Thoughts on Life of a Showgirl

This is a Taylor Swift blog now (JK. Kinda.)

It’s been a big week for Swifties. The biggest one in a minute—after all, this is the longest Taylor has ever gone without releasing new music. And while it seems like some of us are still trying to catch our breath from the Eras Tour, there have been growing murmurs that TS12 is coming.

And then, she did announce it, through a combination of her own website and, to many people’s surprise, her boyfriend, Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights. It airs tonight (8/13), so I don’t know exactly what she says on it, but the podcast has posted a clip of her talking about the new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

The internet exploded. Takes abounded. Was Taylor lessening her shine by announcing her new album on her boyfriend’s podcast? Was she platforming him when she should be keeping the spotlight on herself?

I want to point out that in the past, Taylor has announced her albums on Good Morning America (sometimes just virtually!) and on YouTube lives. So, I don’t think she’s particularly precious about where she does it as long as there are a lot of eyes on it.

There were plenty of discussions on how she chose to announce, but as it reached critical mass, I noticed one crucial aspect was missing from the discourse.

Apparently, this resonated with folks

In the beginning of her career, Taylor went hard on promo for her albums. She was on late-night TV. She went on radio stations. She was interviewed on the red carpet. She was building her brand; she had to, even though people grabbed her ass, asked completely inappropriate questions, and focused on things besides the music she was promoting.

But then, she started tapering off when it came to interviews. Sure, she did some for the Folklore/Evermore releases, but the nature of the pandemic gave her an excuse to not do press. By the time she released The Tortured Poets Department, the record-breaking Eras Tour was in its second year, and frankly, she didn’t need to do promo to get people interested.

It’s my opinion that one of the reasons Taylor chose to talk about her new album on New Heights because Travis is her boyfriend and she can 1. look relatable and 2. have complete control over the interview and how it comes out.

The Eras Tour has only made Taylor bigger. She’s now a billionaire, she bought her masters back, and she’s in one of the highest profile celebrity relationships around. What better to bring her down to earth than to remind people she’s just a girl? The podcast gives us a peek into her relationship with Travis. We’ll be able to see how they interact, witness actual conversations, and

In a time when Taylor has seen herself firmly in Trump’s crosshairs (multiple times!), there’s so much value in her being in a space where she knows what the questions will be, how she’s going to answer them, and has complete creative control over how things are edited.

Similarly, she won’t have to answer any questions about ex-boyfriends, no “gotchas,” or journalists trying to make themselves the story instead of her.

She’s not here to be a soundbite taken out of context, or to have a question she didn’t expect sprung on her, especially in a time where politics and everything that goes along with it is so polarized. For better or worse, Taylor speaks up about what she speaks up about on her own time, and no one else’s.

Just like she cut out the middleman when releasing her Eras Tour book, she’s cutting out the media and going straight to a place where she feels comfortable and has complete control. I don’t think we’ll be seeing her giving any other interviews this album cycle (maaaaaybe Kylie’s podcast, but who knows).

She has a brand to protect, and in her calculations, announcing on the podcast was the best way to do that.

Another bold prediction I want to make? I don’t think the album will be the Travis gush fest people are expecting. Sure, I think we’ll get some lovey dovey stuff, but I think the album will focus more on the cost and burden of fame, and the tension between Taylor Swift THE BRAND versus Taylor Swift THE PERSON, all wrapped up in the trappings of pop music. Because of the kind of books I write, this would delight me to no end, so that’s my prediction and I’m sticking to it.

Share your thoughts on the album and its roll-out in the comments!