On 25/9, Taylor Swift released four new songs: Patient Zero, Cleverland!, Pink Clouding, and Babylon, as part of the album The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. This release came nearly one year after the original album's debut. The comeback helped Taylor Swift break two new Spotify records this year: the most-streamed female artist in a single day, and the most-streamed song by a female artist in a single day for the lead track Patient Zero.

By 27/9, Spotify recorded Taylor Swift's songs with 9 million to 14 million streams. On YouTube, each lyric music video also garnered over one million views. Among them, Cleveland! had the highest view count, attracting audiences with candid footage of the singer and her husband, football player Travis Kelce.

* "Cleveland!" lyric music video

Although the four songs were widely embraced by audiences, critics and international media did not rate them highly. Metacritic, a site that aggregates reviews and scores from reputable publications, recorded Taylor Swift's album with an average score of 39/100, based on reviews from six outlets: Consequence, Telegraph (UK), Independent (UK), Guardian, Slant Magazine, and Paste Magazine.

According to Telegraph, which rated the album 2/5 stars, the new songs are "bland" and "lack originality" compared to the original The Life of a Showgirl, which was released in 10/2025. For Cleveland!, although the singer writes about her love for Travis Kelce, she adopts a public perspective rather than her own emotions. The artist appears to have channeled all her songwriting energy into indignation, criticizing those who say she is "no longer attractive", "dresses poorly", and often displays an unpleasant smile with terrible dance moves. In the chorus, Swift sings that Kelce still loves her despite these flaws.

Given her current fame, Telegraph believes the album will undoubtedly top the charts, but this is also Taylor Swift's problem. "She no longer has the motivation to take creative risks. No producer or record label boss dares to offer criticism," wrote Poppie Platt, the pop culture editor for the news site and a longtime Swift fan. Platt suggests that Taylor Swift, a modern pop icon, "is destroying her own legacy out of fear of not daring to take a day off," constantly releasing new music.

* "Patient Zero" lyric music video

Independent also rated the album 2/5 stars, describing Babylon as "a diamond" while the other three songs were terrible. According to the site's music editor, Roisin O'Connor, Swift demonstrates inconsistent songwriting ability between the two versions. Guardian gave a similar score to Independent, judging each song "as if it belonged to a different album" and noting that "the music quality declines" the more music Swift releases.

"We don't need much investigation or speculation to see that the best thing for her creative output right now is to temporarily draw the curtain for a while," Guardian commented.

Nevertheless, some other publications, like The Irish Times, praised the album as excellent. USA Today suggested that this version deserves a round of applause. According to the site's critic Melissa Ruggieri, Patient Zero offers a comprehensive look at a broken relationship, while Cleverland! showcases Taylor Swift's greatest strength: reversing the mirror with clear self-awareness, then telling everyone she doesn't care what they think.

Taylor Swift in a promotional photoshoot for the new album. *Photo: Instagram Taylor Swift*

On her personal page, Taylor Swift explained her reason for adding four new compositions: to express gratitude for the sincerity and enthusiastic support from fans for her previous album.

"About one year ago, you did something I truly couldn't imagine. Something that completely stunned me. You helped The Life of a Showgirl set a record for the highest-selling album in its first week in history. I went to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album. In that moment, we genuinely just wanted to reflect and feel gratitude, but there was also a studio there, so we did what we always do when emotions strike: We wrote more music."

The Patient Zero music video was scheduled to premiere at the VMAs Award ceremony on the evening of 27/9 in Los Angeles (morning of 28/9 Hanoi time). Actors Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell appear in the video.

Taylor Swift, 37, was once dubbed the "country music princess" of American music. She debuted in 2006 and is currently one of the world's most famous vocalists, having received numerous awards and accolades. Her current net worth is two billion USD, according to Forbes. In July, she married football player Travis Kelce, who is the same age as her, after three years of dating.

By Phuong Thao (via US Weekly, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian)