“I’m not the art police. It’s like everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want. And what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror,” Swift explained.
Taylor Swift is responding to the varied reactions to her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
While speaking on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show on Tuesday, the singer-songwriter talked about processing the mixed reactions to her 12th album, which has received both praise and criticism from critics and fans.
“I welcome the chaos. The rule of show business is if it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping. And art, I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art. I’m not the art police. It’s like everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want. And what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror,” Swift explained.
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She went on to explain how albums are a “really wild way to look at yourself” and “what you’re going through in your life is going to affect whether you relate to the music that I’m putting out at any given moment.”
With a catalog of 12 albums, Swift says she’s experienced fans expressing love for an album later on, even if they didn’t when it originally released.
“And what I often love seeing my fans say is, ‘I used to be someone who didn’t relate to Reputation. And now that I’ve been through some other things in my life, that’s my favorite album.’ Or, ‘I used to be a Fearless girlie, now I’m obsessed with Evermore.’ We’re doing this thing for keeps. I have such an eye on legacy when I’m making my music. I know what I made. I know I adore it, and I know that on the theme of what the Showgirl is, all of this is part of it.”
On Friday, Swift made her return to upbeat pop following last year’s melancholy The Tortured Poets Department. For Showgirl, Swift reunites with Swedish hitmaker producers Max Martin and Shellback. The album sold 2.7 million copies on release day (Oct. 3), making that day alone her largest week ever, according to Luminate via Billboard.
“Making this album was really something I’ve been wanting to do for my entire career because I have always wanted to have fun in this type of way,” Swift told Lowe. “To have fun, to exhibit mischief and be flirty and fun and make jokes and get to have that side of my personality, that’s a huge part of my personality.”
She noted that even though oftentimes she can be “so serious” and be known for her “sad,” “cathartic” and “breakup songs,” that’s “not the place” she’s at in her life. “So what I have left behind is something that really exhibits who I am in this moment [and] pays homage to the most important moment of my life, which was the exuberance and electricity of The Eras Tour,” she said. “I’m so proud of this songcraft. I’m so proud of these melodies and these lyrics and these stories and going in and out of character and kind of playing with your style of speak.”
“This album by personality was a funnier album,” she explained. “It was like coming off of Tortured Poets Department. The character attributes I was highlighting in that writing process were much more serious and sensitive and introspective and oftentimes more earnest and stoic and the characteristics of a poet. This one was like, showgirls are mischievous, fun, scandalous, sexy, fun, flirty, hilarious.”
