'The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore' | Every Single Album: Taylor Swift

Every Single Album

Hosts Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard analyze Taylor Swift's recent release of four bonus tracks for 'The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore'

Key takeaways

• The hosts argue that while the new tracks aren't objectively bad, they fail to push Taylor Swift's artistry into a new era.
• Critique of 'Patient Zero' focuses on a strong initial melody undermined by an unpleasant bridge and 'talk-singing.'
• The song 'Cleveland' is criticized for lacking lyrical depth and sounding too much like a Christmas jingle.
• There is a shared concern that Swift's immense wealth and fame may be insulating her from the critical feedback necessary to maintain her creative peak.
• The release is viewed by some as an attempt to bolster her Grammy campaign for 'The Life of a Showgirl.'

Main topics

• Taylor Swift bonus tracks analysis
• The impact of fame on creative feedback
• VMA highlights and music video breakdown

Notable quotes

She's become someone who can be guilty of over-promising and under-delivering.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a nuanced critique of how high-stakes marketing

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hello and welcome to Every Single Album. I'm Nora Princiati and as always, I am joined by my friend Nathan Hubbard. Late on a Sunday night. Nathan, this is Every Single Album After Dark. Speaker 1 (0:21) You have been on the football beat. I have been on the job beat. It's been a long Sunday. We have, I mean, I think purposefully. Speaker 1 (0:34) given ourselves a few days here, haven't we? Because there has been a lot of conversation and feelings expressed about this. And usually you and I have sort of made a habit of listening and coming out early because we like what we like, as she says in Cleveland. Speaker 2 (0:53) Who doesn't? Speaker 1 (1:03) And this is the first time where we have had the benefit or disadvantage of a flood of feelings about a Taylor Swift release in advance of us giving our own reaction, isn't it? Speaker 2 (1:18) Do you think that we're, is it really? I don't think we're, so we're talking about, of course, Life of a Showgirl, the encore, the four songs that Taylor Swift released. late Thursday night into Friday morning. And we are in part doing this, recording this on a Sunday evening because as we have this conversation, we are like midway through the VMAs. And I will tell you that I am still on like slight is something more going to happen alert. And we'll try to incorporate that if it does. But Taylor Swift has accepted her artist director honor. Award presented by Dakota Johnson on the VMA stage. Presented Speaker 1 (1:59) by Taylor Swift, yes. Speaker 2 (2:04) externally influenced as the VMA's producer said about the creation of this award for this year. And she has debuted the Patient Zero music video, which we both have seen. We wanted to wait to be able to take all that in to have this conversation. But as always, of course, we live in fear that... More will come and she will do something and we will have to like figure our schedule out. But that's where we are. Is it that Speaker 1 (2:35) we live in fear or is it that we live in certainty? I live in fear. More is going to come. Speaker 2 (2:40) I live in fear. I'm afraid of Taylor Swift. But just to, based on what you just said, I don't, I feel like this is normally about the timeline. Maybe it's a little bit more. I feel like usually we record on a Saturday. after a Speaker 1 (2:57) new Speaker 2 (2:57) album. And here we're recording on a Sunday. Speaker 1 (3:00) Tortured Poets, we recorded Saturday morning after that thing came out Thursday night. And I know that because I was Speaker 2 (3:06) - And it was Speaker 1 (3:06) six Speaker 2 (3:06) hours long and I felt like I was going to die. Speaker 1 (3:08) It was a hostage crisis. Like it was a hostage situation and we had to listen to all of it. And it's, I mean, the reason that I- am so grateful to be in partnership with you is because you immediately recognize the value of the bolter, which I don't think is that great. And Speaker 3 (3:30) the black Speaker 1 (3:30) dog. Speaker 1 (3:47) No, no, no. I was on the Black Dog before the Black Dog. Come on, girl. The Black Dog, I've been like, I mean, I've been like the samurai. It's basically me tonight. Just get ready. Me tonight fighting for some of these songs is what I was. Black Dog early on, but like Sophia, Marcus, blah, blah. You kind of had a sense that it was better than I'd, like as that album trailed off at the end, I had run out of steam. I literally Speaker 2 (4:10) cannot believe that you are trying to take my ride or die stance from not day one, minute one on the Black Dog away from me. Speaker 1 (4:21) All right. We're going to go back. Kyle, you need to