The Life of a Showgirl Review

The corrective was overdue and half of it works. Twelve tracks, no interludes, a hard commercial sheen, and the return of a rhythm section that actually moves after five years of soft pads. The Fate of Ophelia opens with real momentum. Opalite has a proper chorus. Elizabeth Taylor is the most interesting idea on it, fame as a costume worn by women who came before her. What lets it down is the writing, which has hardened into brand maintenance.

Several songs address critics, rivals and the discourse around her rather than any person or feeling, and the jokes land with a thud when they are aimed outward instead of inward. Actually Romantic is fun and mean and slight. The happiness at the centre of the record is real and it does not generate much tension, and tension is where her best work lives. Well made, easy to play, and a long way below what she is capable of.