Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” was released on Oct. 3 and caused a buzz at the University of St. Thomas.
Since before its release, the album has broken multiple sales and streaming records. On Aug. 31, Spotify posted on Instagram that the album broke the record for the most pre-saves in Spotify’s history.
Within 11 hours of its release, “The Life of a Showgirl” became the most-streamed album on Spotify in a day. “The Fate of Ophelia,” a single off of the album, also became the most streamed song in a single week in Spotify history, according to an Instagram post from Spotify.
UST sophomore Emily Kratz, a longtime Swiftie, said that she loved the album.
“It seems like she’s in a place where she’s like happy because a lot of her writing in the past has been very like introspective and sad and almost like a diary where she’s just like writing about all her heartbreak,” Kratz said. “And so it’s kind of fun to have an album where she’s just really happy and I just thought it really worked in so many of the songs.”
However, Kratz also said that she was disappointed by some songs, such as the track “Eldest Daughter,” which she thought she would relate to more as she is also an eldest daughter.
“I just had an expectation and it didn’t super hit the nail on the head for me,” Kratz said.
In addition to Spotify records, all 12 songs from “The Life of a Showgirl” occupied the top dozen spots on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of Oct. 18.
But even with all of this success, students have been hesitant with their praise for the album. First-year Juliana Godina said that the album took a while to warm up to.
“I didn’t like it at first because of the lyrics she was using. It was kind of like, dirty,” Godina said, referring to some lyrics containing sexual innuendos. “I was like ‘what?’ But then I found songs that were like fine and I was like ‘OK, this is OK,’ So now it’s a good album.”
Senior Caroline Halfen also said that she was confused by Swift’s lyricism.
“Especially with the song ‘Wood’ I listened to it with my friends and I didn’t think I heard that quite right and I listened back and was like ‘Oh! That’s exactly what she said’,” Halfen said.
First-year Sophie Perius said that in her opinion, “The Life of a Showgirl” was a flop, and the character Ophelia from Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” who Swift references in her song “The Fate of Ophelia,” was misrepresented.
“It was horrible. I can’t name one song that I liked on it. I feel like usually her lyrics are more, I don’t know, in depth than this was,” Perius said. “I’m also kind of offended by the fact that she like, fundamentally misunderstood the character of Ophelia and then made it the whole thing of the album.”
Perius also said that “The Life of a Showgirl” sounds like it was made to be TikTok music.
“There’s short snippets of the songs that were OK, but then the rest of it doesn’t feel like fleshed out in the same way,” Perius said.
However, Godina said that “The Life of a Showgirl” affects everyone differently, and a few listens can change someone’s opinion.
“When I first listened to it I was like ‘Um, I don’t really like it,’ but the more I kept listening I was like, ‘This is more of my vibe.’ So like, I think it just depends on the person,” Godina said.
Lucy Troester can be reached at troe4853@stthomas.edu.
