The Life Of A Showgirl is known to Taylor Swift as “the record [she’s] been wanting to make for a very long time.” Taylor’s 12th album drops on October 3rd 2025, and it is expected to be insanely successful. It has already broken records for the amount of pre-saves it has on Spotify and it’s expected to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Taylor Swift has one of the largest fan bases in the music industry, and of course many people at Lincoln North Star fall into the “Swiftie” category.
Ashlyn Jensen (11), a die hard “Swiftie”, has been a fan for around two years, and her love of Taylor Swift sparked once she attended the well known Era’s Tour. When she found out about the new album, she was ecstatic. Ashlyn recalls, “One of my good friends, London Mika (11), was at my house at the time, and I literally dropped to the floor and started rolling around screaming.” She plans on listening as soon as the album is released, while “staring at the countdown” and “refreshing her page like crazy.” When she was asked about the excitement among students and staff, she told me that, “people at North Star are not as excited as they should be.” She commented about Taylor’s album and its rapid growing popularity, despite it being unreleased. “Well it’s not like the Empire State Building was orange or anything.” She refers to the Empire State Building in NYC, and their celebration of Taylor Swift’s announcement by lighting the top half of the skyscraper orange. Overall Ashlyn, a qualified Taylor Swift obsessor, is thrilled and ready for Taylor’s new release.
Now that we’ve heard from a younger Swiftie, let’s take it to one of the more experienced ones here at LNS. Ms. Stones, who teaches English 9 and English 10, has been loving Taylor Swift for 17 years. She remembers hearing Taylor’s debut album, but really getting into it during the fan favorite, “Fearless” era. She and most other staff are simply thrilled to hear that Taylor Swift is releasing new music. Ms. Stones agrees while saying that, “a lot of us grew up with Taylor, we’re in her age range, and we’ve experienced her growth, as an individual and as an artist.” As Ms. Stones has watched Taylor Swift’s songwriting and musical progress, she’s excited for a few of her new songs in particular. “I’m really excited to hear “The Death of Ophelia”, because I love Hamlet, “Ruin the Friendship”, because I’m curious if it’s a friendship breakup or a friends-to-lovers situation, and “Elizabeth Taylor”, because she always does such interesting takes on famous women, like Clara Bow, Rebecca Harkness, etc.” Excited doesn’t even do justice in regards of how Ms. Stones feels about the official release this upcoming Friday.
As we can tell, both older and younger generations here at LNS are eager to listen and experience whatever “The Life Of A Showgirl” has to offer.
