Taylor Swift made her grand entrance in 2006, nearly 20 years ago, and has been a star ever since. But in the past few years, her stardom has reached entirely new heights—specifically, the roughly four-and-a-half-year span from the release of “folklore” and “evermore” in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to the end of her “Eras Tour” late last year. You could call it her post-pandemic era. Within that timeframe, Swift released four studio albums—“folklore,” “evermore,” “Midnights,” and “The Tortured Poets Department.” On top of that, she rerecorded four of her existing albums—“Fearless,” “Red,” “Speak Now,” and “1989”—and released them under the “Taylor’s Version” banner as part of her effort to reclaim the rights to the masters for her first six albums. All eight releases debuted at No. 1 on the “Billboard” 200. Meanwhile, “The Eras Tour” broke record after record across 149 performances spanning March 2023 through December 2024, playing to 10 million fans worldwide and pulling in more than $2 billion in sales. Swift couldn’t be further from a one-hit wonder, with every step she takes having more commercial impact than the last. Just look at first-week sales of her different albums for proof: “Midnights,” released right before “The Eras Tour” in late 2022, moved 1.58 million units in its debut week, while April 2024’s “TTPD” surpassed her personal record with an astonishing 2.61 million units.

And then, for most of this year, she was silent. After posting on December 12 about her “Eras Tour” coming to a close, she left her Instagram untouched for over five months. The only news that followed, in late May, was that Swift had purchased the rights to the masters to all six of her early albums, bringing that saga to a close. She had now solidified her status as the 2020s’ unrivaled top superstar all while successfully completing her campaign to reclaim the rights to the full catalog of her creative output. Anticipation for her next move kept growing, but there wouldn’t be any updates until August. Finally, on August 13, Swift revealed news of her then-upcoming 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on “New Heights,” a podcast hosted by her then-boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason. Following the announcement, she gave no interviews, put out no singles, and shared no snippets to tease the album, only coming out to tell the world about her engagement to Kelce. Kelce, for his part, shared his own review of the upcoming album. Instead of promotion in the lead-up, Swift premiered the promotional film “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” across the United States on October 3, the day the album was released, and focused on making numerous TV appearances. Basically, she took control of the avenues and timing of what the public got to see, keeping the focus on the album itself by putting just enough info out there to get people excited after the long wait.

The result was the historic release of “The Life of a Showgirl.” The album debuted at No. 1 on the “Billboard” 200 chart dated October 18 with 4 million units sold in its first week. Album sales alone made up 3.47 of that. Both that and the overall figure are the highest since album performance began being tracked digitally in 1991. “Showgirl” shattered the previous record Adele set in 2015 with “25,” which sold 3.38 million copies out of 3.48 million units overall in its first week. Strategically releasing 38 different physical and digital versions, with no singles before the album was out, and preventing users from purchasing the tracks individually, likely contributed to the outstanding success, but a figure like four million in a single week has to come from somewhere other than a little clever maneuvering—a point demonstrated by the fact that 2.7 million of those units came from preorders and release-day sales alone. Considering typical figures these days, the fact that the album garnered 680 million streams despite being just 12 tracks long is likewise astonishing. For context, the previous record holder, Swift’s own “TTPD,” reached 890 million streams but had 31 tracks. All 12 of the tracks off “Showgirl” managed to pull off the biggest week in streaming for any songs of 2025. In other words, Swift didn’t peak with “TTPD” or “The Eras Tour”—she’s still got plenty of momentum behind her.

“The Life of a Showgirl” is a fascinating album in and of itself. At first glance, it would seem to be born out of the commercial momentum following Swift’s post-pandemic era, but looking closer, the album is actually intended as a drastic and complete breakaway from the turbulence of that time.

First, “Showgirl” was conceived of and recorded primarily in Sweden during the European leg of “The Eras Tour” in 2024. Swift described this period as “the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place” she’s ever been in in her life. It’s not hard to imagine that this stemmed from both the exhilaration of putting on a massive tour after years away and the happiness she found in her rather public relationship with Travis Kelce. Such professional and personal fulfillment became a novel force behind shaping the tone of the album, leaving behind the melancholy and literary themes that defined her post-pandemic era beginning with “folklore.”

