Taylor Swift Dives Deep in Chaotic Video Ahead of The Life of a Showgirl Release

Taylor Swift proved she is her own toughest critic.

In a new video shared to Instagram on Monday, the pop superstar, 35, slipped into director mode to poke fun at herself while promoting The Life of a Showgirl.

While on set, the 14-time Grammy winner narrated her own antics with a mix of mock-seriousness and playful critique.

‘We’re elegant, we’re luxurious, we’re in front of the most beautiful pink vinyl we’ve ever seen,’ she quipped before abruptly questioning her posture. ‘It’s giving no-girl, not showgirl.’

The clip then cuts to her alter ego, ‘Showgirl Taylor,’ who struts into frame wearing a revealing pink leotard and matching heels. 

As the glam character attempts to model the The Crowd is Your King Edition vinyl, she does not look pleased with herself.

‘Elegance!’ Director Taylor calls out as Showgirl Taylor awkwardly tosses glitter and strikes stiff poses. ‘Charm. Not that.’

At one point, she lowers her voice to whisper, ‘She’s got cat hair all over her,’ before barking into a megaphone: ‘Is there a school we could very quickly send her to? Come on, honey, this is showbusiness.’

The chaos escalates when Showgirl Taylor manages to topple over paint buckets while holding a giant album poster.

Playing into the joke, she captioned the post with a laughing emoji: ‘She’s got four days left to rehearse for her big moment.’

The lighthearted promo is part of Swift’s lead-up to her twelfth studio album, which she has described as a love letter to glitter and life during her record-breaking Eras Tour.

‘This album is really about what was going on in my life during this tour which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,’ she said while appearing on fiancé Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. ‘I’m so proud of it. It just comes from the most infectiously, joyful, wild dramatic place I was in my life.’

As she put it: ‘That effervescence has come through on this record.’

Although the video was made in jest, Swift is known to make jokes, at her own expense, and shared a look at her self scrutiny in Netflix’s 2020 documentary, Miss Americana. 

‘Everyone’s a shiny new toy for like two years. The female artists that I know have reinvented themselves 20 times more than the male artists,’ she said. ‘They have to or else they’re out of a job.’

Swift went on to speculate: ‘This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success. So, I know as I’m reaching 30 I’m like, I want to work really hard, while society is still tolerating me being successful.’ 

Additionally, she spoke about struggling with disordered eating and feeling like ‘there’s always some standard of beauty that you’re not meeting.’ 

‘It’s all just f**king impossible,’ she stated. ‘You don’t ever say to yourself, “I have an eating disorder,” but you know you’re making a list of everything that you put in your mouth that day and you know that’s probably not right, but then again there’s so many diet blogs that tell you that’s what you should.’ 

Swift revealed her next album’s title in the early hours of 12 August, announcing it at 12.12am.

The following day, she appeared on New Heights, the podcast hosted by her NFL star fiance Travis Kelce, 35, and his brother Jason, to share further details of the release.

The Life of a Showgirl will feature 12 songs, including a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter on the title track.

It follows Taylor’s previous release, The Tortured Poets Department, which came out in April 2024.

On 31 August, Spotify confirmed via Instagram The Life of a Showgirl had become the most pre-saved album in the history of its Countdown Page.

The album will be available to stream, download and purchase on its release date, as well as broadcast on SiriusXM.

The day prior Swift left fans ‘screaming and crying’ from joy, after announcing that she will be having a theatrical release party to celebrate her new album.

The superstar is planning the theatrical event to coincide with the October 3 launch of her 12th studio album.

‘I hereby invite you to a *dazzling* soirée, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl: Oct 3 – Oct 5 only in cinemas!’ she shared via an Instagram post on Friday.

‘You’ll get to see the exclusive world premiere of the music video for my new single “The Fate of Ophelia”, along with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage of how we made it, cut by cut explanations of what inspired this music, and the brand new lyric videos from my new album The Life of a Showgirl.’

‘Looks like it’s time to brush off that Eras Tour outfit or orange cardigan… Tickets are on sale now. Dancing is optional but very much encouraged,’ the star added.

She wrapped up the post writing: ‘Showtimes may vary, so check your local listings. Tickets are limited and available at releasepartyofashowgirl.com.’