That reason is that the vocabulary here is a bit different than her previous work. Lyrically, these songs aren’t all that connected to what has come before. Here’s some evidence.

My research article created a giant “map” of Taylor Swift’s songs and how they are connected to each other in terms of word overlap. Specifically, if a song shared 13 words in common, it was treated as connected. (There is a mathematical rationale for 13, in addition to the Swiftian rationale, but I won’t get into that here.) We can then compute how central a song is on that map: The more connected it is to other songs, the more central it is. It turns out that more central songs tend to be the more popular songs. To give a few examples, very central songs include “All Too Well,” “Blank Space,” “Fifteen,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” and “Mine.”

Here’s some plots of the number of songs that fall within certain centrality ranges across the three most recent pop, post-Folklore/Evermore albums. Interpretively, if a song scores above 0.6 (and especially above 0.8), it is likely to be a ‘tentpole’ song: one of those songs that holds the Taylorverse together and, often, is highly popular. Songs in the 0.4-0.6 range are still connected to other songs and, usually, are well-received. Below 0.4, it’s a song that is peripheral to the Taylorverse, at least in terms of the words used in the song, and might be a less popular song.

Here’s Midnights:

We have one clear tentpole song, and that is “Hits Different,” a big hit with fans. “You’re Losing Me” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” also score above 0.6. “Question…?” is in the midrange. Although a number of songs on Midnights are less central (look at the high number of songs at the low end of the range), there are clear ‘signposts’ that connect to other songs in the discography.

Now, Tortured Poets:

The ‘tentpole’ at the far right here is “But Daddy I Love Him,” a song that has classically Swiftian vocabulary. Midrange songs include “So Long London,” “loml,” and “Florida!!!” Although there’s a lot of peripheral songs here (perhaps indicating why Tortured Poets had its own somewhat mixed reception at launch) the Swiftian core vocabulary is still unambiguously here.

Now, Showgirl:

Look at that big blank space on the right side of the graph. The closest thing to a ‘tentpole’ song here is the title track, which scores just below 0.6. There are no mid-range songs scoring between 0.4 and 0.6. The second most central song is “CANCELLED!” at 0.35. The rest are below that, and in terms of vocabulary, really aren’t that similar to earlier works.

So maybe the problem isn’t just that some people find the lyrics cringey. Maybe the album needed less “Gucci,” “terminal uniqueness,” “toy Chihuahua,” and “Plaza Athénée,” and more words that emphasize commonplace, relatable experiences, such as dress, walk, day, room, boy, and feel — words common in the broader discography, but almost or entirely absent here.