insert Speaker 2 (4:23) it. I will turn Speaker 1 (4:23) this podcast Speaker 2 (4:24) around. You Speaker 1 (4:25) need to insert it. Like, let's do some clipping. Speaker 1 (4:31) I Speaker 2 (4:31) keep seeing tweets about a lot of people streaming the Black Dog, and I'm surprised by them in one sense, because it is a bonus track and it didn't come out until the 2am edition. But I'm goo-goo for that song. So if those are to be believed, then I credit the public for their exceptional taste. It Speaker 1 (4:45) is undeniably the best song on the album. Speaker 1 (4:50) I was, let's put it this way. I was always pro Black Dog. You, I'm giving you credit, were pro like song number 29, 28, 30 on that album. Like you had the patience to sift through the rest of it and figure out like there was some stuff at the end that wasn't just the sort of ass end of Aaron Destner's hard drive, but actually songs that we should pay attention to and that should be considered. What is so frustrating about that is that two albums later, we have an album that we were told was going to be 12 songs that it turns out is not a year later. 16 Speaker 2 (5:34) songs. Speaker 1 (5:36) As we sit here, you and I have had a lot of private text messages about this. And sometimes we publish those Speaker 2 (5:41) things. Speaker 1 (5:41) Yeah, me sending Speaker 2 (5:42) you pictures of Ben Affleck taking a drag on a cigarette. Speaker 1 (5:48) And- That's how I feel right Speaker 2 (5:50) now. Speaker 1 (5:50) I was very happy. There are times where I miss you desperately on social media. And this weekend was one of those because it was really fun in a lot of ways. It also, after the first three or four hours, got super not fun. And- There have been a lot of opinions expressed online and publicly and everywhere about this music. And you and I will do that tonight, I'm sure, unfailingly. And there have been sort of breakdowns of the songs. And you know what? We can give our opinion. But at this point, I'm so much less interested in... Speaker 1 (6:30) individual analysis of the four songs. And I'm so much more interested in the question that you sent me right away. And we don't always do this. Sometimes we give each other space and we don't share stuff because we want, but we're usually vibing whether we're in the same city as we are right now, or whether we're on opposite coasts as we are usually. And you sent me one question and it was one word. And I think that's the thing that we will be. you know, sort of coming back to as our home base tonight. And that was why. So Nora, we're going to come and we'll dissect these songs. And I think we maybe actually are going to have differing opinions on this. And I have a different opinion than at least most of what I'm seeing online at the moment. But I think it is really interesting. It is really interesting to ask the question, why? Why did she do this? Why now? Speaker 1 (7:26) Why? Speaker 2 (7:26) Well, so can I give some context on when I sent you that? Yeah. So I went to see Phoebe Bridgers on Thursday night at the Barclays Center. And it was just a really wonderful, like purposeful, intentional, thoughtful, memorable, special show by an artist who I think has the album of the year. And Boy Genius did a three-way kiss and it was awesome. And like- Did she play Scott Speaker 1 (7:57) Street? Speaker 2 (7:57) Yes. Speaker 1 (7:58) Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:59) Yeah. Lights Speaker 1 (8:00) up. Speaker 2 (8:01) She basically closes with Scott Street. Speaker 1 (8:04) Lights up, hands up in the crowd. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:06) Yeah. And it's really cool. And it was like super cool to go in there without much of an idea of what it was going to look like. Just because like, you know, there's not a lot of video of this out there. We'll talk about that another time. I actually would really Speaker 1 (8:20) like to do that, but that's not what this is about. However, Speaker 2 (8:22) that is to say that I walked out of that show like. Speaker 2 (8:27) And feeling pretty inspired and just- Speaker 1 (8:30) Like chemically or just emotionally? Speaker 2 (8:34) Why not both? But so then I get in the car and I'm going home. And in the middle of this drive, it becomes midnight. So I'm like, all right, let's go. And- Am Speaker 1 (8:48) I allowed to say what the first text you sent me was? Speaker 2 (8:51) Well, so hold on. I click play on patient zero. And for- Speaker 2 (9:09) 30, 60, 60 glorious seconds. I'm like, oh my God, I'm so into this. Speaker 1 (9:18) Do you like the fiddle solo to begin the song? Speaker 2 (9:21) I love the fiddle thing. I love the like, you know, sort of melancholy Celtic thing. And then the drum track I think is really cool too. The combination of those things is great. Speaker 2 (9:37) And you're coming from a Phoebe show Speaker 1 (9:39) in which like Nickel Creek had