Taylor Swift's Burnout Era

"She doesn't sound like she's having fun. She has the team captain, the cushion-cut diamond, the fans who will shell out for yet another branded cardigan-but Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl, and the life it seems to portray, is a charmless chore. Swift spends her 12th album pondering familiar bummers: rivalries, regrets, the countdown clock of her own mortality."

"Her economies-quaking Eras Tour flaunted the power earned by years of hard work; her engagement to Travis Kelce appeared to fulfill the romantic quest she has long sung about. Success certainly puts her under no obligation to fake a smile and hide her anxieties. Unfortunately, Showgirl is the sound of an overworked and overexposed entertainer reaching the mountaintop to find something worse than disappointment: burnout."

"Swift recorded it on tour, using free days to fly to Sweden to work with the legendary producer Max Martin and his collaborator Shellback. Their methods-ruthless melodic math, brazenly artificial production, and an odd soft spot for reggae rhythms-helped define the world-conquering sound of Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys. When Martin first teamed up with Swift for 2012's Red, their partnership propelled her from country-music fame into the echelon of megastardom where she still resides."

Taylor Swift's twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, portrays fame as a charmless chore, with Swift pondering rivalries, regrets and the countdown of her own mortality. A football-player fiancé seems to promise happily ever after, but she cannot convincingly claim fulfillment and sounds too cynical to sell a fairy tale. The Eras Tour displayed power earned by years of work, and the engagement to Travis Kelce appeared to answer a long-sung romantic quest. Success removes any obligation to fake happiness, yet Showgirl sounds like an overworked, overexposed entertainer confronting burnout. Swift recorded songs on tour and flew to Sweden to work with Max Martin and Shellback.

Read at The Atlantic