CARYN GANZ When “The Tortured Poets Department” came out last year, we noted that the narrative around Taylor Swift was shifting: Though she was still unquestionably the center of pop’s solar system, the 31-song album was not universally praised. Some saw it as overlong, hyper-focused on two of Swift’s eternal subjects (her enemies and her lovers), a sonic retread. It sold more than two million copies its first week and added fuel to Swift’s world-conquering Eras Tour, but she appeared to have internalized some of the critique.
“The Life of a Showgirl,” which was released on Friday, is a taut 12 songs that promised razzle-dazzle with production by the Swedish pop wizards Max Martin and Shellback — not the team that led her previous five LPs. While the album goes down easy, it’s not a hard pivot or a grand leap. It’s another missive from the inner world of the most famous musician of her generation, set to meticulous mid-tempo creations that often glisten and sometimes trip over themselves.
JON PARELES For me, the first listen was the best. It’s a thrill to hear the Taylor Swift-Max Martin-Shellback pop machine snap back into position and dispense more of its lush yet ruthlessly precise ear candy.
Martin (joined by Shellback in 2008) has been producing chart-busters for decades by staying omnivorous. They absorb all they can from pop’s continuing history. On this album, it’s clear they were paying attention to the albums Swift made without them, with their moody, organic-sounding keyboards and guitars. Maybe it’s a signal when “The Fate of Ophelia” starts the album with minor-key, “Folklore”-sounding piano chords before switching to crisp synthesizer and a metronomic beat.
On this album, the “Folklore”/“Evermore” approach becomes another page of a pop production encyclopedia that also includes the Pixies (“Where Is My Mind?”) in “Actually Romantic,” the Jackson 5 (“I Want You Back”) in “Wood” and the Ronettes (“Be My Baby”) in “Opalite.”
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The post Taylor Swift Keeps Getting Bigger. Can the Music Keep Up? appeared first on New York Times.
