<\/p>\n\n
Taylor Swift doesn’t know how to close a door.<\/p>\n\n
There’s always one song left.<\/p>\n\n
One edition.<\/p>\n\n
Here’s a clue.<\/p>\n\n
A secret.<\/p>\n\n
One version.<\/p>\n\n
A vault<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n A \u201cTaylor’s Version.\u201d<\/p>\n\n One last act after the final act.<\/p>\n\n And now we have, literally:<\/p>\n\n the encore.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Almost a year after publishing *The Life of a Showgirl*<\/strong><\/em>, Taylor Swift returns to the album that divided critics and fans to add four new songs.<\/p>\n\n \u201cPatient Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \u201cCleveland!\u201d<\/p>\n\n \u201cPink Clouding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \u201cBabylon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Together, they form The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore<\/strong><\/em>, released on September 25. These aren\u2019t outtakes recovered from the original sessions: Swift wrote them later with Max Martin and Shellback<\/strong>, after traveling to Sweden to celebrate the album\u2019s extraordinary commercial success with them. <\/p>\n\n And that difference matters.<\/p>\n\n Because *The Encore<\/em> * isn’t really just leftover material from *Showgirl<\/em>*.<\/p>\n\n It’s Taylor Swift taking another look at the album after seeing how the world reacted to it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n And maybe that’s why these four songs say more than they seem to.<\/p>\n\n Released in October 2025, Swift’s twelfth album was one of the most highly anticipated releases of her career.<\/p>\n\n The return of Max Martin and Shellback<\/strong> had people imagining a massive pop machine.<\/p>\n\n Expectations were sky-high.<\/p>\n\n And that’s exactly what happened from a business standpoint.<\/p>\n\n “The Life of a Showgirl”<\/em> debuted at number one and had the biggest first week for an album in modern U.S. history<\/strong>, according to Billboard data also reported by NME. <\/p>\n\n But success and consensus are two different things.<\/p>\n\n The critical reception was considerably more mixed. Some reviews praised certain moments, while others took issue with the excessively self-referential lyrics and a production that was far less explosive than the collaboration with Martin and Shellback had promised. <\/p>\n\n And that makes *The Encore*<\/em> a fascinating experiment.<\/p>\n\n Taylor already knows what we said about the show.<\/p>\n\n Now he’s back on stage to perform four more songs.<\/p>\n\n Of the four, \u201cPatient Zero\u201d is the most obvious choice to justify this edition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n The production features electronic percussion, processed strings, and a restrained pop beat that avoids peaking too soon. NME highlights precisely that combination and describes the song as a brilliant pop track built around a catchy metaphor. <\/p>\n\n Because the \u201cpatient zero\u201d in the title is Taylor.<\/p>\n\n The song is directed at another woman who has found herself caught in the orbit of a man Swift knows all too well.<\/p>\n\n She was there first.<\/p>\n\n Learn the symptoms.<\/p>\n\n Discover the charm.<\/p>\n\n Learn more about the disease, too.<\/p>\n\n And now recognize the pattern from the outside.<\/p>\n\n It’s a very Taylor Swift idea: taking a relatable romantic situation and finding a simple image that can serve as the foundation for the entire song.<\/p>\n\n Toxic love turned into a contagion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The best part is that you don’t need to create a maze of references to do it.<\/p>\n\n There’s a melody.<\/p>\n\n It makes sense.<\/p>\n\n There’s a chorus that sticks with you.<\/p>\n\n And once again, there\u2019s a certain ability to convey a great deal without needing to explain absolutely everything.<\/p>\n\n It’s not the best song of his career.<\/p>\n\n But she is indeed a Taylor who is easy to miss when her own mythology ends up overshadowing the song.<\/p>\n\n The metaphor.<\/p>\n\n Which will inevitably kick off another round of the world championship to figure out who it’s dedicated to.