Taylor Swift is still basking in the release of her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, after it dropped Friday, October 3. Swift, 35, recently appeared on the Audacy Check In with host Bru, who asked what she had coming up. "Right now I'm focused on this album and trying to soak in this moment I feel of pride and joy for what I made," Swift answered. "I don't necessarily know if I've ever been so happy about a record before." The Life of a Showgirl is Swift's third studio album released in the last four years, but she said this time, it felt different. Taylor Swift Releases Her 12th Album 'The Life of a Showgirl' "It's kind of a foreign feeling for me to feel so joyful because usually there's just a lot of stress in an album release week," she continued. "This week I just feel very uncomplicated feelings about this record. That's new. So I'm like let's just ride out this feeling for a second." Swift's outlook comes despite The Life of a Showgirl's mixed reviews. Variety and Rolling Stone both praised the album, while Pitchfork gave it a 5.9 out of 10 and The London Standard rated it one star. The singer addressed those reviews in a Tuesday, October 7, interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "I welcome the chaos," she told him. "The rule of show business is, if it's the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you're helping." All the Records Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl' Has Broken - So Far She added that no matter the reviews, she stands by her work. "I have such an eye on legacy when I'm making my music," Swift explained. "I know what I made. I know I adore it." And no matter what critics are saying, The Life of a Showgirl is a clear commercial success. The album sold 2.7 million physical copies in the first 24 hours after its release, making it the second-largest sales week for any album in the modern era. Her coinciding film, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, hit No. 1 at the box office despite only playing in theaters for three days. Swift also doesn't seem ready to begrudge any critic or listener who doesn't appreciate the album. "I'm not the art police," she said on Tuesday. "It's, like, everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want, and what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror." During her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which aired Monday, October 6, Swift added that The Life of a Showgirl represents a shift in "character" from what she showed on her 2024 album, The Tortured Poet's Department. "I love to showcase aspects of my personality that are in the extreme," she said. "Tortured Poets Department, my last album, was really highlighting the facets of me that are a writer that's earnest and stoic and raw and the sprawling part of me that just wants to be, like, 'I'm just going to write everything and give you everything I wrote.' And pain, just excruciating detail. That was the character of the poet, and then this, I wanted to be the character of a showgirl. There are other aspects of a person's personality where you're like, funny and feisty and having a blast and flirty and tongue in cheek and a little scandalous and friendly."