Taylor Swift: 'The Life Of A Showgirl'

Summary

All Songs Considered, NPR

Episode: Taylor Swift: 'The Life Of A Showgirl'
Date: October 6, 2025
Host: Stephen Thompson (with guest Ann Powers)

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Episode Overview

This special episode dives deep into Taylor Swift's highly anticipated album, The Life Of A Showgirl, released amid massive public attention. Hosted by Stephen Thompson and music journalist Ann Powers, the discussion analyzes Swift’s musical evolution, the album’s thematic pivots, production details, and her public persona. The hosts explore songwriting, collaborations, notable tracks, Taylor's relationship with Travis Kelce, and the ongoing tension between her autobiographical confessions and larger-than-life mythmaking.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Return of Max Martin and Shellback

• Background: Swift reunites with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, famous for their work on her pop breakthrough albums (Red, 1989).
• Production Process: Taylor reportedly worked on the album while on her record-breaking Eras tour, darting to Sweden to write and record with Martin and Shellback.
  • Ann Powers (02:23): “While she is staging this massive extravaganza, then she is retreating into the studio with a very small core of collaborators… there's barely anyone else on this record.”

Thematic Evolution: From Heartbreak to Celebration

• This album is considered a “bangers record,” a sonic pivot away from the somber, acoustic-heavy tones explored with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff (Folklore, Evermore, and The Tortured Poets Department).
  • Stephen Thompson (03:13): “Like she's kind of billed it as such. This is a pivot away from the somber, autumnal vibes… And it is a pivot away from that sound.”
• Yet, not a total departure—nostalgic heartbreak and Taylor’s signature melodrama still surface.
  • Ann Powers (03:35): “Especially not thematically… There are some themes Taylor can never let alone.”

Autobiography and Myth—Taylor’s Songwriting Mode

• Taylor lyrically explores both her current state (newly engaged, in love) and her perennial obsessions (regret, relationships, fame).
  • Stephen Thompson (04:44): “This is the life of Taylor Swift. This is like the state of Taylor Swift. And as such, it contains multitudes… capturing where she is in her life.”

Track Highlights & Memorable Themes

1. Ruin The Friendship

• About the sting of missed opportunities and nostalgic regret.
• Ann Powers (04:26): “Finding out later that her object of affection has passed away… But I whispered at the grave should have kissed you anyway.”

2. Wood (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)

• Blatantly humorous, risqué (possibly referencing Travis Kelce), with elaborate innuendo.
  • Ann Powers (05:24): “It's a hilariously sexual nod… a flat out bawdy, risqué, you know, blues queen, nasty metaphor kind of song.”

3. Cringe and Humor in Songwriting

• Both hosts reflect on Taylor’s willingness to risk a “groaner.”
  • Stephen Thompson (07:16): “She is… fearless in her songwriting. I think her willingness to uncork a groaner is part of what makes her songwriting distinct…”

4. Wishlist

• Dreaming of suburban normalcy and family life—explicitly referencing “a driveway with a basketball hoop.”
  • Ann Powers (08:20): “Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop… I just want you.”
• Throwback to Style from 1989 in cadence and composition.

5. Eldest Daughter

• Emotional cornerstone of the record—poised as an enduring “first dance” ballad.
  • Ann Powers (09:39): “So many traitors, smooth operators. But I'm never gonna break that bow. I'm never gonna leave you now.”

6. Opalite

• Early earworm with theatrical, timeless energy, evocative of both 50s pop and contemporary production.
  • Stephen Thompson (10:49): “It’s a fully fleshed out earworm.”
  • Ann Powers (11:22): “It’s so evocative of like the musical Grease… everything everywhere, all at once.”

