This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at IUP chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
Over the past month, I’ve had Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on repeat, and after firmly securing its place in my Spotify Wrapped, I have done some analyzing! My qualifications include being an English major, in which I spend a lot of time dissecting literature, though I definitely thought analyzing Taylor’s lyrics was much more fun than anything I’ve done in my Shakespeare class. Here are my personal interpretations of her new album.
- “The Fate of Ophelia” – First off, I was so excited that the title references “Ophelia” from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. As an English major, I was dancing around in excitement that Taylor was possibly into the same aspects of literature that I am! (I instantly went back to my trusty copy of Hamlet: No Fear Shakespeare copy. And as I’m taking a Shakespeare class, it seemed like fate for me! My professor even showed “The Fate of Ophelia” music video in class when we were discussing Hamlet!) Taylor is explaining how she and her heart were spared from the “fate” of Ophelia, saying that “If you’d never come for me/I might’ve drowned in the melancholy”, referencing how Ophelia drowned to death. She references this again when she says, “No longer drowning and deceived/All because you came for me”. Overall, Taylor is saying that “you” (probably Travis Kelce!!) saved her heart from “The Fate of Ophelia”. She references Travis again when she sings “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes” and says that she doesn’t “care where the hell you’ve been/‘Cause now you’re mine”. She paints the image of a lonely woman in her tower about to give up on love when “you” (Travis!) came for her and “lit” her sky up.
- “Elizabeth Taylor” – Elizabeth Taylor was one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses and was actually born on my birthday (more fate? I think so)! Fun fact: Taylor has already referenced Elizabeth Taylor in a way! In “Ready For It?” she says, “Burton to this Taylor,” which refers to one of Elizabeth’s seven husbands, Richard Burton! (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, anyone?) Taylor says that if “Your letters ever said ‘Goodbye’ or ‘You ever leave me high and dry’ she’d ‘Cry my eyes violet,’ which is how Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes were sometimes described. She repeatedly asks, “Elizabeth Taylor/Tell me for real/Do you think it’s forever?” She seems to be asking two possible questions: Will her love last forever? Or, will her fame last forever? A specific lyric line has been confusing a lot of listeners: “Been number one, but I never had two”. I think it means that she’s been number one – on charts, billboards, in the country/music industry – but she’s never had that and love. But with Travis, she has that chance! She’s asking Elizabeth Taylor if having both will last.
- “Opalite” – Fun fact: Taylor herself said that Travis’s birthstone is an opal! Opalite is actually a man-made version of an opal. It is said to have spiritual qualities such as emotional healing and calmness. In the same interview, Taylor said, “‘Opalite’ is a song about forgiving yourself for having gone through something that didn’t pan out the way you wanted it to. It’s giving yourself permission to not have it all figured out or not marry the first person you ever dated.” So, overall, the song is about finding the right person after failed relationships and forgiving yourself for not always knowing your future. And for some other big fans of reading, such as myself, there are some suspiciously coincidental references to Fourth Wing! First, Taylor released two vinyl variants for this album titled “Violet Shimmer Marble” and “Wintergreen and Onyx Marble”. As Violet is the main character and Xaden famously has “onyx” eyes, along with the third book being titled Onyx Storm, I instantly made the connection. In the song, I was struck by the lyrics “You were dancing in the lightning strikes/Sleepless in the onyx night/But now the sky is opalite” as Violet has lightning powers!
- “Father Figure” – George Michael is posthumously credited on this song, approved by his estate, as Taylor “interpolated” his song on this track – meaning that the melody from his own song is incorporated into Taylor’s and, of course, the two songs share the same name. George Michael also faced a battle with his record company over the ownership of his music, but lost, while Taylor bought back all her master recordings this past summer! (Note: she repeats the line “I protect the family” six times in the song, possibly referencing the six albums that she bought back!) But Taylor’s Father Figure has a much different theme. She is painting a vivid picture of a mentor and protege and the power dynamics between them – the protege eventually realizes that “To fulfill your dreams/You had to get rid of me”, saying that they needed to dispose of their mentor to become more successful. Then the mentor replies, “You pulled the wrong trigger/This empire belongs to me”, showing that the protege failed in their attempt to overtake them. Taylor actually explained that a TV show helped inspire the song; specifically, the show ‘Succession’ (I will immediately be watching it). She added that it’s “using a father figure to talk about power and power structures and the flipping of the power dynamics” (Today). It definitely wasn’t the vibe I was expecting!
