2025 has been a wild, inspired year for pop. The genre feels restless again — bold, theatrical, self-aware. Sabrina Carpenter is turning disappointment into empowerment, Charli XCX is blurring the line between the underground and the mainstream and Chappell Roan is proving that camp and confession can coexist. Even debut acts like Sombr are reviving the alt-pop edge that nearly disappeared a decade ago.
And yet, amid all that innovation, two of pop’s most bankable figures released albums that feel strangely stuck. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl and Doja Cat’s Vie share something rare for artists this seasoned: a fear of being seen.
Taylor’s record sparkles with sequins, feathers, Vegas fantasy, but the shine covers unease. Lyrically, it’s obsessed with domestic peace and moral purity, the sound of someone insisting she’s content while quietly proving the opposite (which she’s done before on “Lavendar Haze.”) “Wi$h Li$t” reads like a press release for stability, painting her relationship as proof she’s transcended the shackles of ambition. Behind the showgirl costume is an artist who’s unsure. About what remains to be seen.
The Life of a Showgirl Offers Corny Lyrics and Sparkly Beats
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Doja Cat’s Vie feels distant for a different reason. After publicly rejecting pop, then drifting back toward it, the 80’s theme feels like armor, or maybe more of a guide — for an artist trying to locate herself in the genre she once renounced. Vie is sleek and airtight but emotionally empty, as if she’s creative directing her way out of confusion. It feels more calculated than cathartic, a key trait of her previous work.
Album Review: Doja Cat's "Vie"
Doja Cat’s fifth studio album, Vie, is fun, but a little too cohesive for its own good. The 1980s-inspired record pairs seamlessly with her rap-pop hybrid, but the downside is that many tracks blur together. It’s clever lyrically, but rarely vulnerable, making the listening experience feel more like surface-level style lacking substance. Some of the more upbeat, dance-leaning songs will remain in my rotation, while others I’ll probably forget exist.
Both albums share the same emptiness, and mistake control for growth or maturity. They aren’t bad — they’re competent, polished and occasionally catchy — but they pale next other releases in a year that’s overflowing with creative risk.
That’s what makes 2025 so exciting. The bar is high! Pop doesn’t need saving; it needs honesty. And until Taylor and Doja let the seams show, they’ll keep watching the rest of the genre lap them in real time.
No Polish, Please: A crash course in Gen Z’s unfiltered soundtrack
Gen Z listens to a crazy amount of music. Like, they make up nearly 50% of Spotify’s global listenership. They listen to nearly 25% more music per day than millennials, the generation that was risking the family computer to make a mixtape for their middle school boyfriend of 3 days.