7. Father Figure

• Interpolates George Michael’s classic, but subverts its meaning—Swift positions herself as the “father figure” to a former male industry mentor.
  • Ann Powers (14:10): “She leans into the creepy… to call out a former mentor… hey, I am more powerful than you. I am now your father figure. Which is such a neat little trick.”
  • Ann Powers (14:48): “Who covered up your scandals, mistake my kindness for weakness…” [singing lyrics]

8. Honey

• Deeply personal, but universally resonant love song about Travis Kelce.
  • Stephen Thompson (15:43): “A perfect example of when Taylor Swift is at the top of her songwriting game… revealing a detail we didn’t have before… but speaking to a larger truth.”
  • Ann Powers (16:17): “You can call me honey if you want, because I’m the one you want…”

9. Fate of Ophelia

• Album opener; Taylor delivers a theatrical, swoony vocal performance mimicking a phone call from Travis.
  • Ann Powers (17:43): “I heard you calling on the megaphone, you wanna see me all alone… As legend has it, you are quite the pyro…”

10. Actually Romantic

• Thinly veiled response to Charli XCX’s “Sympathy is a Knife,” rooted in pop rivalry and self-aware drama.
  • Stephen Thompson (19:24): “Taylor Swift has a song on this new album called Actually Romantic, which I suspect is gonna resonate with a lot of people. It’s certainly gonna be talked about.”
  • Ann Powers (20:36): “I think the line comparing the antagonists in the song to a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse dog is actually… funny.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ann Powers (02:52): "I am so interested in her musical evolution as well as her mythical evolution."
• Stephen Thompson (07:16): "Her willingness to uncork a groaner is part of what makes her songwriting distinct and one of the things that makes her the world's biggest pop star."
• Ann Powers (09:58): "That song… reaches all the way back to one of her most famous lines, you know, a careless man's careful daughter right from back in her country days."
• Stephen Thompson (16:53): “[Taylor] was kind of famously unsteady [as a] live performer. And she is not anymore.”
• Ann Powers (17:59): “[On ‘Fate of Ophelia’] The control she shows as a singer in those moments, it’s very theatrical… I think she’s ready for her Broadway show now.”

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Critical Analysis & Reflections

Swift’s Artistic Risks

• The album is praised for balancing deeply personal disclosure with playful showbiz spectacle, blending nostalgia, self-parody, and innovation.
• There is admiration for Taylor's “fearless” willingness to be both “clunky” and precise, as well as her forthright confessional style.

Dual Levels: Autobiography and Archetype

• Powers highlights how Taylor builds pop albums that function both autobiographically and as high-concept artistic statements:
  • Ann Powers (21:02): “Every Taylor Swift album works on at least two levels… [Here, as] Showgirl, I think, she’s created this character, the tough as nails, you know, grease paint, wearing my feet hurt from dancing… The show must go on.”

Minor Criticisms

• Both hosts agree the album’s first half is stronger, with some less successful tracks in the back half.
  • Stephen Thompson (18:11): “There are a couple of songs, particularly late on this record, that don’t work for us as much.”
  • Songs like Actually Romantic and Canceled are called cartoonish or “overplayed” in their referenced pop beefs, but are redeemed by their humor and conceptual framing.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:01: Introduction; context for the new album
• 02:04: Discussion of Max Martin/Shellback & album’s production
• 03:13: Emphasis on sound/style shift; “bangers record” concept
• 04:26, 05:24: Song-specific analysis: “Ruin The Friendship,” “Wood”
• 07:16: Taylor's “fearless” (and sometimes cringy) writing style
• 08:20, 09:39: Highlights: “Wishlist,” “Eldest Daughter”
• 10:49: Analysis of “Opalite” and pop references
• 14:07: “Father Figure”—power dynamics and industry callouts
• 15:43: “Honey”—intimacy and strong vocal performance
• 17:43: “Fate of Ophelia” and theatricality in singing
• 19:24: “Actually Romantic”—response to Charli XCX & pop rivalry
• 21:02: Ann Powers on Showgirl concept, duality in albums

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Conclusion

The episode is an in-depth, passionate debate about The Life Of A Showgirl, lauding Taylor Swift’s ability to–as both person and persona–merge confessional songwriting with calculated, clever pop spectacle. The album is viewed as both a personal milestone and demonstration of pop mastery, rich with callbacks and humor. The hosts celebrate Taylor’s growth as a singer, emotional agility, willingness to embrace both sentimentality and satire, and her unique way of making the personal universal.

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Summary by: [Your Friendly Podcast Summarizer]
This summary is for listeners seeking a comprehensive, content-focused breakdown of NPR’s “All Songs Considered” Taylor Swift episode, skipping sponsor breaks and non-content sections.