<\/p>\n\n The encore gets off to a good start.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And we also know that Taylor has something important in store for her.<\/p>\n\n The music video for \u201cPatient Zero\u201d stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell<\/strong>, was directed by Swift herself, and features Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki<\/strong>. The full video is set to premiere during the VMAs. <\/p>\n\n And then comes the most problematic song of the four.<\/p>\n\n \u201cCleveland!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Musically, it’s immediate.<\/p>\n\n Actual battery.<\/p>\n\n Backlit keyboards with an ’80s vibe.<\/p>\n\n Bells.<\/p>\n\n Pop music made to get you pumping.<\/p>\n\n There is something deliberately grand and joyful about her.<\/p>\n\n The problem arises when we listen to what he wants to tell us.<\/p>\n\n Swift once again addresses the criticism she receives and contrasts the outside noise with having found someone who accepts her. NME links the song to her relationship with Travis Kelce<\/strong>, who is from the Cleveland area. <\/p>\n\n On paper, it could be endearing.<\/p>\n\n But Taylor has been talking to his critics for far too long.<\/p>\n\n Sometimes it seems that even in his happiest songs, he needs to save a seat for them.<\/p>\n\n There goes Cleveland!<\/em> It’s losing steam.<\/p>\n\n It’s not that a billionaire superstar can’t be hurt by comments.<\/p>\n\n Of course you can.<\/p>\n\n But rather because we’ve already heard more interesting versions of that conversation on their own albums<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n The Independent<\/em> has been particularly critical of the issue, while The Guardian<\/em> also believes that this focus on haters<\/em> ends up tarnishing a song that is meant to celebrate love. <\/p>\n\n I’m closer to that interpretation.<\/p>\n\n Musically, it’s easy to get into.<\/p>\n\n Lyrically, it revolves around a world that Swift knows all too well.<\/p>\n\n Maybe a little too much.<\/p>\n\n The pop movement.<\/p>\n\n Taylor Swift continues to write songs for people she supposedly no longer needs to hear from.<\/p>\n\n Fun for three minutes. Much less interesting after that. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n And then something much more beautiful happens.<\/p>\n\n \u201cPink Clouding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The title comes from an expression associated with the feeling of euphoria that can arise during the early stages of recovery. Swift uses it to reflect on a relationship that began while she herself was still emotionally unsettled. <\/p>\n\n But here, something important changes.<\/p>\n\n Taylor isn’t making any accusations.<\/p>\n\n He’s acknowledging it.<\/p>\n\n She doesn’t seem interested in winning the argument.<\/p>\n\n He is looking back and wondering about his own responsibility.<\/p>\n\n Musically, we have bright synth-pop<\/strong>, layered vocals, and an ethereal production that inevitably brings to mind some of the vibes from *Lover*<\/em> and *1989<\/em>*. *The Guardian*<\/em> has specifically highlighted the humanity and remorse evident here, in contrast to other, more defensive moments in the artist\u2019s body of work.<\/p>\n\n And it works.<\/p>\n\n Because vulnerability is much more interesting when it isn’t accompanied by the need to prove who was right.<\/p>\n\n In \u201cPink Clouding,\u201d we find something that has always made Taylor Swift great:<\/p>\n\n to look at herself and not necessarily like what she sees.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n That’s where it gets dangerous again.<\/p>\n\n Not for his exes.<\/p>\n\n For her.<\/p>\n\n Emotional honesty.<\/p>\n\n Max Martin and Shellback could have pushed the production a little further.<\/p>\n\n The Surprise of the Encore.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And here we are at the last one.<\/p>\n\n \u201cBabylon.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n\n Space.<\/p>\n\n A production that keeps growing without needing to ask for permission.<\/p>\n\n And a story.