been all over her shit. And so the sort of fiddle old school with new school stuff's probably like in your wheelhouse in that moment. Speaker 2 (9:48) And it's also totally, but it's also like, it's a little different for Taylor. It's a little, it's a little unexpected to me from Max and Shellback too. Like I'm in. Does Speaker 1 (9:57) it sound like Charlie Puth? The song? Speaker 2 (10:04) Does Speaker 1 (10:04) it sound like that to you? I'm Speaker 2 (10:06) not worried about that. Not enough to bother me. Speaker 1 (10:26) Okay. Speaker 2 (10:29) And then I got to be honest, it took a bit of a turn from there. Speaker 1 (10:33) Okay. Talk to me. Speaker 2 (10:36) It's actually like you were saying that you think that you feel differently from most of what you're seeing about this stuff. In some ways, I do too, because I think that there are good parts of these songs. Speaker 1 (10:47) There are. Speaker 2 (10:48) I struggled with them. All of them? All of them in different ways. So initially, the one that I liked the most was Babylon. Yes. Speaker 2 (11:10) I probably still think it's Speaker 1 (11:12) - Speaker 2 (11:12) Nobody hates Speaker 1 (11:12) Babylon. Speaker 2 (11:13) Nobody, yeah. I think Babylon is something we all can agree on. If Speaker 1 (11:17) she'd put these in reverse order, I think the entire conversation is different. Okay, Speaker 2 (11:23) but can I, I will say, I'm not going back to, like, I'm not feeling the impulse to keep listening to Babylon, but when I heard it the first time, I thought it was good. The one that I want to Speaker 1 (11:34) listen to Speaker 2 (11:35) is Speaker 1 (11:36) - Patience zero, Speaker 2 (11:37) except I have to stop it two minutes in. I cannot abide that bridge. Speaker 3 (11:49) The talk singing Speaker 2 (11:50) is an epidemic. It has to end. I can't hear it. Like I have to, but if I listen to the first two minutes of that song, I think it fucking rules. But it's so like, I think people are talking about these songs. Like they are flaming piles of excrement on the internet. They're not. And I think that's wrong. And I think it's a little mean spirited in some cases to be frank. But what I do think is these are songs that like shouldn't quite have passed QC. where it's like there's some element of it that needed to be different. And I was a little, I was sitting there in that car, feeling that sense and feeling a little bit like. There's like an uncanny feeling to that happening. I'm not used to this happening. And I personally, and we ended up having a conversation about this. I feel that she still has her fastball, that she can still have her fastball. I'm just like, maybe that's just me coping. But like, I am unable to believe that Taylor Swift, who by the way, has made songs that are not her best songs before and then turned it around and made great songs. I don't think that when she makes a clunker, it's like, it's all over. She's never going to have it again. It's like, we're so cooked. I just am Speaker 1 (13:06) not. Of course, it's not. And that is why the operative question of this podcast needs to be, why? I mean, even the bridge that sends you, okay, the second part of that bridge, like not the first part, right? The first part is, I'm with you. It's just a nightmare. So let's Speaker 2 (13:27) get into it. No, thank you. Speaker 1 (13:32) But when she gets into the take it from somebody who lost his games but won the race, I'm actually okay with that cadence and the way that she sings that. Speaker 3 (13:45) But if Speaker 1 (13:50) you have to listen to Babylon instead of any song on 1989, What do you pick? Speaker 2 (14:05) Oh, like if I, like I'm going to swap it? Speaker 1 (14:10) Yep. Speaker 2 (14:14) Bad blood? Speaker 1 (14:22) Well, really? No way for me. I mean, this is what I'm saying is you got to think, I know places. Speaker 2 (14:37) Never. Are you kidding me? Speaker 1 (14:38) Right. You love that song. What about Shake It Off? Speaker 2 (14:51) No, Shake It Off, no, no. Speaker 1 (14:53) So campy that you're okay with it? Because I think there's some Shake It Off Cleveland parallels. Well, Speaker 2 (14:58) I think Shake It Off is what, I think Cleveland would like to be Shake It Off. Speaker 1 (15:09) Yeah. And then like, okay, so what we've been seeing all week is this funny meme of the documentary where she gets the news that Reputation is not getting any Grammys. And she just goes, this is fine. Which today, if she'd said it then, they would have put that like cartoon character with the coffee and the burning down room meme around that. But it's basically what it is. She says, I'm just going to make a better album. Which, you know, you and I can get into a debate over whether she actually does that on Lover. But she definitely does that on Folklore and Evermore, at least from a Grammy perspective. Although I think Reputation- Not my words. Fine. In hindsight, Reputation