With Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl having dropped in all its glory in the early hours of this morning, fans are already inhaling the songs and poring over the lyrics.
For an artist known for dropping hints, clues and Easter Eggs in every carefully planned move she makes, it’s natural for fans (and nosy casual observers) to start wondering who the inspirations for various tracks were?
When everyone and their mother (and Dionne Warwick) knows Taylor was singing about ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal keeping her scarf on All too Well, there’s lots to analyse with her latest record
Many are thinking there’s a clear Charli XCX diss track, while Joe Alwyn and Blake Lively have been in the conversation – but let’s not forget that Taylor is writing from a happy, comfortable place, having just got engaged to athlete Travis Kelce.
She even revealed she was once concerned about it affecting her songwriting ability, telling Greg James on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show: ‘I used to kind of have this dark fear that if I ever were truly happy and free, being myself and nurtured by a relationship, what happens if the writing just dries up? What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain?
‘And it turns out that’s not the case at all, and we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.’
So with that in mind, let’s dive in and discuss…
The Fate of Ophelia
This song is mostly a grateful ode to Travis for rescuing her from the tragic ‘fate’ of Ophelia, who was driven to madness by her lover Hamlet (yes, the Shakespeare one) and ended up drowning.
As well as many explicit references to him, including his ‘team’ (the Kansas City Chiefs) and that he was ‘calling on the megaphone’ when he announced his interest in her, this could be seen as general shade thrown to most of her exes.
Although it should be noted that Joe Alwyn is set to star in two very similar Shakespeare-themed films soon – Hamlet and Hamnet.
Elizabeth Taylor
Here, Taylor Swift is feeling a kinship with the late cinema icon Elizabeth Taylor, a woman known for her movies – but maybe even more so her love life.
She was married eight times, including to fellow actor Richard Burton twice.
Obviously Taylor has always filled column inches with her relationships too, and Elizabeth Taylor is a clear acknowledgement of that – so here any digs are wider and about the frustrations of fame – such as ‘Hollywood hates me’ and You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby’.
Father Figure
This track borrows from George Michael’s famous 1987 hit of the same name in tribute to him.
But while that one is sung from the perspective of a man wanting to be a ‘teacher’ and ‘daddy’ to a younger lover, Taylor’s Father Figure has a more sinister edge.
The lyrics here suggest someone in the music industry looking after a ‘dear protégé’ and asking only for loyalty in return – but with references to protecting ‘the family’ and ‘sleeping with the fishes’, the gangster phrases suggest insincerity and danger lurk beneath the surface.
Taylor recently bought her masters back after music businessman Scooter Braun sold her rights to her music when he purchased her former label, Big Machine Records, with the star famously re-recording songs she had lost the rights to.
Ruin the Friendship
There has been a very tepid hot take doing the rounds that this song, from it’s title, is about a recent friendship that soured.
Many have assumed it could be about Blake Lively, given the awkward legal drama Taylor has almost been embroiled in between her and former It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
But this isn’t the case, with her singing instead about a high school friendship she held back from progressing into romantic territory.
In the bridge, she continues: ‘Abigail called me with the bad news/Goodbye, and we’ll never know why’.
Longtime fans will know that Abigail is Taylor’s school best friend, suggesting that this song is likely about Jeff Lang, another school friend who died aged 21, and to whom Taylor dedicated her BMI Country Songwriter of the Year award to in 2010, the day after his funeral.
Actually Romantic
This is not a swoony ballad, it’s actually a pretty direct diss track where Taylor sings about someone who has criticised her (‘I heard you call me “Boring Barbie”’) – but she actually finds it flattering ‘all the time you’ve spent on me’.
As our reviewer Danni Scott observed of Actually Romantic: ‘Taylor unleashes her venom as she sings about someone high-fiving her exes ‘when the coke’s got you brave’ and a ‘tiny chihuahua barking’ at her.
‘Unfortunately for whoever the song is about, it’s incredibly catchy with an almost 00s pop punk guitar riff throughout the track — it reminds me of Gives You Hell by All American Rejects, a clever but less than subtle nod.’
Many are sure its intended target is Charli XCX, who previously compared supporting Taylor on her Reputation tour to ‘waving at five-year-olds’, but I’ll guess we’ll never know for sure unless Taylor says so herself (unlikely).
Wood
This song’s meaning is not hard to, um, catch on to, especially if I tell you it’s about Travis Kelce.
It’s playful with many unsubtle double entendres, as she sings about experiencing ‘new heights of manhood’ (the name of Travis’s podcast with his brother Jason) as well as revealing: ‘The curse on me was broken by your magic wand.’
Again, her current happiness is clear, so it is a bit of shade to her past boyfriends including Joe Alwyn.
Here she predicts her current engagement and observes: ‘His love was the key/That opened my thighs.’
Cancelled!
Another song where the meaning is clear, especially in this current climate.
As well as Taylor previously addressing feeling like she had her own fall from grace after the success of 1989 with her 2019 album Reputation, fans actually think there is a direct reference here to Brittany Mahomes.
‘Good thing I like my friends cancelled,’ Taylor sings, while also mentioning that she likes her pals ‘cooked in Gucci and in scandal’.
Brittany is a fellow Kansas City Chiefs WAG who has been criticised previously for talking about gameplay on social media and spraying fans with champagne on a cold day – and was also pictured in Gucci with Taylor, Travis and her husband Patrick Mahomes at the US Open last year.
President Trump has also insisted that Brittany ‘loves him’, which isn’t exactly considered a glowing endorsement from many of Taylor’s fans.