Angelina Duaa Hashir

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taylor Swift may have dropped a chart-topper, but she has also stirred a raging controversy over the originality of her new album, &quot;The Life of a Showgirl.&quot;&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her latest release has ignited a fierce debate online, as fans and musicians alike accuse her of borrowing too heavily from musical eras of the past, from 1980s Latin rhythms to 2000s alt-rock riffs.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first sparks flew on Reddit&rsquo;s&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">r/SwiftlyNeutral<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, where listeners noticed uncanny overlaps between &quot;The Life of a Showgirl&quot; and the Jonas Brothers&rsquo; 2019 single &quot;Cool.&quot; The similarities, particularly in rhythm and melody, led some fans to call it &quot;the same song in a different outfit.&quot; When favorable YouTube comments began vanishing, the conversation on Swift&rsquo;s new album shifted from musical coincidence to possible reputation management.<div class="fr-embed"><blockquote class="reddit-embed-bq" style="height:316px" data-embed-height="316"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SwiftlyNeutral/comments/1nwv2qn/the_life_of_a_showgirl_sounds_like_a_straight/">&quot;The Life of a Showgirl&quot; sounds like a straight copy of &quot;Cool&quot; by the Jonas Brothers</a> by<a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Royal-Rope-1480/">u/Royal-Rope-1480</a> in<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SwiftlyNeutral/">SwiftlyNeutral</a></blockquote></div><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meanwhile, over on Threads, indie musician&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karsen Veazey<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;lit up the feed with a post claiming that Swift&rsquo;s &ldquo;Actually Romantic&rdquo; was a near-carbon copy of one of her own songs from last year.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The post exploded, with thousands backing her up and commenters telling her to &ldquo;get those royalties.&rdquo;&nbsp;Some even dredged up Swift&rsquo;s earlier tangle with Olivia Rodrigo over &ldquo;Deja Vu&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cruel Summer.&rdquo;&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/fa2813c1-8ee8-449b-82c3-8c4fce1c914b.png" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not long after, writer&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Dark<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;added fuel to the fire on X, noting that &lsquo;Actually Romantic&rsquo; &ldquo;sounds&nbsp;a lot like the Pixies &lsquo;Where Is My Mind?&rsquo;,&rdquo; a&nbsp;comparison fans were already making note for note.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The latest flashpoint is &ldquo;Opalite.&rdquo; A&nbsp;viral post on X from&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@mr_evertz<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;claimed Swift &ldquo;straight up plagiarized&rdquo; it from&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Luis Miguel&rsquo;s<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;1982 track &ldquo;1 + 1 = 2 Enamorados.&rdquo; The&nbsp;clip, a split-screen comparison, came with the caption, &ldquo;Swifties, meet Luis Miguel. You hear it too, right?&rdquo; Within&nbsp;hours, fans were pointing out the identical synth pulse and chord progression straight out of early-&rsquo;80s Latin pop.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/8b716f88-85a7-4df0-82ab-deeb2180158a.png" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Soon, the debate widened. &lsquo;Cancelled!&rsquo; drew parallels to Lorde&rsquo;s &lsquo;Yellow Flicker Beat,&rsquo; &lsquo;Wood&rsquo; to the Jackson 5&rsquo;s &lsquo;I Want You Back,&rsquo; and &lsquo;Opalite&rsquo; yet again to Post Malone&rsquo;s &lsquo;Circles.&rsquo; Defenders dismissed these as coincidences born of pop&rsquo;s self-referential nature, but detractors saw irony: Swift herself has demanded credit for far subtler overlaps.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/0cdcbe21-a958-49ec-a3a9-fa6786593508.png" style="width: 402px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" id="isPasted"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/8fbf44d4-a600-492c-ba5e-0585fc4a8f83.png" style="width: 442px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The controversy has revived a timeless question in music: Where does influence end and imitation begin?

Taylor Swift poses for her new ablum The Life of a Showgirl in a photo shared on X, Aug. 26, 2025.

Entertainment

Her newest release has ignited a fierce debate online, as fans and musicians alike accuse her of borrowing too heavily from musical eras of the past, from 1980s Latin rhythms to 2000s alt-rock riffs.

Articles tagged with "Life of a showgirl"

Chart-topping or copy-pasting? The Swift plagiarism debate

Chart-topping or copy-pasting? The Swift plagiarism debate