LOS ANGELES: Superstar Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, arrived on Friday with a promotional blitz, including midnight sales at Target stores, a release party at movie theatres around the globe and pop-up experiences in New York and Los Angeles.

It follows The Tortured Poets Department, which debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and sold the equivalent of eight million albums in the United States, according to Luminate, a firm that tracks music sales. Swift’s latest offering is expected to be similarly lapped up by her huge global fan base, even though the music press gave the release a mixed response. It became Spotify’s most-streamed album of the year, hitting that milestone in less than 11 hours.

“With this album it’s exactly where I am at in my life,” Swift told Britain’s Capital Breakfast radio show, kicking off promotional appearances.

“I am exactly in the same spot as I was when I made this record so it feels very accurate to my life experience right now.”

Swift once again worked with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback. The duo also worked on records including her best-selling album, 1989, and Reputation. Many critics praised the upbeat songs and humour on the 12-song album, whose title track features Sabrina Carpenter.

Rolling Stone gave it five stars saying Swift “shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom and hits all her marks”, while BBC called it “a triumphant pop victory lap.” Awarding it two stars.

The Financial Times and Guardian were cooler, with the former saying the album was “charismatic as ever, but lacks sparkle” and the latter describing it as “dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled.” Fans who went to the HMV store in London to buy the album were nonetheless enthusiastic.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2025