D (Taylor's Version)

I personally think it was a bit of an intentional rug pull to make a point about the life of a showgirl. We all built up an image of her in our heads as a super glamorous, flashy woman, which she actively encouraged through the imagery associated with this album, but in the end, when we finally get a peak behind the curtain, she's just a human woman with human emotions; in other words, the entire point is that, once she's behind the curtains, she's NOT a showgirl at all anymore. She's just another woman living her life. Whether or not that concept was well executed is a totally different story, but suffice it to say, I do think there's a reason why the final and title track of the album says, "You don't know the life of a showgirl, babe," unless you've lived it.

It’s not until I get to the end of the album that it hits me. This is the first time ever I haven’t heard Taylor Swift wonder if she’s enough. Not on a single song. She’s not dreaming of running away, hatching escape plans or making herself small. Twisting herself into knots, worried about being seen not as something shiny and new but as a woman, when the lights go down. She isn’t worried about news cycles or legacy or ageing out. She knows who she is – the motherfucking showgirl. And there’ll never be another like her. Besides, she’s not going anywhere.

After sitting with the album for a while (except wood, i just can’t listen to it, once but never again) I think she really really achieved her goal of “infectious melodies” that you can’t get out of your head!! Like these songs are stuck in my head day and night. And lyrically I think she cared a lot of vocal inflections and how she sings certain words (some moments still give me goosebumps) but I think she absolutely didn’t care about the storytelling aspect of it.

Yes same it dosen’t hit me emotionally as hard as her other albums because very coincidentally Reputation came out when I just started my university boyfriend Lover came while I was so in love with him and we broke up 6 months before Tortured Poets came out. So it was a thing of getting a taylor album because you NEED it and it will forever soundtrack your emotional landscape in that period of time. This is exactly why Folklore and Evermore felt like the warmest hug because collectively we NEEDED them.