Transcript

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[Stephen Thompson]

Quick note that if you're looking for our number one songs of 2012, that episode that was due out today, we're going to post that on Thursday, Thursday of this week so that we can bring you this special episode from our friends at Pop Culture Happy Hour. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Anne Powers sat down to talk about the inescapable new album from Taylor Swift. It dropped this past Friday. A dozen new tracks on everything from her relationship with Travis Kelce to fame simmering beef with a fellow pop star, and a whole lot more. So again from Pop Culture Happy Hour, here's Stephen and Anne.

So we should note that Anne and I are recording this on Thursday, October 2nd. We've both had the life of a Showgirl for about 36 hours. You would not believe the agreements that we signed in order to hear this thing ahead of time. This conversation is gonna revolve around the album's 12 songs. We haven't seen anything she's released theatrically. We haven't seen any of the video, and hopefully she doesn't drop a ton of additional songs like she did with the tortured Poets Department. Anne, I've come to think of you as something of a Taylor Swift whisperer. You've written about her extensively. I know you're a fan. I greatly trust your judgment when it comes to Taylor Swift. What do you think of the life of a Showgirl?

[Ann Powers]

Well, I was excited when she announced this album because I am also a massive fan of Max Martin and Shellback, her two collaborators on this record, the Swedish producers with whom she worked on her incredible run of banger saturated albums about 10 years ago.

[Stephen Thompson]

Now you're talking about Red 1989.

[Ann Powers]

Exactly. So I was really happy that she was reuniting with them. She made this record, by the way, while she was touring with her gigantic record setting Eras tour, she would apparently pop over to Sweden every now and then and hang out with the guys.

[Stephen Thompson]

As one does.

[Ann Powers]

As one does. To me, that process is so interesting because while she is staging this massive extravaganza, then she is retreating into the studio with a very small core of collaborators. I mean, besides Max and Shelbeck, there's barely anyone else on this record. There's a string section here and there. I am so interested in her musical evolution as well as Her. Her mythical evolution. I'm into the music on this record.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. I'm kind of in awe of her executive functioning.

[Ann Powers]

Yes. It's intimidating.

[Stephen Thompson]

Her ability to juggle many large tasks really does put me to complete shame. I think this is a really interesting record because I think in some ways it's definitely going to be discussed as kind of her bangers record.

[Ann Powers]

Right.

[Stephen Thompson]

Like she's kind of billed it as such. This is a pivot away from the kind of somber, autumnal vibes that she explored with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, you know, on the Folklore Evermore and especially the Tortured Poets department. And it is a pivot away from that sound. I don't think It's a pivot 100% of the way from that sound.

[Ann Powers]

I agree. And especially not thematically. It's not a pivot. I mean, it's a pivot from the heartbreak of torture poets. But as you well know, there are some themes Taylor can never let alone.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. And I think in some ways it feels like. And the title gives it away. This is the life of Taylor Swift. This is like the state of Taylor Swift. And as such, it contains multitudes. Right. It is capturing where she is in her life. She is newly engaged, she's very much in love. That thematically is a big pivot away from especially the tortured Poets department. But she's still finding room on this record for other themes. You have nostalgic heartbreak, which is a big Taylor Swift topic that she has come back to before. There's a song called Ruin the Friendship that is about regretting not kissing someone.

[Ann Powers]

Very classic Taylor melodrama. Finding out later that her object of affection has passed away.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

It was no convenient.

[Ann Powers]

No.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

But I whispered at the grave should have kissed you anyway and it was a night.

[Stephen Thompson]

Honestly, that's one of my favorite Taylor Swift vibes. I like nostalgic Taylor Swift much, much more than Here is what it's like to be Taylor Swift. I think when she is at her best, she uses specificity to signal something universal. And sometimes when she is singing about massive fame, when she's singing about haters, when she's singing about what it's like to be Taylor Swift, her stuff can leave me a little cold. And this record is intermittently does that. But it contains a lot. There are Travis Kelce songs. There is a fairly sexual Travis Kelce song.

