After listening to the most controversial tracks − “Wood,” “CANCELLED!” and “Actually Romantic” − on Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl," I almost couldn’t bear continuing.
I’ve never been a self-proclaimed “Swiftie,” but I grew up watching her career take off with classics like “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” attended the Eras tour with my mom in 2022, and appreciated the intricate storytelling on her COVID-era albums, “folklore” and “evermore,” which some fans argue are her best work to date. It’s hard to imagine that the same artist who crafted such beautiful melodies and narratives (“I think your house is haunted / Your dad is always mad and that must be why,” she sings in “seven”) could write something as derivative as “Did you girlboss too close to the sun?” She’s already proven to be an amazing songwriter, even before her 2020 albums, so why regurgitate years-old internet slang?
And despite my desire to erase "Wood" from my memory forever, criticism of the album has been inescapable on my social media feed.
Many pointed to Kelce as the root problem. “He should have been a better muse,” one critic posted on X, with others arguing her best music was inspired by her six-year relationship with Joe Alywn. Others joked, perhaps uncreatively, that she may be the first case of “secondhand CTE.”
