If you thought “So High School” and “The Alchemy” were about Travis Kelce, wait’ll you hear some of the songs on Taylor Swift‘s new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
The album of 12 “bangers,” as Taylor described it, is indeed upbeat pop music, but a bit more stripped down than Reputation, her last collaboration with Max Martin and Shellback. Most of the tracks on the album are love letters to her fiancé, mostly sweet, but occasionally raunchy. Let’s just say the Jackson Five-sounding throwback “Wood” isn’t about lumber.
On the sweet end of things, “Honey” finds Taylor admitting that she never liked anyone calling her pet names until she met Travis. “You give it different meaning, ’cause you mean it when you talk,” she sings.
On “Wi$h Li$t,” she reveals her personal desire: “I just want you/ Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you/ We tell the world to leave us thе f*** alone, and they do, wow/ Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop.”
The first track, “The Fate of Ophelia,” describes how Travis saved her heart from ending up like Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “No longer drowning and deceived/ All because you came for me.” It also has the only football metaphor on the album, “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.”
But what would a Taylor Swift album be without diss tracks? “Actually Romantic” appears to be a direct response to Charli XCX‘s song “Sympathy is a knife,” which was said to be about Taylor.
“Father Figure,” which interpolates the George Michael song of the same name, seems to be about Scott Borchetta, who signed Taylor to her first record deal and ultimately set the wheels in motion for the Scooter Braun fiasco. “You pulled the wrong trigger/ This empire belongs to me,” sings Taylor.
The final track, Taylor’s duet with Sabrina Carpenter, “The Life of a Showgirl,” is a metaphor for how these two modern-day showgirls learned the tricks of the trade from the women who came before them and succeeded beyond everyone’s wildest dreams.
“I paid my dues with every bruise/ I knew what to expect,” they sing. “And all the headshots on the walls of the dance hall are of the b*****/ Who wish I’d hurry up and die/ But, I’m immortal now, baby dolls.”
Fittingly, the song ends with Taylor thanking the crowd and Sabrina answering, “I love you, Taylor.” “That’s our show,” Taylor says as the album concludes. “We love you so much. Goodnight.“
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