Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’ Divides Critics: Is It ‘Terrible’ or ‘Superb’?
- On Friday, September 25, 2026, Taylor Swift released 'The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,' a deluxe edition of her 2025 album featuring four brand-new tracks.
- The original 2025 album 'Showgirl' received disenchanted reviews, with many considering it a bottom-tier album in her two-decade career; Swift doubled down on the era regardless.
- Music editor Roisin O'Connor called the songwriting 'shockingly uneven,' while culture writer Poppie Platt labeled the new tracks 'just as derivative and flat' as the original 12 songs.
- While The Telegraph published a viral takedown with the headline 'I'm a Swiftie and even I think these new songs are terrible,' Swift told Zane Lowe, 'I welcome the chaos.'
- Maintaining her 'mastermind' persona, Swift continues prioritizing personal narrative over critical acclaim, focusing on her marriage to Travis Kelce despite the external skepticism surrounding her work.
45 Articles
45 Articles
Why Taylor Swift’s Prom Queen Crown Can’t Make Her Happy
Taylor Swift has finally found her happily-ever-after. So why doesn’t she seem happy? The global pop superstar released four new songs as part of “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,” the extended deluxe version of the quite poorly received 2025 album Life of a Showgirl. “Cleveland!” is a musically buoyant track allegedly celebrating her newfound marital bliss with football player Travis Kelce. But when you read the lyrics, most lines aren’t foc…
Liner Notes: Taylor Swift’s ‘The Encore’ is more of what didn’t work the first time
Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” is the extension of “The Life of a Showgirl” that we didn’t need. I was hopeful for this next round of work after the last release of “I Knew It, I Knew You,” but the wordiness and talk-singing that overwhelmed her most recent album remained. What...
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore Did Not Need to Exist ★☆☆☆☆
Taylor Swift released an extra four tracks to her The Life of a Showgirl album on 25 September, and all four of them felt as soulless as the original album. The Life of a Showgirl, released in October 2025, garnered criticism in its lack of creativity, lyricism, and empty cash grab-esque release. It tracks, then, that the deluxe version would follow it that path. The Encore, something typically begged for by an audience, came as an unwanted surp…
Influencer Rips Into Taylor Swift Album, Claiming She 'Cares More About How the World Sees Them'
Telegraph reviewer Poppie Platt awarded Taylor Swift's reported extended album two stars, criticising its portrayal of Travis Kelce and comparing it with earlier love songs
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