Once again Swift tapped into her story telling and told the story of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet but with a happier ending. Ophelia is a character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet where Ophelia commits suicide due to a broken heart. Taylor Swift portrays Ophelia as herself in a way but then is saved by someone, Travis Kelce before she “died”. Taylor once again tells a story about her love life and how she thought it was “dead” after her most recent break up with British actor Joe Alwyn and other unsuccessful relationships. Then a little more into the song Swift shares how someone saved her, most likely her fiancé, Chiefs wide receiver, Travis Kelce. She wrote, “Late one night, you dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia.” In the chorus it talks about how she is presuming thankful for Kelce to save her and give her hope about love again. Swift wrote “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes / Don’t care where the h*** you’ve been / ‘Cause now you’re mine.” Furthermore, “Fate of Ophelia” is a love song about Kelce and how he has given her hope to fall in love again and is grateful that he is the one to do so.

Taylor Swift is known to write about past actresses or famous women from the Gilded Age like in “the last great american dynasty” in the Folklore album or “Clara Bow” in her eleventh studio album Tortured Poets Department. In this track, Swift wrote about Elizabeth Taylor, who was a famous actress that came into the spotlight during the Hollywood Gilded Age. Like Taylor Swift, Elizabeth Taylor was a child star and has always been in the spotlight since a young age. In this song, Swift is asking Elizabeth Taylor how she dealt with the turmoil from relationships, or asking the question of ‘Will I ever find love that stays regardless of my fame?’ There are connections to Elizabeth Taylor in the chorus where Swift says “I’d cry my eyes violet” which Elizabeth Taylor had a condition that caused her to have violet colored eyes. Taylor Swift portrays her fears of someone never staying and loving her truly because of her fame and the heavy spotlight always on her. Swift references past romantic partners leaving her due to the pressure of Swift’s fame, “All the right guys / Promised they’d stay / Under bright lights / They withered away.” Towards the end of the song Swift writes about how she was at first worried Kelce would leave her like the others have in her past; but thankfully he stayed. 

“Opalite” is about her fiancé Travis Kelce and how he brought her spark back and turned her sky ‘opalite’. The funny thing about this track is the meaning behind the title, Travis Kelce’s birthstone is an Opal. Swift loved using opal in the title not only because of how it is Kelce’s birthstone but because it is a man-made jewel, and she wanted to portray a message that happiness can be man-made just like how Kelce has brought her so much happiness. That cute connection really shows how Kelce is re-forming Swift’s perception of love and making her fall in love with love. Swift sings a catchy chorus talking about how her mom would always comfort her and reassure her that she should keep doing her own thing. Swift wrote, “It’s alright / You were dancing through the lightning strikes” assuming she kept going through all the romantic struggles of her past relationships. Swift then said “Oh my lord / Never made no one like you before” establishing that Travis Kelce is different from the others. In the bridge she sings “This is just a temporary speed bump / But failure brings you freedom / And I can bring you love.” Swift sings about how any hardships she and Kelce have both had has brought them together and redefined love to each other. 

This track was by far the hardest to uncover the meaning. It interpolates George Michael’s 1987 song “Father Figure” musically with similar rhythm and thematically with the message of a father figure relationship. I believe this song can be interpreted into many different meanings behind the lyrics. The strongest idea is that “Father Figure” is about Swift’s relationship with her past partnership with the Big Machine Records and its CEO Scott Borchetta. Big Machine Records was Swift’s former music label which she produced six studio albums under. “Father Figure” highlights a career mentor that’s relationship with Borchetta was influenced by profit and questionable loyalty. She portrays this message through some of her comeback lyrics “This love is pure profit” where Borchetta said and acted as if he cared for Swift as an artist and person, however he was not loyal and sold the copyrights of Swift’s music to Scooter Braun. Furthermore, she wrote many snarky lyrics presuming this is like a message about how Borchetta used to be a father figure to Swift in the music industry, but now she is the father figure as one of the most successful artists of this generation. Swift wrote, “I can make deals with the devil because my d**** bigger.” This track was a great comeback song after she has officially won all her rights back to her music. 

