legions of previously skeptical listeners to her fan base.
Of course, the criticism of “The Life of a Showgirl” is unlikely to affect Swift in any discernible way. She has succeeded in breaking a decade-old Adele sales record that was previously considered insurmountable and added to her $1.6 billion net worth in the process. Her stardom is not undeserved, as she has spent nearly two decades building a loyal fan base of millions of Swifties around the world who will continue to buy and stream her music and purchase tickets to her concerts for decades to come. Even when she someday ages out of collecting Top 10 singles – she already has 69 – Swift will be revered as a hitmaker for the ages for the rest of her life.
Since Swift’s continued success is practically a guarantee, she owes it to herself and to her unwavering Swifties to take her next musical project in a more fearless direction. Few artists have the luxury of fans supporting their musical endeavors no matter what, and Swift has an ideal opportunity to capitalize on that goodwill by exploring a fresh sound or working with new collaborators the next time she goes into the studio. Swift has dozens of incredible songs and a handful of stellar albums, but her legacy and credibility as a musician are threatened by her last few albums’ emphasis on quantity over quality. To become an inarguable legend, Swift must take advantage of her time atop the pop throne to create trailblazing music with a more profound purpose.
After all, a true showgirl knows she has to keep her act fresh and dynamic or risk losing her audience’s respect.
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