TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life Of A Showgirl," is her 12th studio album and arrives at a time when Swift dominates not just the music industry but American pop culture itself. The details of her recent engagement to football player Travis Kelce can seem to her fans as important as her music. So what does this mean for the dozen new songs on this album? Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE FATE OF OPHELIA")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) I heard you calling on the megaphone. You want to see me all alone. As legend has it, you are quite the pyro. You light the match to watch it blow. And if you'd never called for me, I might have drowned in the melancholy. I swore my loyalty to me, myself and I right before you lit my sky up. All that time I sat alone in my tower...
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Taylor Swift's crisp, clever new album, "The Life Of A Showgirl," is offered to its audience in an intentionally crass, playfully cynical manner. There she is on the cover, dressed in the skimpy attire of a Las Vegas showgirl. A few weeks before its release, on the podcast of her football fiance, Travis Kelce, she said, this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during the Eras Tour. It's about what I was going through offstage.
Half control freak, half cool English teacher, Swift is trying to guide the narrative interpretations for "The Life Of A Showgirl."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ACTUALLY ROMANTIC")
SWIFT: (Singing) Hadn't thought of you in a long time, but you keep sending me funny valentines. And I know you think it comes off vicious, but it's precious, adorable. Like a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse, that's how much it hurts. How many times has your boyfriend said, why are we always talking about her? It's actually sweet, all the time you've spent on me. It's honestly wild, all the effort you've put in. It's actually romantic. I've really got to hand it to you, ooh. No man has ever loved me like you do. You think I'm...
TUCKER: That's a song called "Actually Romantic." On this album, Swift is reunited with the Swedish producer Max Martin, with whom she's made her catchiest hits, including "Shake It Off" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." I much prefer the grand, intense pop productions of Max Martin to the brooding ballads that prevail on non-Martin productions, such as Swift's last album, "The Tortured Poets Department." On the new song "Wood," Martin turns Swift loose to tear through a rhythm and blues chorus that's unlike any singing she's done before.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WOOD")
SWIFT: (Singing) All of that missing, wishing on a falling star never did me any good. I ain't got to knock on wood. It's you and me forever dancing in the dark. All over me. It's understood. I ain't got to knock on wood. Forgive me. It sounds cocky. He hypnotized me and opened my eyes. Redwood tree. It ain't hard to see. His love was the key that opened my skies.
TUCKER: The lyrics for that song, by the way, are full of double entendres, and single ones that may require a certain amount of parental explanation for a considerable portion of Swift's audience. It's PG-13 autobiography for the fans who love to parse the lyrics, seeking private life details. It's why publications are reduced to coming up with clickbait headlines about the song "Opalite." People magazine, to take just one of many, offer this headline - "Taylor Swift's "Opalite" Lyrics Explained: Breaking Down The Travis Kelce-Inspired Track." This would be merely silly were the music not so strong, with its creamy disco beat and surging chorus.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OPALITE")
SWIFT: (Singing) All of the foes and all of the friends have seen it before. They'll see it again. Life is a song. It ends when it ends. I was wrong. But my mama told me, it's all right. You were dancing through the lightning strikes, sleepless in the onyx night. But now the sky is opalite. Oh-oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, my Lord never made no one like you before. You had to make your own sunshine. But now the sky is opalite. Oh-oh, oh, oh, oh.
TUCKER: On the title song, Swift joins up with pop star of the moment Sabrina Carpenter to offer one of those showbiz-is-hard extravaganzas that could serve as a Broadway musical showstopper.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL")
TAYLOR SWIFT AND SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) I took her pearls of wisdom, hung them from my neck. I paid my dues with every bruise. I knew what to expect. Do you want to take a skate on the ice inside my veins? They ripped me off like false lashes and then threw me away. And all the headshots on the walls of the dance hall are of the witches who wish I'd hurry up and die. But I'm immortal now, baby dolls. I couldn't if I tried. So I say thank you for the lovely bouquet. I'm married to the hustle, and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe. And I'll never know another pain...
TUCKER: As the album proceeds, you begin to realize that Swift focuses less and less on her perennial subjects - heartache and heartbreak. Her dozen songs combine to form a picture of true love found, tested and proven as strong as her early work always yearned to find. She uses a couple of songs to dispatch a few bad men, such as a condescending controller on this one called "Father Figure."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FATHER FIGURE")
SWIFT: (Singing) When I found you, you were young, wayward, lost in the cold. Pulled up to you in the Jag, turned your rags into gold. The winding road leads to the chateau. You remind me of a younger me. I saw potential. I'll be your father figure. I drink that brown liquor. I can make deals with the devil because my check's bigger. This love is pure profit. Just step into my office. I dry your tears with my sleeve. Leave it with me.
TUCKER: One key to Taylor Swift's success is that she's turned fame into a game her fans are invited to play along with her. Everyone is welcome backstage now, where Taylor will greet you with open arms, a big smile and a knowing wink.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HONEY")
SWIFT: (Singing) You can call me honey if you want because I'm the one you want. When anyone called me sweetheart, it was passive-aggressive at the bar. And the chick was telling me to back off 'cause her man had looked at me wrong. If anyone called me honey, it was standing in the bathroom, white teeth. They were saying that skirt don't fit me, and I cried the whole way home. But you touch my face, redefine all of those blues when you say honey. Summertime spritz, pink skies...
GROSS: Ken Tucker reviewed Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life Of A Showgirl." Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, we'll talk about how the Pentagon and military are being transformed. Last week, Defense Secretary Hegseth told hundreds of top military commanders to end, quote, "woke" policies, and President Trump suggested using the military against the enemy from within. Trump has deployed the National Guard to several U.S. cities. Our guest will be Nancy Youssef, who covers the Defense Department for The Atlantic. I hope you'll join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @nprfreshair.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer today is Therese Madden. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HONEY")
SWIFT: (Singing) Buy the paint in the color of your eyes, of your eyes, and graffiti my whole damn life, honey. When anyone called me late night, he was screwing around with my mind asking, what are you wearing? Too high to remember in the morning. And when anyone called me lovely, they were finding ways not to praise me.
(SOUNDBITE OF HUGH MASEKELA'S "GRAZING IN THE GRASS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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