Taylor Swift has always loved stories. It’s what has set her songwriting apart for 20 years now – and what she’s used to maintain her status as an all-powerful superstar. Both in her work and her presentation, Swift has woven powerful narratives of heartbreak, success, redemption, torture, and glory where all the pieces fall into place and it’s easy to root for her.
With his latest album, The life of the showgirlSwift presented a glittering tale of triumph. Finally, finally, the girl who spent her entire life trying to put words to the feeling of love had changed the prophecy by getting engaged (and now married) to Travis Kelce. Professionally, Swift was also at her peak. She had just bought back her masters with income from her historic Eras tour, a global professional feat that inspired the project.
But there’s no doubt that the musician’s 12th album has been her most polarizing yet (yes, even more so than 2017’s LP, Reputation). Some critics and fans did not like the execution of the “showgirl” idea sonically or thematically. But hate it or love it, Showgirl was the perfect way for Swift to revel in her success — and set the stage for her next jaw-dropping move.
That’s why it’s so confusing that the expert storyteller decided the series wasn’t finished when it was released. A Showgirl’s Life: The Encore with four bonus tracks. One of the strongest elements of the original album was that Swift delivered 12 tight songs, and only 12. “There’s not a 13th, there’s no more to come,” she said last year. “Every song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, you know, and you can’t take one off and it would be the same album. You can’t add one. It’s just.”
Now there’s suddenly more to the story with the addition of “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon”. Unfortunately, as many fans have pointed out, none of the songs add to the narrative laid out in Showgirl.
Swift said she wrote the bonus tracks last year following the album’s success. “We just wanted to reflect and understand how grateful we were for the moment we were in,” she said, referring to project collaborators Max Martin and Shellback. This moment found Swift newly engaged, but her first single, “Patient Zero,” harkens back to a past relationship. “Pink Clouding” also reflects an old flame, but without the regrettable longing that made “Ruin the Friendship” remarkable. Meanwhile, “Cleveland!” ” takes the gushing joy of “Honey” and “Wood” and adds an almost wicked twist. And then there’s the new curtain call, “Babylon,” in which Swift doles out more pearls of wisdom on an acoustic cut that would be better suited to Folklore Or Always. In fact, all four songs sound like they were taken from previous albums like Midnights Or The Department of Tortured Poets. With these four titles, she has not only confused the history of Showgirlshe also blurred that of Taylor Swift™.
Swift is a known mastermind, who planned her next career move years in advance, and she has been celebrated for her expert marketing power moves. But where does the showgirl go from here? The Encore prompted more questions about Swift’s next chapter rather than offering a clear path forward.
On Sunday, Swift debuted the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” at the 2026 MTV VMAs. It’s a chilling thriller and one of her most impressive visuals to date. Was that the point of all this, to showcase his full-throttle pivot to filmmaking? We know the musician will make his directorial debut with Searchlight Pictures. Maybe she finally found the time to finish it, and that’s why she worked on the Toy Story 5 soundtrack.
The Encore It could also simply be a way for Swift to put her 12th album back in the conversation, just in time for the first round of voting for the 2027 Grammys. The singer-songwriter could be expected to submit her project in all the major categories, including the coveted album of the year and song of the year. It is unclear whether Swift will submit both “The Fate of Ophelia,” which became Swift’s longest-running number one song atop the Billboard Hot and her brilliant new single “I Knew It, I Knew You” for song of the year — the songwriting-focused Grammy she has yet to win.
Swift has spent the last six months rising to the top of “I Knew It, I Knew You.” The song dominated country radio — and caused the musician to drop a ton of Easter eggs, hinting at her big return to the genre. She could honor her songwriting legacy with a country music comeback timed for the 20th anniversary of her debut in October. NOW that that would be a great story.
Gn entert