<\/p>\n\n Above all:<\/p>\n\n A story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Swift finally steps away from the mirror.<\/p>\n\n The song follows a character who leaves his small world in search of money, freedom, status, and something resembling success.<\/p>\n\n He does it.<\/p>\n\n But then he finds out the price.<\/p>\n\n Nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n The family.<\/p>\n\n What he left behind.<\/p>\n\n The place he may no longer be able to return to.<\/p>\n\n NME describes precisely that narrative arc, while The Independent<\/em>\u2014despite being extremely harsh on the rest of the album\u2014considers \u201cBabylon\u201d a radical improvement and a moment that marks the return of Swift\u2019s narrative prowess. <\/p>\n\n I agree in principle.<\/p>\n\n \u201cBabylon\u201d is reminiscent of the Taylor we saw during *Folklore* and *Evermore*<\/strong><\/em> discovered something fundamental:<\/p>\n\n Not every song had to be about Taylor Swift for Taylor Swift to be in them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n That set her free.<\/p>\n\n I could make up characters.<\/p>\n\n Changing Perspectives.<\/p>\n\n Storytelling.<\/p>\n\n Observing other lives.<\/p>\n\n And, paradoxically, by distancing herself from who she was, she managed to write some of her most personal songs.<\/p>\n\n \u201cBabylon\u201d recaptures some of that feeling.<\/p>\n\n It doesn’t have to be an anthem.<\/p>\n\n It needs you to want to know how it ends.<\/p>\n\n And for Taylor Swift, that’s still a superpower.<\/p>\n\n The Narrator.<\/p>\n\n It ends just when we want more of this Taylor.<\/p>\n\n The best song out of the four.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Yes.<\/p>\n\n But it doesn’t transform it.<\/p>\n\n And that difference is important.<\/p>\n\n These four songs do not, in hindsight, transform *The Life of a Showgirl*<\/em> into something else.<\/p>\n\n Nor do they resolve all the contradictions in the album.<\/p>\n\n But they do contain something that the original album occasionally lost amid the spectacle, the self-referentiality, and the impossible burden of being Taylor Swift\u2122<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n a person.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n “Patient Zero” has a concept.<\/p>\n\n \u201cPink Clouding\u201d has a vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n “Babylon” has a history.<\/p>\n\n \u201cCleveland!\u201d has a great pop sound, even though underneath it all we find ideas that Swift has explored far too many times.<\/p>\n\n The funny thing is that, taken together, they work almost better as a small standalone EP.<\/p>\n\n Four Perspectives.<\/p>\n\n The ex who gives you a heads-up.<\/p>\n\n The Woman in Love.<\/p>\n\n A person who admits a mistake.<\/p>\n\n The character who discovers that getting what he wanted hasn’t saved him either.<\/p>\n\n That has a curve to it.<\/p>\n\n He posts too much.<\/p>\n\n It sounds absurd to say that.<\/p>\n\n For decades, we’ve been asking artists to release more music.<\/p>\n\n But Taylor is part of an unprecedented creative and commercial machine.<\/p>\n\n Album.<\/p>\n\n Special Edition.<\/p>\n\n Re-recording.<\/p>\n\n Bonus tracks.<\/p>\n\n Music video.<\/p>\n\n Another edition.<\/p>\n\n Another cover.<\/p>\n\n Another secret.<\/p>\n\n Another Easter egg<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n Another song.<\/p>\n\n Another conversation.<\/p>\n\nFirst, we need to talk about *The Life of a Showgirl*<\/em><\/h2>\n\n
1. \u201cPatient Zero\u201d and Taylor Does What He Does Best Once Again<\/h2>\n\n
The Best<\/h3>\n\n
The Worst<\/h3>\n\n
Verdict<\/h3>\n\n
2. \u201cCleveland!\u201d or When Falling in Love Doesn\u2019t Always Lead to Better Songs<\/h2>\n\n
The Best<\/h3>\n\n
The Worst<\/h3>\n\n
Verdict<\/h3>\n\n
3. \u201cPink Clouding\u201d: when Taylor lets her guard down<\/h2>\n\n
The Best<\/h3>\n\n
The Worst<\/h3>\n\n
Verdict<\/h3>\n\n
4. \u201cBabylon\u201d\u2014and there she was, the Taylor Swift we\u2019d been looking for<\/h2>\n\n
The Best<\/h3>\n\n
The Worst<\/h3>\n\n
Verdict<\/h3>\n\n
So, is *The Encore*<\/em> better than *The Life of a Showgirl*<\/em>?<\/h2>\n\n
Taylor Swift has a problem that almost no other artist can have<\/h2>\n\n