[Ann Powers]

Ah, yeah. There's actually. It's a hilariously sexual nod to Sabrina Carpenter who's also on this record. I mean, that's a flat out bawdy. Risque, you know, blues queen, nasty metaphor kind of song. I think it's very, very funny. It's called Wood, in case anybody wanted to know.

[Stephen Thompson]

You can kind of suss out the intricately nested metaphor.

[Ann Powers]

It's not about interior decor, and it's kind of funny.

[Stephen Thompson]

I mean, like, she is definitely, you know. Sabrina Carpenter pops up on the title track, which closes the record. But Sabrina Carpenter does feel like a little bit of an influence at a couple points on this record, including both Sabrina Carpenter's new record and Taylor Swift's new record contain fairly cringy references to thighs.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

Forgive me, it sounds cocky. Hypnotize me and open my eyes Redwood tree It ain't hard to see his love was the key to open my.

[Ann Powers]

Thighs I don't mind Taylor's. I actually. Maybe it's because they are these, you know, parasocial figures in our lives. It just makes me laugh because they play out their public relationship. I mean, Travis and Taylor do as a kind of a comedy routine in some ways. So I can kind of imagine them jokingly coming up with this. I'm not. Travis does not have a writing credit on that song, thank goodness. But it's almost like an extension of what I think they may be like. And I've never met Travis Kelce, and I don't know anything about their relationship, really. But the good humor that runs throughout this album and especially the songs about him, I value that. I don't know. I like funny Taylor. I think sometimes she's a little clunky, though, in her humor, which, I know Steven bothers you, but you also kind of like the clunkiness. Right. You're like a fan of her lines that kind of woof, you know?

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I would say I'm necessarily a fan. I will cringe as hard as ever when she unleashes a clunker. But I do think that her tendency to be. Oh, God, I'm not using this word deliberately as, like, an Easter egg, but to be fairly fearless in her songwriting. I think her willingness to uncork a groaner is part of what makes her songwriting distinct and one of the things that makes her the world's biggest pop star. Like, as much as she is imitated as widely as. You will hear echoes of Taylor Swift's Speak singing that have been echoed by an Olivia Rodrigo, that have been echoed by a Sabrina Carpenter. She still writes songs that don't sound like they could come from anybody but Taylor Swift.

[Ann Powers]

Absolutely.

[Stephen Thompson]

Even when she Is not writing about specifically being Taylor Swift and being massively famous and being in the relationships that she's been in.

[Ann Powers]

I'm not saying that she's gonna take a break, Although there is a line on one of these songs about wanting to, like, move to the suburbs and play basketball with her future children. So who knows?

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoo Bus up, settle down Gotta wish, wish list I just want you.

[Stephen Thompson]

You're talking about wish list.

[Ann Powers]

Yes, I am. And that is a dream she expresses and a realizable dream in some ways. Not entirely, because it's not like Travis Kelsey's gonna retire from his own celebrity either.

[Stephen Thompson]

So he's about to retire from football, but he's not gonna retire from podcasting.

[Ann Powers]

Exactly. But one thing that I love about this record, actually is that it feels to me like a culmination as a huge Max Martin and Shellback fan. The three of them weave in both references to kind of like the entire history of post, maybe post 70s pop and the entire history of Taylor. You just mentioned the song Wishlist. If you listen to just the cadence and think of the sentence structure of the verses on that song, it is a total throwback to style, which is her supposedly Harry Styles referencing song from 1989, a record she made with Max and Chaubach. Eldest Daughter. That is a beautiful, timeless ballad that I know will now be the first dance at weddings here in Nashville for, like the next 20 years.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

So many traitors, smooth operators. But I'm never gonna break that bow. I'm never gonna leave you now.

[Stephen Thompson]

And that's your track five. So, you know, she cares very deeply about what she's saying in that song.

[Ann Powers]

Yes, exactly, exactly. But that song, you know, reaches all the way back to one of her most famous lines, you know, a careless man's careful daughter right from back in her country days. God, I hate this because I don't want to like Stan Taylor or parasocial out with her, but I think the expressions of love toward Travis Kelce are really touching, you know, and the kind of open heartedness on the song, like Eldest Daughter, is really, really moving. This record very artfully, kind of moves through Taylor's own career musically to present this culmination and land her where she is now. And I love that because it's just really such artful pop music making. I mean, you can say she writes clunkers. That's cool. But the sound on this record is airtight, I think.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. And that's where I want to call out the song Opalite, which comes fairly early in the record and has this big, bright theatrical quality. It's a true like just fully fleshed out earworm.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

But now the sky is open.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

My Lord, Never made no one like.

