"The Life of a Showgirl" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring the American singer Sabrina Carpenter. Written and produced by the former alongside Max Martin and Shellback, it is the closing and titular track of her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025).[1]
On August 12, 2025, Swift announced The Life of a Showgirl in her official website and in an episode from the podcast New Heights, co-hosted by her now-fiancé and NFL player Travis Kelce. The same day, Swift also released exclusive and limited pre-orders of the new album in her shop while displaying a blurred version of the cover artwork.[2]
The next day, Swift revealed the cover artwork and the official track listing, as well as the release date of October 3. One of the tracks revealed was "The Life of a Showgirl", in which Carpenter would be featured.[3]
Composition
"The Life of a Showgirl" is a mid-tempo country pop song, instrumented with slide guitars and strings.[4][5][6][7][8] Lyrically, the song begins in narration of the life a showgirl named "Kitty", who "made her money being pretty and witty". It delves into Kitty's backstory, then shifts to a recount of an interaction between Kitty and the narrator.[9] The song shifts perspective in the towards the end with the narrator experiencing the struggles of their own fame as a showgirl.[10] The song ends with a spoken outro, which depicts Swift and Carpenter closing a show together, with crowd noise sampled from the Eras Tour concert in Vancouver.[11] According to Hindustan Times, Internet users noted the song as having similarities to Colbie Caillat's "Brighter Than the Sun" (2011) and the Jonas Brothers' "Cool" (2019).[12]
Critical reception
The song received mixed reviews from critics. Pitchfork described the song as "a little schmaltzy", but also "proactive about introducing an independent personality with a story to tell", calling it "one of the moments when, musically, The Life of a Showgirl brushes up against a much better idea", and further described it as "a big, glorious pageant that inspires organic passion and camaraderie".[4]The Independent said that the song "serves as a grand finale, pairing the two singers’ voices in shimmering harmony as Swift symbolically takes a bow and hands the spotlight to the next generation."[8]Clash wrote that the song "doesn’t quite bring clarity to a scattered collection of songs",[13] and Consequence called the song "surprisingly limp".[14] In a ranking of the album's twelve tracks, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard placed it at number six, saying the song's narrative "gets a bit knotty, but Swift and Carpenter's respective tones complement one another splendidly".[15]Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone placed it number 41 on his ranking of all 286 songs in Swift's discography.[16]
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 41. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 41. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
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