Taylor Swift on Ambition and Fame: Why She Doesn’t Recover from Popularity.

Taylor Swift's New Album: Confessions about Show Business

According to Vox: In the final song of her recently released 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift makes quite a shocking confession.

In the title track of the album, the narrator describes the difficulties of a showgirl’s life: betrayals, unreliable men, the indifference of the industry. She urges another heroine — a dreamer with a naive outlook, whose voice also belongs to Swift — not to aspire to fame.

However, the dreamer, despite the warning, tries to achieve fame. She realizes that at the peak of her career, all newcomers are 'jerks' who wish her to 'die sooner'. But the dreamer, who has become an icon, is not about to agree to this:

“I’m immortal, baby dolls,”

“I couldn’t if I tried.”

As the song fades, we hear an audio snippet from the finale of her record-breaking Eras tour, where she thanks the audience, her team, and Sabrina Carpenter, who performed before her. (Carpenter sings a verse in the song 'Showgirl'.) Thus, the connection is complete: Swift is both the dreamer and the cynical veteran of the industry. Despite the pain she has endured, she revels in her successes.

Taylor Swift's Ambition: From Early Years to Today

Taylor Swift has long aspired to fame, and this becomes clear to anyone who has listened to her songs. From her self-titled album in 2006, Swift seemed to be trying to win: to get Grammys, achieve success, overcome conflicts, gain prestige, and earn money.

This frenetic ambition has always been one of the most striking features of her star image, especially considering that she often speaks of sincerity and humility. In a society that does not encourage female identity, a good girl should not be ambitious, and Taylor Swift is still a good girl.

However, her ambition has sometimes been perceived as a flaw. When she tried to emphasize her virtue around 2014, she felt uncomfortable showcasing her ambition. When it appeared, it caused discomfort in her audience.

As for her awards, every time she received another, her facial expression seemed bewildered — some felt it looked insincere. After the scandal involving the recorded conversation between Swift and Kanye West, where it seemed Swift was misleading the public in her quest for popularity, the impression of her became quite negative. (Later, Swift received vindication when the full version of the recording appeared.)

Ambitious Showgirl in Times of Antifeminist Backlash

However, in the song “Life of a Showgirl”, Swift isn’t afraid of losing her light. While fame can be cruel, and people sometimes say unpleasant things about her, still —

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

This is an incredibly confident statement from someone who has spent years trying to portray herself as the 'girl next door'. It hints that Taylor Swift no longer apologizes for her ambition and sees no point in hiding anymore. Like the narrator of the song 'Mastermind', she proves that none of this was accidental, and she doesn’t suffer from her fame; on the contrary, she is happy.

At the same time, she does not reject her image of the approachable girl. She is 'not a bad girl', as she sings in “Eldest Daughter”. She is the responsible eldest child who clearly announces her intentions to marry and have children. She just also loves being famous and has no plans to give it up.

Each of us, like the boy from 'Mastermind', knew this, to be honest. No one achieves the level of success as Swift without effort and without at least partial enjoyment of it.

We live in times of deep antifeminist backlash, with an increasing spread of the conservatives' slogan that a woman's highest goal is to bear children. The Trump administration's policies aim to push women out of the workforce. Charlie Kirk recently suggested that Swift should submit to her husband, take his last name, and have many children.

“Maybe one of the reasons why Taylor Swift has been so annoyingly liberal over the last couple of years is that she’s not yet married and she doesn’t have children,”

“That’s not a great role model for young women, to wait all the way until you’re 35 and just put your career first.”

But here is Swift, just weeks after announcing her marriage, singing about how she likes it, knowing what kind of life a showgirl leads. At this moment, despite everything, the biggest star in the world is a woman who is ready to openly express her professional and artistic ambitions.