Being a Taylor Swift fan means you’re going to have to listen to a lot of Taylor Swift music. Her album The Life of a Showgirl, released last year, was supposedly planned as a project that wouldn’t receive any reissues or deluxe editions. And yet, less than a year later, the pop star has unveiled an Encore edition featuring the new single “Patient Zero” alongside three additional tracks.
Throughout “Patient Zero”, I couldn’t shake one question: what exactly does the supposed showgirl aesthetic have to do with any of this? The same could be said about most of the songs on the original album, which had little to do with the concept of glamorous stage shows, sequins, and veils. Yet the new single arrived with press photos of Taylor standing in a black dress against a concrete wall — imagery that feels more like a still from a drama than an extension of the glossy visual world established by the previous promotional campaign. At least the song itself sounds better than most of the material on the standard edition of Showgirl, even if it falls short of the magic found in her earlier pop-driven work.
Of course, there are missteps of its own. Taylor’s spoken-word delivery in the bridge feels awkwardly out of place, while the song’s lyrical themes would have fit much more naturally on one of her previous records, such as The Tortured Poets Department or Midnights. Production from Swedish pop heavyweights Max Martin and Shellback does little to suggest that working with them is taking Swift anywhere particularly new. At times, it almost sounds as though she was bored while recording it.
Still, “Patient Zero” is not a total failure, even if it feels like an odd choice for a lead single. Unfortunately, it also reinforces the impression that Swift has completely lost sight of her creative direction. It’s harmless, perfectly listenable, and ultimately feels like a song released simply for the sake of releasing a song.
6.0/10
