SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Some weeks, there is a main character, someone or something the internet cannot stop talking about. Our producer Mia Venkat is here to break down who that was this week. Hey, Mia.
MIA VENKAT, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: OK, so I don't always know who the main character is, as we have discussed in the past, but this week, it has to be Taylor Swift and her new album, right?
VENKAT: That's right.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE FATE OF OPHELIA")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) All that time I sat alone in my tower, you were just honing your powers. Now I can see it all.
DETROW: Did we not just do the Swifties as the main characters?
VENKAT: OK, we did. And that was when she announced this new album, "The Life Of A Show Girl," and everyone lost their minds. But now the album is out. And everyone has lost their minds again, but it's because they think it's bad.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ELDEST DAUGHTER")
SWIFT: (Singing) Every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter. So we all dressed up as wolves, and we looked fire.
DETROW: I've been made aware of this. I don't know if I agree, but let's just start with the general consensus. Walk me through the response to this.
VENKAT: OK, so unsurprisingly, a lot of her fans love the album and have raved about it. But surprisingly, a lot of them really hated it. Taylor Swift stans, the Swifties, are known for being pretty unforgiving of any criticism of Taylor. But this was the first time I saw so many of them talk about her music negatively. Like, creator Grant Gibbs on TikTok.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
GRANT GIBBS: Y'all know I'm a die-hard Swiftie, but this album just feels so lazy. I'm really trying to like it. I'm trying to give it more time, but, like, girl, I'm actually at a loss.
VENKAT: (Laughter) This was just one of so many posts like this on TikTok and X from her fans. People think the lyrics are too cringy and millennial...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCELLED!")
SWIFT: (Singing) Did you girl-boss too close to the sun? Did they catch you having far too much fun? Come with me. When they see us, they'll run. Something wicked this way comes. Good thing I like my friends cancelled.
VENKAT: ...Or that the songs sound too similar to other ones she's written or ones written by other artists, or they just feel generally let down that the album didn't deliver the tight, poppy masterpiece that she promised in the weeks of the rollout. And honestly, I hated it on the first listen. But like most of her albums, it grew on me, and now I can't stop listening to it. I think it's so fun.
DETROW: I guess, perhaps, as a millennial, I have a blind spot to, quote, "too millennial," but I would say, like, I liked it.
VENKAT: (Laughter) Yeah, I think it's good. And, like, despite all the hate, the album is already historic on just a sales basis. Multiple outlets are reporting that it broke the record for sales in a single week, just about 3 1/2 million copies. And without getting too in the weeds, that's based on both streaming and physical sales units. The previous record holder was Adele with her album "25."
DETROW: OK. So clearly, people are listening, but like you said, there is a real critical response that is not positive.
VENKAT: Yeah.
DETROW: What have the professional, acclaimed, respected reviews been?
VENKAT: Yeah, the reviews are mixed. I mean, I would say, save for one glowing review from Rolling Stone, I've seen a lot more sharp criticism, including a couple of articles from Laura Snapes. She's the deputy music editor at The Guardian. And I called her up yesterday, and she said she likes a lot of Swift's music and really wanted to like this album. But she just didn't.
LAURA SNAPES: If the music really slapped, the weird lyrics wouldn't matter so much. Or if the lyrics were really great, the kind of basic bops wouldn't matter quite so much. But because you have this combination of, like, weird, uncohesive (ph) sound, and then lyrics that sort of, you know, rehash old conflict - the two being uneven, they just put the other in sharper contrast to kind of how bad it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ACTUALLY ROMANTIC")
SWIFT: (Singing) I heard you call me Boring Barbie when you're out feeling brave. High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me.
VENKAT: Snapes says we don't get a good understanding of who Taylor Swift is in this album. And it's such a shift from the deeply artistic and lyrically complex ones that came before this.
SNAPES: It seems like she's making far broader work (ph). And as you age, you're allowed to change your mind. You grow up, and you think differently about things. But I think kind of fundamentally, the nucleus of the project has shifted so much in the past years that it's a bit like, OK, but who are you now?
DETROW: Given that one of the songs of this album begins with Taylor Swift writing about kind of ingesting internet comments about her...
VENKAT: Right.
DETROW: ...I'm wondering, like, do we have a sense whether she has encountered all this negative criticism?
VENKAT: I mean, she's definitely seen it, right? She's done some press this week, and in an interview with DJ Zane Lowe, she said she welcomes the chaos.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SWIFT: I'm not the art police. It's like everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want. 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, like, on the theme of what the showgirl is, all of this is part of it.
VENKAT: She said, listen, the rule in show business is, if it's the first week of my album release and you're either saying my name or my album title, you're helping. Press Is press, baby. I mean, Scott, look at us.
DETROW: You're welcome, Taylor Swift.
VENKAT: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL (FT. SABRINA CARPENTER)")
TAYLOR SWIFT AND SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) I'm married to the hustle, and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe. And I'll never know another.
DETROW: That is NPR's Mia Venkat explaining the main character of the week. Mia, thank you as always.
VENKAT: My pleasure, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL (FT. SABRINA CARPENTER)")
SWIFT AND CARPENTER: (Singing) And now I know the life of a showgirl, babe. Wouldn't have it any other way. Wouldn't have it any other way. So thank you for the lovely bouquet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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