“Eldest Daughter” holds the track five spot which is known to consist of some of Swift’s most vulnerable songs such as “Illicit Affairs” from Evermore, “All too well” from Red, and “Dear John” from Speak Now. Swift shares how the characteristics that often align with being the eldest daughter have impacted her love life, but now those walls she holds are being torn down. Swift writes “When your first crush crushes something kind” and “Every eldest daughter / was the first land to the slaughter” showing how the eldest daughter always gets hit hard the first time and that impacts the rest of her life. Since that moment in Swift’s life, the song portrays how she is always putting others before herself regardless of the situation. Then the song goes into how Kelce is bringing back the fun childhood she had where she didn’t have to carry as much responsibility of protecting others. Swift sings “You know, the last time I laughed this hard was / on the trampoline in somebody’s backyard.” The “Eldest Daughter” is a track about how those walls Swift created for herself being the older sister to her brother are being brought down for Kelce. This song is declaring her love for Travis Kelce as she will always be there for him and give him love and support, and in the chorus Swift sings, “… but I’m never gonna break that vow.”

“Ruin the Friendship” is about how Swift wishes she would ruin the friendship by asking out or sharing her feelings for someone back in high school. The cheesy lyrics such as “But as the 50 Cent song played / Should’ve kissed you anyway” shows how she had a crush on one of her friends in high school but never shot her to be with him. Throughout the song Swift in a way goes through parts of high school talking about her and this guy in second period, reminding herself not to make things awkward and how she saw him looking at her across the room during their prom. However, from the catchy beat to innocent lyrics, Swift shares how most likely this guy died. Swift said “When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye, and we’ll never know why.” I am assuming that this guy unfortunately passes away and now Swift regrets not saying anything. She then carries out the message of how “Staying friends is safe, doesn’t mean you should” 

“Actually Romantic” is probably one of the biggest F-You songs in this generation! Swift is stating in this song that someone or many people such as her haters are always narping on her and judging her, meanwhile she is not thinking about them. Swift questions why people are so obsessed with her in a negative way, almost showing how it is not necessary. Swift sings “All the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild / All the effort you’ve put in / It’s actually romantic” Another perspective many fans picked up was about how “Actually Romantic” is about British singer Charlie XCX. Swift and Charlie have been friends for a long time as Charlie joined Taylor to sing “Shake it Off” during the Reputation Stadium Tour. However, in Charlie’s song “Sympathy is a Knife” is says “I don’t want to share a space / I don’t wanna fake smile / this one girl taps all my insecurities / Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling” This person Charlie is talking about is believed to be Taylor Swift. Swift potentially responded to those lyrics by saying “Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face”. Furthermore, in an interview with Amazon Music, Swift stated, “[Actually Romantic] is a song about realizing that someone else has kind of had a one-sided problem with you, that you didn’t know about.”

“Wi$h Li$t” is about Swift’s love for Kelce. Swift sings about how other people can have whatever they want and deserve that; but no one else can have Travis Kelce. Swift mentions how she was looking for a partner that she could settle down with but never did until now. Swift song “I thought I had it right once, twice but I did not / You caught me off my guard” basically summing up the fact she didn’t think that Kelce would be that partner, almost aligning with the fact that she might not ever settle down with a husband. However, she finally found herself “a best friend who I [she] think is hot” as she stated during the bridge of “Wi$h Li$t”. Furthermore, she talks about how she can envision her and Kelce to have kids, and a basketball hoop in their driveway. Importantly, Swift mentioned how people finally leave her and Kelce alone, which they both want in their relationship, Swift says “We tell them to leave us the F- alone, and they do” leading to the idea of how her wish came true.

Many people are shocked by Swift’s song “Wood”. This track is very different yet, like some of her other pop songs. “Wood” goes through Swift’s thought process of her being superstitious about love and of Kelce. She seemingly really liked Kelce and didn’t want him to eventually leave. Swift goes on to sing about how she never needed to be superstitious about a guy because the right one, Travis Kelce, would come along. Swift said, “Fingers crossed until you put your hand on mine / … / I ain’t gotta knock on wood” Furthermore, “Wood” goes into sharing how she has finally found someone who understands her work ethic, loves her mentally, physically, and even sexually. In the chorus of “Wood” Swift shares some sexual lyrics portraying how Kelce and she have a great love life, Swift says “Forgive me, it sounds cocky / He (Ah!)matized me / And opened my eyes / Redwood tree/ It ain’t hard to see / His love was the key / That opened my thighs”. 

