Just after midnight, Pop Base posted the number no Swiftie wanted to see: Pitchfork gave The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, the four new songs added to last year’s album, a 4.0 out of 10. By breakfast, the Taylor Swift Encore fight had split the internet into two very loud camps, and I was lying in bed refreshing both like it was my job.
Swifties Came Out Swinging
The first wave was pure defense. Fans accused Pitchfork of chasing clicks, one reply insisted the site hates Taylor and women in general, and someone else announced they would be streaming song of the year regardless, which is the most Swiftie sentence ever typed.
Not everyone was on her side, though. One person pointed to the much higher scores Pitchfork gave Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX this year and said this was not a woman thing, and right under Pitchfork’s own post, somebody argued a 4.0 was too generous.
The Lyrics Were Already Under Fire
The score mostly poured gas on a fire Reddit started when the songs dropped. The big complaint is that the love songs got very literal: one fan counted two songs that mention her man’s podcast and about three that mention he plays football. That is a lot of football from someone who once got ten minutes out of a scarf.
My favorite is the thread that rewrote the whole saga as “They came out with Pitchforks and I was the Monster,” which is better than anything I wrote in 2009, when I rhymed forever with whatever and meant it. Someone also shared a line about hearing the first verse of “Patient Zero” with the caption “My honest reaction as well.”
The Taylor Swift Album Review Pile Keeps Growing
In fairness to Pitchfork, it was not alone. The Guardian’s review of The Encore last week liked “Patient Zero” more than most, but its headline still promised “bafflingly vindictive love songs,” and Reddit has been passing its harshest lines around ever since.
Pitchfork can keep its 4.0, because the Swifties are already streaming the Taylor Swift Encore louder out of spite.
If you need the full saga, 25 Life of a Showgirl Memes Reacting To Taylor Swift’s New Album covers the original drop, and Taylor Swift’s That’s My Husband Memes Celebrate The Bare Minimum picks up the football storyline. For the rest of this week’s pop chaos, 2026 VMAs Memes From A Night That Kept Getting Weirder is right where you left it.
Priya Coleman writes about memes, pop music and the album reviews that fans take more personally than their own performance reviews at work.
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Priya Coleman is a viral content specialist and meme analyst with over six years in digital publishing. Her past roles include viral content editor for PopSugar's humor vertical and meme correspondent for HuffPost’s comedy section. Priya specializes in spotting trending meme moments just before they peak—like the chaotic delight of the Ever Given’s Suez Canal mishap or the existential comedy of This is Fine. She brings her sharp wit and instinctive knack for viral content to Thunder Dungeon, always keeping the community a step ahead of the latest meme craze.
