#writtenessay

The Life of a Billionaire : A Taylor Swift Essay 🛸

By Moon Records

The following essay is written by me and me alone. This is not meant to entice a hate train but invoke critical thinking as well an open discussion on what was done right and could be done better. If you lack those things, this account is not for you, and any comments provoking obvious aggression and empty insults will be deleted. Disagreements will be made but I don't support the harassment or witch hunt of anyone I mention here. With that being said, let's dive right in and remember to keep it cute and cordial in the comments.

The Album Review 🛸

My Pros and Cons

Let's jump right in! As it currently stands, we have 12 songs on the album. All with different names and they're associated melodies. I wasn't there when it dropped, but as a listener of TTPD and prior albums, I had the album presaved.

I remember getting to the album maybe a couple of days later. Now, how I listen to a new album is I start from the top, no skips, and work my way down, saving songs to specific playlists as I go until I reach the end.

I'll start with my pros of the album before finishing with the cons. Some good takeaways, in my opinion, were the presentation. The orange and teal, along with all the sparkles as well the short clips/edits you see per track, were a nice touch. You can definitely tell there was a lot of thought in the presentation as well as really representing the showgirl theme. Most of the songs felt very lyrically safe and neat. Some sexual innuendos here and there, but that didn't bother me personally. I also did enjoy the Sabrina Carpenter feature as a previous fan of her album, "Emails I Can't Send." Not only do their voices compliment one another well in the song, "Life of a Showgirl", but when it got to the bridge it was taken to a whole new level. "Ruin the Friendship" was an endearing tribute to her high school friend Jeff Lang. It kinda reminded me of, "Soon Youll Get Better." Where she was talking about her mother battling illness. Overall, I didn't feel any strong dislike to the album personally. It just felt like another generic Taylor Swift album. Nothing too special. I will add that my favorite songs were "Elizabeth Taylor", "Actually Roumantic", and "Honey."

Now for the dislikes or cons. As much I didn't hate this album or consider it her worst, as some critics would say, it did feel generic. You had your love songs, some storytelling, a diss track here and there, the feature, and your playful yet sexual songs. A classic Taylor album. Of course, this can be said about any artist, but when this is your overall theme, just recycled and repackaged with different colors, it can feel redundant and flat. Misha Petrov states in her videos, "It's like the color beige in music form." This ties back to what I said in the Pros section how many of her songs sound clean and organized. It's like clean girl aesthetic if she was an album when you think about it. This to say, generic writing isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't have an issue with break-up songs and love sonnets with the occasional sex joke weaved into it. This by itself isn't the problem, let me emphasize that. It's when that is all you're bringing to the table, especially as a high value artist. It begs the question of the type of standard you are setting for industry especially for coming up artist who could be looking to you as a role model.

I would also like to add that some of the songs on the album don't exactly make sense from an English or literary degree point of view. It's very common for artist, especially Taylor Swift, to add classic pieces of literature to their songs. I know The Great Gatsby was a popular theme amongst the albums such as Folklore or Evermore, but here, the idea of Ophelia didn't fully make sense to me once you know the story of Ophelia in Hamilton. Neida Teresa does a very good job of breaking this down in her video, where she disects each song in depth. Some allege the song Ophelia is about Ophelia Woods, who wrote, "The Life of a Showgirl." This book could be found on Amazon, but the release date of the book--August 27th, 2025--to the album--August 12, 2025--doesn't fully sell it or add up unless we want to argue Mrs. Swift can traverse into the future. It is also alleged in Facebook groups, by some swifties, this book is AI made.

Continuing on AI, there are folks accusing Swift of using AI or ChatGPT, and that I am not too sure of, so I won't comment on that. If this is true, then yes, that should be discussed as well and addressed. In the end, this album was a bit mid for me, and nothing of what I expected. I thought the, "Life of a Showgirl." Would show case what it was like being in the music industry. Some of the behind the scenes that we as an audience don't get to see. The only time I really felt she lived up to that was by the time we get to the last song titled, "The Life of a Showgirl."

Supply and Demand 🛸

28 Variants is Excessive

Is 28 variants, where some are limited time, for only a mere breadcrumb of content really worth it? If you were asking me, I'd say no. On Tiktok, many would say otherwise. Now, I am not here to tell you what to think and that if you disagree with me, you should be chastised, no! These are just my personal opinions at the end of the day, and we can agree to disagree.