Out of all the songs on Life of a Showgirl, this is one of Swift’s darker tracks. “CANCELLED!” has an almost menacing tone in the lyrics and background sounds. This song is about how Swift has been through many scandals that someone shouldn’t mess with her as well as her friends who will defend her. Swift says “But they’d already picked out your grave and hearse” mentioning that Swift’s close and true friends will always defend her and protect her. Swift shares how through all the fame, scandals, and drama she was given the chance to know who her friends are, Swift wrote “At least you know exactly who your friends are”. Further into the second verse Swift talks about how many people have acted like they like and are loyal to her, but when any scandal hits people leave. “CANCELLED!” is truly a song about how Swift has learned who her true friends are that always have her back and will always be there to help in scandal.

Out of all the other songs on Life of a Showgirl, “Honey” truly captivates how in love Swift is with Kelce. “Honey” is a song about how people are always mocking, judging, or not treating her well, whereas Kelce doesn’t do any of those things so Swift falls more in love with him. Swift says, “When anyone called me ‘Sweetheart’ / It was passive aggressive/ At the bar” showing how Swift is only ever used to people calling her “Sweetheart”, “Honey”, “Lovely” with a negative meaning behind it. Then she goes on to sing about how she is more than okay with Kelce calling her such words because “You give it a different meaning ‘cause you mean it when you talk”. Throughout “Honey” Swift shows how in awe she is about Kelce where she wants a future with him because he makes her not think about any negative fears, worries, or memories when they are together. 

This final track really captivates what Swift has gone through in all of her career- the wealth she has gained, the huge fan base, the recognition. However, it highlights and warns people about the side of fame people don’t think about such as the mental and physical impacts and dealing with men who have tried to take advantage of her. She shares this perspective through a story of herself giving a showgirl a bouquet of flowers saying that Swift wanted to be her, when she grew up. Then by the end of the song, Swift changes perspective to her becoming the showgirl receiving the flowers where she understands why she was previously told not to become one. Swift says “Wait, the more you play, the more you pay” referencing to how the more effort and time she spent into building her own career, Swift has had to pay tireless amounts of cruel hours spent into her body, the constant attention where she isn’t able to have lots of privacy, and the pressure that impacts her mental health. In the second verse Swift brings in Sabrina Carpenter, who is known to follow in the footsteps of Taylor Swift as Carpenter is now rising to fame since her Short n’ Sweet album. Carpenter sings about another perspective of a showgirl and how this showgirl worked to become wealthy and famous from a younger age selling her body in clubs to provide for her family. Carpenter says “But that’s not what showgirls get / They leave us for dead” as she can now relate to the pressures of being a presumed showgirl. “Life of a Showgirl (ft. Sabrina Carpenter)” shows a time jump from when Swift was the person who gave a bouquet to a showgirl, to later in the song being on the receiving end of the flowers as a showgirl. Swift says “Pain hidden by the lipstick and lace / Sequins are forever and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe / Wouldn’t have it any other way” which also shares how she feels. Swift acknowledges the sacrifices she has made to get to where she is now, but also how she still loves what she does regardless of the pain it has brought, because Swift is a showgirl at heart. On another note, this song also highlights the relationship between Swift and Carpenter (who also was an opening performer for Swift during the Eras Tour) where Carpenter sees Swift as an idol and looks up to her. This mentorship is especially shown at the very end of the song where Swift puts in a clip of the end of a concert and brings back Carpenter. Swift said, “Give it up for the band / And the dances / And of course, Sabrina” then Carpenter responds with “I love you Taylor”. Finally, the album closes with the words of “That’s our show / We love you so much / Goodnight” as Swift has finished letting all see a peek of what her life has been like and how even though through the ups and downs of fame, Swift is a showgirl at heart.