actually becomes, right, it's the lore of Reputation. But I'm asking you then, I'm not going to make you do that for Reputation because I think we could actually get there in Reputation. But like Babylon over what song on Lover? I probably would rather hear Babylon than The Man. Speaker 1 (16:15) I think I might rather hear it than, no, I know I would rather hear it than it's nice to have a friend. It's Speaker 3 (16:21) nice to have a friend. Oh, Speaker 2 (16:28) but it's nice to have a friend. So here's what I think is complicating this. Speaker 1 (16:34) Babylon's better. I think Speaker 2 (16:35) one thought that I had several times, both while listening to this and also like some of it is actually like seeing her do the music video stuff. Speaker 2 (16:46) I think part, it seems pretty clear to me that we are, and to some extent have been at an inflection point in Taylor's career. And to me, part of what has shaped that is her primary musical reference is herself. And I think particularly since the re-recordings and eras, she's been operating in, like from a point of view of her references being her own discography. And so part of what is making me struggle with this question a little bit is because like, it's almost hard for me to evaluate how quote unquote good of a song I think Babylon is because Babylon is a Taylor Swift song. And Babylon is a song about, you know, someone who's from a small town and had big dreams and then accomplishes something and looks back wistfully and is like, I didn't quite know how good I had it. basically. And Speaker 1 (17:45) is massively melodically cousin first, maybe second, but probably first related to champagne problems. Speaker 3 (17:53) Your mom's ring in your pocket, my picture in your wallet. Those electric fences, but a stallion flees the stable. Right. Speaker 1 (18:07) And to a lesser extent, renegade. You Speaker 3 (18:10) wouldn't be, you never knew that it was Bible. Speaker 1 (18:24) I mean, it is, she's not reheating her own nachos, but like there were a few chips and cheese from the last batch lying around. Speaker 2 (18:32) But like, think about, think about tis the damn season. Speaker 1 (18:45) I do. Speaker 2 (18:45) Like that is, and you know I do too. That's the concept of that song. Speaker 2 (18:52) I happen to prefer that version. It's in some ways a bad song to choose to make this point because I prefer Tis the Damn Season to Babylon simply as a piece of music. But even if I didn't, I think part of what's complicating this for me is what I like about it is that it sounds like a lot of stuff that I've already heard. Yes. And so it puts this ceiling on what it can do for me. And that's what I Speaker 1 (19:19) texted you. Speaker 1 (19:21) when you were upset. I said, you're mad because she actually showed her ceiling on this, didn't she? Speaker 2 (19:27) I don't, well, so, and this is where I disagreed with you is because I just don't feel willing to say that it's her ceiling. I don't, I don't, I think it's something that's hindering this project, but like, I will not go there. I will not say that I don't think that she can do it. Speaker 1 (19:40) Okay. Okay. So can I just tell you my truth here and then let's just go. Hell yeah. I think these songs are better than almost everybody on the internet. I'm, I do not, I'm not into Patient Zero, but to me, it is consistent with everything she's done Speaker 2 (19:55) throughout her Speaker 1 (19:57) fucking career, which is she picks the wrong single every time and she gets excited about something and she goes north, south. No, Speaker 2 (20:03) disagree. Patient Zero is, I've Speaker 1 (20:05) come around on Patient Speaker 2 (20:06) Zero. Fine, Speaker 1 (20:07) great. Okay. I'm okay with Cleveland. I listened Speaker 2 (20:09) to it for exactly one mini bar's length and then I get out alive before the bridge and I'm thrilled. I'm okay with Cleveland. Speaker 1 (20:16) I'm sorry you all are upset. I know what she was doing there. She was trying to do something different. I think that it's us against the world, the hater stuff. Like, it's so ridiculous and we'll talk about it. Can we talk about this? Because Speaker 2 (20:28) I actually like, I have not had the chance in my life yet up to this point to talk to someone who... like likes Cleveland and wants to defend Cleveland. And I'm genuinely interested. I Speaker 1 (20:38) don't Speaker 2 (20:38) like Speaker 1 (20:38) it, but I know what she's doing, which is she's made 300 songs right now. I don't, is it 350? Okay. So it's so much, I mean, we're on TS, not quite 13. We're on 12 and a half right now. Like there's so much music, like it is okay. She has explored tons of things. And I think from her perspective, She in her own mind and her own mind, as we will talk about from my perspective, is constrained by the required bubble that she lives in because she's so famous and wealthy and needs