u/No_Barber4339

I feel like a lot of the GP have started to be off-board with jack antonoff's brand of synth-pop around 2025, manchild by sabrina carpenter did well but none of the other singles from man's best friend were able to get the same hype short n sweet singles got (I just found out "when did you get hot ?" was apprently a single a while ago)

then doja cat's album just came and went, jealous type underperformed , gorgerious charted for a week and the third single, stranger didn't even chart. the album may have underperformed for many reasons but I think one of them was that 80s synthpop throwback plus jack antonoff were very overexposed and dried out

with dan nigro, the chappell singles from last year underperformed and drop dead is not doing well on streaming

so are we moving on to the next big producers and when the "jack antonoff wasn't that bad" takes are going to happen?

A lot of the accusations addison gets around being inauthentic and manufactured are due to people thinking that she wants to be the next Britney

But what if that's not the case?

What if addison was using those Britney/Madonna/janet/lana/lexee influences just to poke fun of this 2000s popstar glamorous life and the indie sleaze than anything serious

I mean the music videos, pap walks outfits and the live sets gives off that vibes and a song like "money is everything" was intentionally satirical than anything serious (which makes the Madonna clip with her more hilarious)

And "fame is a gun" is such a ragebait anthem, it makes fun of the haters trying to go after her with her responding saying that she has the glamorous life y'all idolise anyway

so remember the teaser we had for "money is everything" mv that had lexee on it, yeah, I doubt we'll see any of it after both girls fell out

I think addison toned down a bit on her over the top y2k aesthetic after the fall out(probably in some agreement between her and lexee so they won't get any drama out of it)

and I don't think we'll get the same music video quality as we had before

but the good thing is, maybe with the aesthetic being a bit toned down many people who didn't like addison for her over the top vibe before can get into her

I do think addison had a hand in her aesthetic but a lot of it felt borrowed from lexee

After the life of a showgirl, I asked myself the question "what if taylor is no longer for me" which can sound weird given that I liked midnights and the tortured poets department

I guess it's the uncomfortable feeling TLOAS gave me after I heard it that this is the direction taylor wants to head songwriting wise and no one really can stop her

But honestly, after I revisited midnights and TTPD, the hints of that direction were there but it wasn't as obvious

The thing is, I don't want to hate taylor or snark on her just because she no longer makes music i like

I guess the best thing to do is just move on, find other singer-songwriters that speak to you and just apperciate what you loved about taylor before

And even then I'll still probably tune into ts13 and hope for the best and get something out of it.

Following my defense of alex warren's post, I went back to Todd's worst list segment about ordinary and he made an interesting point about influencers wanting to be popstars

I mean if you ask me, I don't mind people wanting to make a career shift from doing trending tiktok dances to something more viable and has more legs to stand

But I also understand being big on social media will give you easier industry connections and an advantage much more talented people deserve

But at the end, the music industry is just filled with rich spoiled asshole anyway, your fav popular indie musician probably had a rich parent to back him up (see Rick beato's newest video)

Honestly, if I like the material then influencer or not question? can be dammed for all I care

Look if you purely like the album for it's sound and aesthetic, this post may not be for you

I think a big problem that has stuck with me about the life of a showgirl is it's underwhelming narrative and how much better it could've been

I'll compare this album with two albums that strike similar themes in which, addison rae's addison and slayyyter's WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA

On concept, this could've been a soild album about taylor's newfound love with travis and the highs and lows of her fame level

In execution, it's a mess

Track 1-4 are good, no big problems with them (aside from the mahogany grain line) but then we have eldest daughter,

On concept, eldest daughter is great balled about how cringe, vulnerable and out of the zone taylor can be and how she's trying her best but keep in check and do her best for travis and the fans

Execution, it's an awkward balled where taylor uses Internet lines at which she's not good at doing

Then we have Cancelled!, a song about taylor striking them haters and flex all her riches and gains, and I'm sorry, I think addison rae and slayyyter have done this idea much better on their albums with the songs fame is a gun and BEAT UP CHANEL$ respectively (not the last time I'll compare her with them)

And finally the title track, which just feels underwhelming as a finale about the stakes of taylor's fame and I just feel meh on the whole, I think addison rae did the indepth stakes of her fame on the track, times like these, much better and slayyyter talks the shameless of fame much on her album's closer, BRITTANY MURPHY, way better

I skipped out some tracks on the album due to not effecting the narrative much or just have nothing to talk about

But as a whole, the album just feels barebones in it's execution and what makes it frustrating is that there's a great concept album behind it

I'll guess I'll want for ts13

I seen way too many conversations about addison, her rebrand and the music, but I feel like some misunderstood the point of what she was trying to say on her debut

A young woman, born in louisiana and went to LA once her fame level rose in a overwhelming way with a messed up family around her and she wants her name to be out there

And fame is messy and destructive in many ways. Drugs, fashion, tmz, money being everything, etc

And someone who started out in the hype house in the heights of the pandemic with tiktok dances (let's not talk how she got them eh). She wants to prove she's more capable than that (times like these for example)

And that despite all the naysayers she'll get the taste if the glamorous life

But at the end, she's just young girl from a louisiana with messed up parents and she's trying her to ignore her best the pain from it

I don't think the album necessarily does the narrative well as I may try to make it sound like (I think addison and the girls started to work on the album after aquamarine)

But there's some depth you could get out of it and addison may evolve as a songwriter to deliver it better

I'm not talking about songs that addison was inspired by but rather songs that are inspired by or tapped into addison's nachos

Nobody's girl -tate mcrae: I know "purple lace bra" gets the diet pepsi ripoff comparsion but I think this sounds more like addison than that other track, tate weirdly also tries to take some of addison's aesthetic on the music video

Father figure -taylor swift: yeah this is a wild one, but I think max martin was inspired by addison while producing this, the beat and the key change are very addison-like

I remember back in January 2025, there was reports of max working some songs with addison then in February 2025, it was clarified that max didn't contribute directly to the album but helped with it's influences and shared some ideas and such

Then in April 2025, addison talked in an interview about "headphones on" that there's a producer who her , luka and elvira were going to work with (luka and elvira are signed to max's label) but at the end, didn't agree with his ideas and they went on making the project solo

Then in early 2026, addison was asked about the taylor swift and charli xcx feud, where she changed the subject right away to talk about a producer who shared ideas with her team and gave it to another artist, I wonder if this has a correlation with max martin's work on taylor swift's the life of a showgirl (the most recent thing max martin has worked on)

I know there's talk that Emile hayne was the one she was talking about due to how similar diet pepsi and tate mcrae's purple lace bra are but I think he was just inspired by the melody and didn't work with addison and the ladies

Side note: i think max martin was credited on diet pepsi for a short while then got removed