Taylor Swift delivers catchy pop and warns against nostalgia on The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore.

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ENCORE TRACKS, RANKED:

4. Cleveland!

“Cleveland!” is very cute. Taylor Swift has said before that she has three different styles of songwriting, which she names after pens. Fountain pen songs are modern storytelling with a poetic twist, quill pen songs are inspired by history, and glitter gel pen songs are just pure fun. This is the embodiment of a glitter gel pen song. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all. It embodies the essence of The Life of a Showgirl.

Poppy synths inspired by wedding bells make up a large portion of the instrumentals as Taylor sings about all of the criticisms that haters throw her way. She doesn’t care, though. She may even agree with what they’re saying. What matters is that her “baby” (Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce) “likes what he likes,” and what he likes is her, bad dancing and all.

3. Babylon

“Babylon” is about the danger of nostalgia keeping you from the present moment. The subject of the song is so busy thinking about the past that the beautiful moments keep slipping away. The main point of the song is very succinctly put in the chorus: “You never knew that it was Babylon ‘til it was gone.”

While it is undoubtedly pop, there is some lovely country influence in the instrumentals. Taylor’s final tracks typically give us the thesis of the project, and this feels like a good thesis to both The Encore and The Life of a Showgirl: live in the present and appreciate it before it’s gone. It definitely speaks to the other three tracks on the deluxe, but it speaks to songs on the main album like “Ruin the Friendship,” “Wi$h Li$t,” and “Honey” beautifully as well.

2. Pink Clouding

I love a good apology song from Taylor. On “Pink Clouding,” she sings to an ex whom she used as a rebound from a toxic relationship. She admits she was the toxic one in the second partnership, says the subject is a good person, and hopes that he’s doing well.

It sounds like a “Getaway Car” apology to British actor Tom Hiddleston to me. On “Getaway Car,” she admits to using him as a rebound, and he had no idea. That’s what’s happening on “Pink Clouding.” It’s catchy, sad, and hopeful, all at the same time. Sonically, it’s a really nice pop song that could have been on 2019’s Lover.

1. Patient Zero

“Patient Zero” is about the woman her ex has been seeing calling her about the problems in their relationship. Taylor immediately supports the woman who called her and compares their experiences. Taylor herself was “patient zero” since she experienced this ex’s behavior before the others.

This song is very interesting sonically. It starts with some really cool strings that are somewhat reminiscent of the beginning of a folk song, but it goes right into pop. The strings stay as one of the layers of the mix. There are a lot of different sounds going on, but they all work. The bridge gets wordy, but in a fun way. It feels like she’s having “girl talk” on the phone. It’s casual and conversational, especially compared to the more drawn-out melodies of the rest of the track.

SONG BY SONG RATING

Patient Zero (4.5/5)

Cleveland! (3/5)

Pink Clouding (4.5/5)

Babylon (4/5)

RGM RATING

The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore is a solid group of songs. It’s a natural continuation of The Life of a Showgirl in every way. It’s undeniably catchy Max Martin pop, and as per “Cleveland!”, she and Travis remain very happy.

These songs together actually improve Showgirl conceptually, in my opinion. It makes the theme clearer. The Life of a Showgirl is about focusing on the present so that you experience the beautiful moments to the fullest possible extent, and also the bad for what it is so you can get out of bad situations. This wasn’t fully brought out for me until these songs came out, because they expand upon the theme in new ways. “Patient Zero” is about recognizing the red flags for what they are when they happen, and helping someone recognize them later on. “Pink Clouding” is about the past hindering her ability to be a good partner in one of her relationships. “Babylon” is this theme all in one song. “Cleveland!” is the only song here that doesn’t fit that theme and is instead just silly and sweet.

Compared to the album as a whole, “Patient Zero” and “Pink Clouding” are definitely up there in my ranking. I wonder if this is the finale of the Showgirl era. I have a feeling this is going to usher in some vault-related announcements on October 13th, a date that she’s been hinting at a lot. In the meantime, I’ll be blasting “Patient Zero.”

Emma Platt