[Stephen Thompson]

You before oh, I'm so glad we're past the tortured poets department.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, and it's got that Max Martin thing, right? So here's the thing. He is always thinking about how what he's doing connects to the present moment but also to previous moments in pop. So that song has these kind of almost like 50s style, like there's that chorus and please anyone listening, if you know where that whoa, oh sorry, I'm not tuneful where that comes from. It's haunting me. It's from another song, but it's also so evocative of like the musical Grease or something like that. And then add that in to the very contemporary kind of production, the standards on this song and you have a song that just seems to be everywhere all at once. Everything everywhere, all at once. That's what Taylor's all about.

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[Stephen Thompson]

NPR do you have other favorite songs?

[Ann Powers]

I do. Like Father Figure that has a very recognizable interpolation. There's a writing credit for George Michael.

[Stephen Thompson]

So it plays off George Michael's creepiest song.

[Ann Powers]

Creepiest and most beautiful. I can't help it. It's a gorgeous song, you know, but she actually does something fascinating with this song, which is she leans into the creepy Stephen, right? And she uses this age inappropriate relationship trope to call out a former mentor who clearly is a man in the music industry. And in the end basically say, hey, I am more powerful than you. I am now your father figure. Which is such a neat little trick.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

Who covered up your scandals mistake my kindness go weakness and find your car cancelled all those you.

[Ann Powers]

She does it in a very mean spirited way, but also in such a beautiful way musically. So it's just a fascinating twist and again, it's a reach back for Taylor because to me, this is my tears ricochet, which is a more vulnerable expression of being taken advantage of. But here she's like, no, I'm on top of I'm the father figure. And I find that enjoyable in a petty way.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, absolutely. And we'll get to the slight mean streak that runs through this record.

[Ann Powers]

So slight. Oh, my goodness.

[Stephen Thompson]

Before we get entirely away from the Travis Kelce of it all, there's a song late on this record that I do love called Honey.

[Ann Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

And that is a perfect example of when Taylor Swift is at the top of her songwriting game because that is a song that is very specific to her relationship with Travis Kelce that is illuminating about her relationship with. It's revealing a detail we didn't have before. But it's doing it in a way that feels universal and is speaking to a larger truth of like, when these words are spoken in bad faith, they mean something very different than when they're spoken in love.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

You can call me honey if you want Because I'm the one you want I'm the one you want. You give it different meaning Cause you mean it when you. Sweetie, it's yours. Kicking indoors Take it to the floor Give me more by the paint and the color of your eyes.

[Ann Powers]

I just have to say about Honey, it also highlights an aspect of this album that I really value, which is her singing. I mean, remember way back 100 million years ago when Taylor Swift first became a star and people like me, who I was writing for, the LA Times at the time were like, can this girl even sing. Like, people did not think Taylor Swift could sing.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, yeah. Because she was kind of famously unsteady live performer. And she is not anymore.

[Ann Powers]

No, not at all. And I think the fact that they made this record while she was on tour, while she was obviously taking very good care of her voice and really deploying her voice every night, you know, in this very powerful way. She just has so much fun singing these songs. I mean, even the way she sings that word, honey, you know, she kind of drags it out, and it reminds me of, like, Maude 60s, you know, Austin Powers theme song kind of way, you know? Or similarly, the very beginning of this record on the Fate of Ophelia, the first little bit of that song where she's talking about someone, Travis, calling her on the telephone. She does it in this, like, mock seductive, woozy, swoony way.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

I heard you calling on the megaphone. You wanna see me all alone. As legend has it, you are quite the pyro. You light the match to wash it.

[Ann Powers]

Blow the control she shows as a singer in those moments, it's very theatrical, which I think is a really important thing about this record. And I love the way she sings on this. I think she's ready for her Broadway show now.