- “Eldest Daughter” – As I am the eldest daughter, and I know that Taylor’s track fives are always fire, I was definitely ready for this song to absolutely destroy me. She walks us through childlike freedom to explaining how it feels to be an eldest daughter and how often that feels like they are “the first lamb to the slaughter” as a lot of responsibilities often fall to the oldest daughter in the household. She then adds “So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire”, referencing how you might put on a mask pretending that you’re fine when you’re really not. The song takes a positive turn to show how love has changed her perspective and helped her find “that beautiful, beautiful life”. She references Travis when she says, “Every youngest child felt/They were raised up in the wild/But now you’re home”. Travis is the youngest child, and now his home is with Taylor! Fans have been disappointed with the lyrics “But I’m not a bad bitch, and this isn’t savage” as they aren’t as lyrically elegant as some songs in Folklore and Evermore, but the bridge makes up for it.
- “Ruin The Friendship” – Though a lot of Swifties (or just me, possibly) thought that this song was going to drag Blake Lively through the mud, we were pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a sweet, sad song. Taylor is looking back on moments with a friend from high school that had romantic undertones, regretting not taking the chance to express her feelings and kiss him. She explains how she stopped talking to this friend after high school and found out about the tragic news of his passing from Abigail, another close friend (referenced in her song from Fearless, “Fifteen”). She was afraid to take this daring step as it would possibly make things awkward or make his ex-girlfriend angry, and she didn’t take the chance. Taylor’s advice from this experience is “My advice is always ruin the friendship/Better that than regret it for all time”. Taylor says not to live with regrets and to take romantic chances!
- “Actually Romantic” – I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from this song, but this definitely wasn’t it! The song is talking about how a rivalry can actually seem sweet or romantic in certain ways, especially when one thinks about it all the time and puts a lot of time into it. There are some fan theories that the song is about Charli XCX, since some people perceived Charli’s song “Sympathy is a Knife” as a jab at Taylor. Taylor herself said that it is “a song about realizing that someone else has kind of a one-sided, adversarial relationship with you that you didn’t know about. . . It’s presenting itself as that sort of resenting you or having a problem with you, but you take that and just accept it as love, and you accept it as attention and affection, and how flattering it is that somebody has made you such a big part of their reality when you didn’t even think about this” (People).
- “Wi$h Li$t” – Taylor lists a bunch of things that rich people might want, like a yacht life or an “Oscar on the bathroom floor”, while all she wants is “you” (Travis!) She talks about wanting a simple, normal life, with a few kids and “A driveway with a basketball hoop”, something that would seem mundane after her life of bright lights and stardom. She specifies that her dream would be for the “world to leave us the fuck alone”, talking about the intense scrutiny that she and Travis are under from the entire world. She adds in the grudge that she “thought I had it right, once, twice/But I did not,” explaining how she thought she had found true love before but realized now, she hadn’t. About, Wi$h Li$t, Taylor says, “I designed the chorus to be – and you gotta just go with me here – you know how in Happy Gilmore when he has his happy place? That’s where he goes when he’s really stressed out, or the world is really getting him down. . . He just goes to this place in his mind, and that’s his happy place. I just wanted a chorus that basically shows you what mine is and sounds exactly how mine would sound. This is utopia for me. . . you’re saying to the person that you’re with. And you’re saying you want a life with them, and you want it to feel like home” (Today). Wow. The whole song just got a lot sweeter!
- “Wood” – There were a bunch of theories that this song would be particularly “spicy,” and Taylor definitely didn’t disappoint! “Wood” is the shortest song on the album. But the title is a play on the superstitious action of “knocking on wood” instead of the more naughty connotations of the word. She has a few fun lines and double entendres like “Redwood tree”, “The curse on me was broken by your magic wand,” and “New Heights of manhood” (referencing Travis’ podcast!). But, she says that all her wishing on stars and knocking on wood didn’t do her any good, but she got Travis in the end.