I just feel, and someone on my video that I posted was able to put into perfect words, that it's passive aggressive to do all that to your fans for only mere qoute change of content or one added song. She's a smart businesswoman, and she's obviously feeding into the FOMO psychology, but this, in my opinion, is a bit messed up. I think of the time when she dropped TTPD and the album was hyped up along with it's limited time merch and everyone, including myself, was scrambling to get their hands on it. Then, not too long after, she came out with Anthology, which was not just a couple of bonus songs, but basically a whole new album in of itself. This by itself isn't bad. It's good to have an element of surprise that keeps your audience on their toes, but when you pair this with the fact she dropped TTDP along with limited time merch to then later drop Anthology with more limited time stuff it feels heavily rushed and pushy. I think of when she was dropping this album, and you had the opportunity to purchase a limited time album verison before the album even dropped. Not even getting a chance to find out if you'll even like the album in the first place, and when you think about it like that, it's just so much worse. Assuming your fans are just going to eat up whatever you put in front of them. Not only does it come off as undermining your fans' intelligence but is super arrogant. Cause either you think of them as that mindless which, some can be, or you think you're that good.

Either or, cause now I am getting off track a bit. It just doesn't seem necessary, and it comes off greedy. Now I understand, and someone in the comments of my video did explain to me this, that artists actually make more money off the physical copies vs. digital. Why that is, I am not in full understanding of, but that is what I was told. Which, I can empathize with if this was little indie artist making music in their bedroom, but it's not. This is Taylor Swift, where her Spotify alone could set her up for life. She is also involved in other media that she gets a percentage of, too.

All this to say something doesn't sit right with me on how she went and goes about some of her business tactics, and of course, I am ok if folks disagree.

Micro Aggressions and Racism 🛸

Diss Track after Diss Track

This is going to be another long one, with links to back it up so the folks who are effect my these aggresions can have their voices heard and seen.

Taylor Swift is no stranger when it comes to writing songs about those who wronged her, but not only has she written songs on her exes or crooked ex producer, but she has also come for the innocent and we see that clear as day on this album. Some will also argue that songs like Bad Blood and Actually Romantic which are diss tracks to Katy Perry and Charlie XCX were taken out of proportion and unnecessary clap backs. Brownfireball shares some of her thoughts as well others on the whole Actually Romantic breakdown.

Moving on, to the more important part of this section as well at addressing the elephant in the room, that is, Taylor's vandetta towards black folks/POC or her recent victim, Kayla Nicole.

Kayla Nicole is a fashion and wellness youtuber/entrepreneur. She is also formally known as Travise Kelce's ex. I also encourage looking into and doing more research on Kayla as a person than who she was with because, as we all know, women are more than who they previously dated. For the sake of this essay, I will be focusing on her history with Travis as well as his dating history.

Travis is not just known as NFL's football poster boy, but also to date predominantly black woman. The most recent being Kayla on and off from 2017 to 2022. The winner Maya Benberry from the show, "Catching Kelce," and finally Zuri Hall, a reporter in 2022 a little before linking with Swift. It was also rumored a little after Zuri he tried shooting his shot with Megan Thee Stallion, who rejected him on video allegedly. Megan is also reported to be dating Klay Thompson, the NBA Dallas Mavericks player. The next time these two are seen is in a Pepsi commercial. Here, they are reenacting a Greek Gladiator like theme.

All this being said, Travis Kelce has had an interesting dating history before meeting Swift, which has predominantly been black woman. Now, how is all this tied to Taylor showing clear micro aggressions towards POC and diss tracking Kayla. Look no further than the song "Opalite", and who it's about as well as the shift in perspective towards the second verse. The song starts out talking about Taylor and her experience in dating as well as reminiscing on old lovers. After the chorus, we then go into the second verse, and we are no longer in the 1st person perspective of Taylor but instead 2nd, and we are referring to a "you."

It has been confirmed, by Taylor herself, that the song, "Opalite" is about Travis Kelce since his birth stone is Opal. In this section, as Taylor is singing, she writes, "You couldn't understand it. Why you felt alone. You were in it for real. She was in her phone. And you were just a pose." Which many people not only speculated but concluded was about Kayla Nicole and the video where Travis is annoyed by her filming. Here is a short by Pattypopculture on not only what I stated here but the videos itself of Travis and Kayla at the end where it's obvious Travis is upset and calling Kayla a loser. I personally find that to be a red flag, but I won't get into some of the reasons I think Travis Kelce is not the divine masculine people are framing him to be. If you would like me to write more on that, I can, but for now, I recommend this video by Everday Starlet.

All this to say, it is clear that Travis has a type, and Taylor clearly feels some type of way about that type. This isn't to say I think she is outright racist or hates black/poc, but it's very common for Taylor to use her lyricism to put down or even back hand someone who crosses her the wrong way or feels envious towards and you can see this littered throughout her albums even from day 1 with the classic hit single, "You Belong With Me." She's always had this, "Not Like Other Girls." Vibe. Never the popular girl, just the girl who sits in the corner wearing band T's listening to indie bands as she doodles on the top left corner of her assignments. Now these things are not bad by themselves, but when you're pushing 30 and still trying to play up the high-school loner despite being a billionaire many admire it looks uncanny and feels forced or fake and I feel that is the take away from this album. Something just doesn't sit right.

