How Do We Grade the Rollout for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ at This New Commercial Peak?
Even by Taylor Swift‘s standards, the numbers have been inconceivable. Billboard reported on Saturday that Swift’s 12th album The Life of a Showgirl had, by the end of its Friday (Oct. 3) release day, already sold 2.7 million copies — the second-biggest performance of the entire Nielsen era in just a day’s time — while the set also broke streaming records left and right, particularly with lead single and opening track “The Fate of Ophelia.” The album is well on its way to becoming yet another career-defining commercial triumph for Swift — though the response to it from critics and from hardcore Swifties has maybe been a little more mixed so far.
With this Rollout Report Card episode, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Danielle Pascual and Meghan Mahar as we look at everything surrounding The Life of a Showgirl — from the New Heights podcast where the new era was officially launched, to the artwork for the album (which at least one of us may have already purchased seven alternate vinyl editions of), to the Official Release Party film debuted last weekend in conjunction with the new set. We attempt to grade all aspects of the rollout, and whether or not the most-anticipated pop album of the year met either our own expectations, or the ones that Taylor (and now-fiancé Travis Kelce) explicitly established for it.
As we hand out our letter grades for all the most important factors in Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl rollout — from the live performances and music videos to the new songs and overall “albuminess” — we answer all the most pressing questions: How well do we actually remember the fate of the original Ophelia? What’s the best way to replicate the Official Release Party from the privacy of your own home? Is there actually any interpolating of George Michael’s “Father Figure” in Taylor Swift’s “Father Figure”? Do we want to see a full Taylor Swift-Charli XCX back-and-forth on record? And perhaps most importantly: How did the biggest pop star of our lifetimes possibly get way bigger yet again?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from this unforgettable album campaign, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
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