- “CANCELLED!” – Hello, reputation vault track! “CANCELLED!” gives the energy of “I Did Something Bad”’s older sister. Taylor is celebrating her friends for standing by her while she is feeling “cancelled”. She is giving listeners a glimpse into her life where she could be “cancelled” at the drop of a hat: “It’s easy to love you when you’re popular/The optics click everyone prospers/But one single drop you’re off the roster”. She says “Welcome to my underworld/Where it gets quite dark” saying that in her world, it can be dark because of this chance of being cancelled, but it has its perks because “At least you know exactly who your friends are/They’re the ones with matching scars”, meaning that she has found friends in others who have faced the same troubles. She brings up misogyny when she sings “Did you make a joke only a man could?” There are some fan theories that this song could refer to Blake Lively, particularly with the lines “I like ‘em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal/Like my whiskey sour/And poison thorny flowers” as Lively often wears Gucci and starred in It Ends With Us, where she told fans to “wear their florals”.
- “Honey” – Though it was the song least streamed on release day, “Honey” is a cute, fun song talking about how being called “honey” wasn’t positive until Travis did it! She describes scenarios in which she was called “sweetheart” and “honey” that were negative, but says, “But you touch my face/Redefine all of those blues,” meaning that Travis has changed the meaning of it. She says, “We can play house”, “You can be my forever night stand,” “Buy the paint in the color of your eyes/And graffiti my whole damn life,” showing how she wants to spend her life with him. She shows how kind Travis is to her when she sings “But you say it like you’re in awe of me/And you stay until the morning”. She decides that Travis “can call me honey if you want because I’m the one you want”.
- “The Life of a Showgirl” – Here it is, the title track featuring Sabrina Carpenter, another showgirl! Taylor starts off the song by introducing Kitty, a famous woman whom she goes to see in performance. When she expresses how Kitty is living her dream, Kitty thanks her for the bouquet that she brought for her, but reveals that she doesn’t “know the life of a showgirl,” and it’s deeper undertones, like “the more you play, the more that you pay”. Sabrina joins, describing Kitty’s earlier life and how she wanted to “sell my soul to have a taste of a magnificent life that’s all mine,” but then reveals “that’s not what showgirls get/They leave us for dead,” showing that a showgirl’s life is not as magnificent as it seems – they can get betrayed. Sabrina and Taylor perform the bridge – something that many fans have said has “theater kid energy!” – then thank the listener for the bouquet, demonstrating how they have taken Kitty’s place as the showgirl. They say that they are “married to the hustle” and now they “know the life of a showgirl” but “wouldn’t have it any other way”. Overall, the song sheds light on how “showgirls” and their lives are much more than what they seem from the outside.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t immediately sold on this album like I was on (my one true love) “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT”. But analyzing this album has made me fall in love with it in a new way! It’s romantic like Lover, and has some good reputation-vibe bangers like CANCELLED! and, in my opinion, Elizabeth Taylor. As Taylor wrote it during the Eras Tour and has mentioned that it is a reflection of what her life was like at the time, it often expresses how trying and challenging “The Life of a Showgirl” can be, sometimes shadowed by the bright lights of stardom. I wholeheartedly am so ecstatic (I say as someone who has never met Taylor) that Taylor has found love with Travis, someone who seems to understand and appreciate her in the way she deserves. And I am even more impressed that she did this album on the biggest tour of the century! To Taylor: thank you for sharing your life and music with us.
Sources:
https://people.com/what-is-opalite-taylor-swift-song-lyrics-meaning-11823760
https://www.today.com/popculture/music/father-figure-lyrics-meaning-taylor-swift-rcna233777
https://people.com/taylor-swift-explains-actually-romantic-lyrics-charli-xcx-11823924
https://www.today.com/popculture/music/wish-list-lyrics-meaning-taylor-swift-rcna234286