Second, this thematic shift came with a change in sound. This was something many guessed at as early as August, when details about “The Life of a Showgirl” were coming out. Max Martin and Shellback, the Swedish producers behind some of Swift’s biggest hits from the “Red,” “1989,” and “reputation” era that refined pop music, made a return as songwriters and producers, marking a calculated departure from the indie folk and synth pop sound she had previously crafted with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner.

Third, the structure of “Showgirl” feels like a deliberate response to criticisms of how long “TTPD” was. Swift is far from the only artist to have put out albums clocking in at over 20 tracks and then releasing deluxe versions to keep pace with the streaming market, but the 31-track “TTPD” naturally faced some feedback calling it drawn-out. By contrast, the singer-songwriter made a deliberate choice with “Showgirl” to keep it to 12 tracks and just 40 minutes, and even announced in advance that there would be no bonus tracks.

Fourth, the sonic reinvention extended into her visual approach as well. For promotional images working with the showgirl concept, Swift worked with British fashion photographer duo Mert and Marcus, resulting in the most provocative and glamorous aesthetic of her career. The duo’s signature stage-like artificial beauty, aggressively saturated colors and high-contrast visuals, reworked the somber monochrome imagery of her post-pandemic era. The dozens of different editions of the album stand out thanks to their unique visual treatment rather than through having different bonus tracks. The film “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” screened for just three days, was merely an extension of that very spectacle into a motion picture.

So, is “The Life of a Showgirl” on track to rival Taylor Swift’s biggest hit?  “1989” remains the peak of her career, having surpassed 14 million units in cumulative sales. But if her latest release has to be compared to any of her back catalog, it should really be “reputation.” After the flawless success of 2014’s “1989” and taking the Grammy for Album of the Year, Swift found herself in a whirlwind of public scrutiny about her personal life and conflicts in her professional one, from clashes with Nicki Minaj and Kanye West to the controversies surrounding her “squad.” With 2017’s “reputation,” Swift didn’t try to win back public favor or make amends. Instead, she leaned into the villainous persona she’d been bestowed. She wrote the album from the perspective of different personalities others attributed to her. Marketing for the album was downplayed and defiant. The era was explained in one phrase: “There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation.”

“The Life of a Showgirl” marks a return to songs rooted in Taylor Swift’s real life, right down to specific moments. Many tracks hint at the success of her “Eras Tour” and her happy life with Kelce. It feels as though Swift chose this moment, at the peak of her fame, to shift away from universal lyrics and craft her most autobiographical album to date. But the album’s left fans and critics polarized. While the reception hasn’t been bad overall, reviews tend to lie at the extremes. One common critique is that the lyrics feel overly conversational or even oversaturated with new slang, with some calling it a step backward. It’s precisely this blend of what’s on the album and the divisive response to it that begs comparisons to “reputation.” Of course, the outcomes surrounding them are completely different. “reputation” was still a success, but was followed up by “Lover,” which failed to produce a single Hot 100 No. 1, fueling a perception that Swift’s career was heading into a decline.

But there’s a paradox here: “The Life of a Showgirl” may be perceived as a creative step backwards, but it’s quickly becoming the greatest commercial triumph of Taylor Swift’s career. Is it fair to say that the overwhelming success of her post-pandemic era has constructed an ecosystem where she can operate outside the bounds of the traditional critical eye? Sure, plenty of superstars have reached similar heights, but none have proven themselves on such a historic scale as Taylor. And so, it begs the question: Where will her next era take her, and what legacy will she be leaving behind? Will the singer-songwriter find a way to be her own personal savior yet again and show she’s taking another big leap forward, just as she did with “folklore” and “evermore”? There’s no one in the world but Taylor Swift from whom expectations run so high.