[Stephen Thompson]

Anne, you and I have talked offline that there are a couple of songs, particularly late on this record, that don't work for us as much. I think the first half is pretty solid, right?

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, absolutely. More than solid.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. But you get into the back half, and there are a couple of choices made that I'm not necessarily a huge fan of.

[Ann Powers]

And I. I think you're more troubled than I am. I'm sort of troubled for her. More than troubled by her. But we can get into that. We can get into that.

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, I'm gonna talk about the song actually Romantic.

[Ann Powers]

Okay.

[Stephen Thompson]

Which is pretty clearly, and obviously we're talking about this on Thursday. There has not necessarily been a gigantic amount of online discourse about the contents of this record. By the time this episode drops, I suspect there will have been. Charli XCX had a song on Brat called Sympathy is a knife. Charli XCX's partner is in the 1975 husband now.

[Ann Powers]

I think they're married.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yes. Taylor Swift famously dating Matty Healy. She wrote many ponderous songs about it.

[Ann Powers]

I love those songs.

[Stephen Thompson]

But anyway, Sympathy is a Knife is a little bit about, like, seeing this incredibly powerful and successful person backstage having an insecure response to it.

[Ann Powers]

Right.

[Stephen Thompson]

To me, it is much more of a song about Charli Xcx's own insecurities than it is any kind of diss track against Taylor Swift. Well, Taylor Swift has a song on this new album called Actually Romantic, which I suspect is gonna resonate with a lot of people. It's certainly gonna be talked about lot. To me, it is a huge overreaction. It's a good song that bugs me.

[Ann Powers (singing or quoting lyrics)]

I heard you call me boring Barbie when the Cokes got you brave high five's my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, I understand that. And again, this is where I have to kind of walk away from the parasocialness of it all.

[Stephen Thompson]

Always a good idea.

[Ann Powers]

I mean, I know definitely Taylor revisiting, honing, perhaps, you know, getting repetitive on a theme that she's explored before. She's got this whole thing about, like, I am not bothered by you, and this is when she clearly is.

[Stephen Thompson]

But it's kind of a drill tweet in song form. It is like, don't put in the newspaper that I was mad.

[Ann Powers]

But I just. There's a few funny lines in the song. I think the line comparing the antagonists in the song to a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse dog is actually. It is funny. If you can remove yourself from the. The gossip. The song, it's overplayed. It is cartoonish. But she gets some zingers in there. And maybe this is where I should just state my higher concept for this album. Because what I've realized after many years, way too much of my life thinking about Taylor Swift at this point is that at least since she started working with Max Martin and really went for the pop and started building herself as a pop star, every Taylor Swift album works on at least two levels. It works on the level of autobiography, as we're discussing, and then it also works on the level of the concept. So the way this is working on Showgirl, I think, is that she's created this character, the tough as nails, you know, grease paint, wearing my feet hurt from dancing. But I, you know, the show must go on. I really wonder if in this song, for example, or in the song Canceled, where she stands up for her girl squad in ways that some people might find disturbing. If she's leaning into that character, she's at least finding courage in that character. I mean, she is reaching back to Bette Davis and All About Eve or Elizabeth Berkley and the movie show girls. These are those women who live for the fame who live for the lights. And can we separate Taylor from that character? That's my question for you.

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, Anne, I think it is safe to say this is the final conversation anyone will have about this album.

[Ann Powers]

I'm glad we settled it all. I'm so glad we figured it all out.

[Stephen Thompson]

Resolved.

[Ann Powers]

We're done. Thank you, Taylor. You know, if you want some advice on buying a mega mansion in one of the suburbs here in Nashville, call me. I can find you that basketball hoop. I can.

[Stephen Thompson]

All right. Well, we want to know what you think about the life of a showgirl. Chances are everyone will have an opinion. Find [e-mail] PCHH that brings us to the end of our show. Ann Powers, thank you so much for being here.

[Ann Powers]

It's always a pleasure. I will see you next year on Taylor Day for our annual day of service.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh man, when she drops her 13th album, you know how she is about the number 1313. That thing is going to have some thought put into it. Just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour plus is a great way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.NPR.org happyar or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Janae Morris and Mike Katsif and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Stephen Thompson and we will see you all next time.

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