For more videos on this topic of micro aggressions as well as folks dealing with effects of it, especially from this snd speaking out, I recommend this video by Reese Ireland and this onr by ItzKeisha.

In Conclusion 🛸

My Closing Thoughts

In the end, and to wrap this all up, the album may not have been the worst, but it was definitely mid. From not only feeling very rushed and haphazardly put together but to the marketing and down to some of the songs themselves lyrically. Does this mean I will never listen to another Taylor Swift song or her next album? Of course not, but as Echo Chamberlain states in his video, when your chords are C, G, Am, and F in a majority of your songs it gets old really, really fast.

I feel that at the end of the day, we are dealing with a case of "Taylor Fatigue." She released the "Midnights" album in 2022 to then go on the Era's Tour from 2023 to 2024, dropped a "TTPD" double album mid tour in April of 2024, met Travis and attended his games along with the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, ended her tour to then release "The Life of a Showgirl" this year October 2025 and now is getting married. Whether we can relate or not, even having to type all that felt exhausting, let alone doing it. Not to mention now having to see the Kelce family all over similar to how the Kardashians were.

Taylor has even mentioned in her interviews feeling exhausted and tired, and I think what she and all of us need is a break. I genuinely think that if she had rested after the tour and took a year or even 2 years off to allow herself time to live a married life and others to be in the spotlight to then come back with something fresh we would all be saying something different most likely.

Either or, this concludes my deep dive on Taylor and her new Album, "The Life of a Showgirl." I hope you found this to be educational as well as constructive. If you would like me to do more content such as this, let me know in the comments below who I should cover next. Remember to keep it polite in the comments and to send no hate to anyone that is mentioned in this essay. Have a good one and stay safe.

Aue Revoir 🛸

Here is a draft for the intro to my personal essay.  As of now it is just about two pages long.  I have no idea where I’m going with it, mostly I’m just thinking about it as I go.

For the record, the Shrek line probably won’t stay in.  Honestly I only added that in my quick revision before posting.  Seemed appropriate for Tumblr.

Why do we enjoy stories as a human race?

Whether you believe in evolution or a man with a white beard, humans have always told stories and passed them on through every generation.  In fact, that’s how the stories about the man in the sky and the problematic son spread so widely and have been passed on generation to generation.  

To put it simply, we love stories so much because they are love, they are life.  Much like Shrek.  We tell stories to imitate life and all the things we love about it.  We tell stories to study the things we find interesting about nature as well as the intricacies of human life.  We tell stories to study the horrific things life throws at us on a daily basis.  To Study ourselves.  We love stories because they study our lives.  They study what our lives are, and what they could be.  Isn’t that one of the most important things we can do in life?  Study?  That’s what makes us human.  It is vitally important that we study ourselves.  To be happy, to improve our collective lives, and, most importantly, to begin to understand ourselves and how we work.

Studying ourselves helps us to think.  Which is also quite important.  Perhaps even more so than studying ourselves.  Without thinking, we are just surviving, not living.  Studying our lives improves our ability to think.  Not just about ourselves, but it gives us a much better understanding of our world and how the things around us function.  Stories are studies on how our world works as well, not just studies on ourselves.  In fact, that’s what most stories focus on.  The good ones take a close look at both us and how our world and society works.  

I feel it’s safe to say this essay will turn into a study on how we function in our environment, but I’ll do my best to stay on track.  It’s also safe to say I will go off on multiple tangents.  So be prepared for that and bear with me.

Why Should We Study Ourselves?

We study ourselves because we need to.  If we don’t come to understand ourselves, we would never be happy.  Or perhaps, some of us would find ignorance in bliss.  But for many of us, if we never gave a second thought to who we are and why we are that way, we would be majorly unhappy.  I know I would be.  In fact, I attribute a big part of being happy with who I am today to  when I began to think for myself when I was around seventeen.  I definitely wasn’t happy at that time and wasn’t for at least a couple years after that.  In fact, coming to terms with all my philosophies probably ultimately depressed me more than I was initially.  More realistically though, I don’t think that’s true.  I think what happened was I realized how depressed I actually was.  

With that said, I strongly recommend to think for yourself, or rather, think about who you really are and why you are that way if you haven’t already.  Bringing yourself down by realizing the truth is better than living in unhappy ignorant bliss.  Later down the line I can guarantee you’ll be happier.  You’ll probably even improve on who you are.  

Quite honestly, it’s not that difficult ultimately either.  Sure, it’s a process (with which I am still going through) that will take a number of years.  But getting started doesn’t take much.  And you don’t have to specifically continue studying these concepts for long after.  I recommend studying, or at the very least, asking yourself some philosophical questions.  

Write.  Dear God, please write.  Honestly that’s the most important thing.  Keep a journal.  Document what happens every day and how you feel about it.  Within the journal, think through and answer philosophical and psychological questions.