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Similar to how the sun rises in the east and goes down westward, devotees of the pop phenomenon will heed the invitation for fresh material. Long before the financially stimulating, industry-transforming worldwide success of her recent world tour, Swift had nurtured a uniquely intense and individual relationship with her followers, even within the admiring sphere of mainstream music. That relationship, maintained via Easter eggs, extended imagined relationships and arguably her personal universe, could be authentic and remarkable and fulfilling, a steady raft through life’s storms – I’ve been there. Yet several years into her peak popularity, Swift’s regular supplying of the audience has started to seem not so much like a shared commitment and more nakedly exploitative, the many one-off re-releases and collector's LPs and limited-edition Target drops comparable to a luxury fee on her dedicated fans.

The Latest Offering

The latest of these is the Life of a Showgirl movie – or, more accurately, a “launch event” film for her recent release Showgirl's Life, releasing this week. Promoted as the Premiere Event of a Showgirl, it includes of track commentaries, filming glimpses and a single video (played twice), unceremoniously packaged into a single feature-length viewing. It’s the type of stuff other musicians would put on YouTube, but which Swift, having already asserted box office domination with her Eras Tour concert movie, chooses to release into theaters this weekend. With a projected $30m opening across America, it will almost certainly be the top-earning movie of the weekend – regrettably, since it scarcely constitutes an enhancement for the record, much less one worthy of note in her extensive catalog of releases.

Cinematic Experience

When viewed in theaters, The Premiere Film surrounding the album does reflect the album it celebrates – formulaic, shallowly upbeat, showing minimal effort and first-draft quality suggesting a creator facing time constraints. More indication of what critic Spencer Kornhaber has termed Swift’s fatigue period. In an unpolished opening shot straight to audience, Swift, modestly self-conscious and downplaying typically, bills the cinematic event as “sort of a journey of what inspired these songs” representing an “electrifying, exhilarating time”.

But save for a production documentary on the visual piece spliced into 5-minute sections, the film mainly consists of visuals that display song words over a snippet from said music video shoot repeatedly. It's acceptable as background viewing during an event, but a problem as the primary attraction for a record that is ideal as background music, its mild musical style and notably awkward words meant to be experienced passively superficially. It might require intoxication; aside from one holler for the surprisingly oblivious Cancelled!, it was crickets during my alcohol-free family viewing.

Track Explanations

She includes every song with a short explanation of her inspiration – always welcome, even critics would argue it’s uninteresting – yet they largely are generalizations, stated excitement and avoiding controversy (yes, she got permission by the late artist's representatives to interpolate Father Figure). The artist often avoids specifics concerning lyrics whose targets are glaringly obvious, but the ambiguity in this case seems particularly unnecessary. She does not reference of the subject of the songs, her partner, though she has been atypically revealing about their domestic bliss during press tours lately. The much-discussed and wildly miscalculated Charli xcx diss in Actually Romantic is presented as a romantic gesture toward an adversary. (Interestingly, a critical phrase and you’ve given me a whole lot of it”, increases the discomfort.) The suggestive, wordplay-filled that track, including a symbolic reference, is promoted as a track regarding beliefs with one child-proof, knowing glance at the lens.

Connection and Storytelling

The artist still manages at suggesting relatability from the highest perch in pop music; she’s a chatty and engaging storyteller, though not always truthful about her work. (This doesn't match the energetic collection as promoted on New Heights.) Her skill appears while collaborating; the standout scenes, clearly, occur when she steps back to her creative partners – Mandy Moore, the dance director, and the camera expert, and others – and to the taut metronome of filming process. These insider views – a scene from a virtual meeting, jokes with her dancers, refining a take – prove as interesting as they are short and teasing. They reveal both the collective and the operation underpinning her empire, the true substance behind showgirl life.

Overall Assessment

Maybe creating additional content, in a way both strategic and revealing, proved too difficult for her demanding timeline of decreasing benefits. It's possible dedicated supporters of the album – I know there are some – could see merit in this minimal offering of Target treats valuable. Yet achieving financial success with minimal effort is not an artistic triumph. It makes for an additional revenue source in her business.

• The superstar: The Premiere Event of a Showgirl can be seen in theaters