LOS ANGELES--Superstar Taylor Swift's 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," arrived on Friday with a promotional blitz including midnight sales at Target stores, a release party at movie theaters around the globe and pop-up experiences in New York and Los Angeles.
It follows "The Tortured Poets Department", which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and sold the equivalent of 8 million albums in the United States, according to Luminate, a firm that tracks music sales.
Swift's latest offering is expected to be similarly lapped up by her huge global fan base, even though the music press gave the release a mixed response. It became Spotify's most-streamed album of the year, hitting that milestone in less than 11 hours.
"With this album it's exactly where I am at in my life," Swift told Britain's Capital Breakfast radio show, kicking off promotional appearances."I am exactly in the same spot as I was when I made this record so it feels very accurate to my life experience right now."
Swift once again worked with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback on "The Life of a Showgirl," the duo also worked on records including her best-selling album, ''1989,'' and ''Reputation". Many critics praised the upbeat songs and humor on the 12-song album, whose title track features Sabrina Carpenter.
Rolling Stone gave it five stars saying Swift "shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom — and hits all her marks," while Britain's BBC called it "a triumphant pop victory lap."
Awarding it two stars, The Financial Times and Guardian newspapers were cooler, with the former saying the album was "charismatic as ever, but lacks sparkle" and the latter describing it as "dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled."
Fans who went to the flagship HMV store in London to buy the album were nonetheless enthusiastic."It's a little bit of a pivot for her," said Dan Poliak, 62, who lives in Seattle. "But the songs are great ... (the album) shows off her songwriting as always, which is her strength. And it's fun. It's a fun album."
Swift has been building anticipation for the album since August 11, when she posted a countdown on her website that kept fans waiting until 12:12 a.m. ET on August 12, when she revealed the new record. The next day, she appeared on the "New Heights" podcast hosted by her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jason Kelce. The Top-10 rated sports and pop-culture podcast provided a friendly platform for Swift to talk about the album, which she said had been inspired by the joy she felt while performing around the world on her record-setting Eras Tour. The August 13 episode has surpassed 23.4 million views on YouTube.
"She occupies a very rare position in today's fragmented music landscape: she is an active superstar with a massive and loyal fan base," said Tatiana Cirisano, vice president of music strategy for MIDiA Research.
These passionate followers, or "Swifties," help the artist rise to the top of the charts, said Cirisano."So few can get such a massive number of people listening to the same thing at once. So, it would surprise me a lot if the new release did not reach her usual level of success," she said.
