As Taylor Swift prepares to release her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, fans are developing theories about her new songs while staying updated during every new countdown Swift releases. Building the excitement for the album, Swift has been putting out new countdowns and releasing new merch with each one. As of today, Swift has released a regular vinyl, cd, and cassette along with eight other vinyl variants for the album. While a handful of fans have been disappointed by the repetitive vinyl releases and are impatiently awaiting the release of potential signed merchandise, many of the Swifties are excited to see each vinyl and have enjoyed the anticipation of the countdowns.
While the countdowns continue to bring excitement, Swifties are creating new theories on whether or not Swift will be going back on tour for this album. A large aspect fueling these theories is that her bio quotes “See you on stage…………” 12 is not a normal number for someone to use when leading a sentence, therefore it has brought great suspicion about a possible underlying meaning and hint at a new tour. Swift’s last tour, The Eras Tour, was a huge success leaving Swifties wondering if any tour could top it. The Life of a Showgirl is being made under a different producer and the vibe of the album is different than her past releases, although it is most similar to her 6th album, Reputation. The edgier vibe leaves Swifties wondering what this tour could be like, will it be similar to Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour, or will it develop a new atmosphere for Swift? Although all of these ideas are in the air, Swifties are still excited at the possibility of a new tour and new version of Taylor.
Now focusing on the meanings behind each aspect of this album, starting with the title. Named, The Life of a Showgirl, points heavily back to Swift’s life on tour. After spending two years traveling the world during The Eras Tour, Swift herself could be considered a Showgirl. In her time on her fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, Swift talks about how she felt on tour. From the highs of a great show and priceless moments with the crowd, to the lows of body pains and constant exhaustion, Swift shares her feelings in all. By giving this album a name that connects back to her tour, it gives a strong idea that the album will heavily reference her life and experiences, giving an inside look to her true feelings and perspectives. Swift also gives the album an orange and green color scheme, which although she claims it was only due to her liking the colors, there is more suspicion of a deeper meaning. Her last album, The Tortured Poets Department, had no color and was simply just shades of grey, with some black and white. The Life of a Showgirl is the exact opposite, with its bright, shiny color scheme. In one of Swift’s earlier songs, Out of the Woods, she sings “The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color.” While this theory may be a stretch for some, it could also tie back into Swift’s new and happy love life that “brought her color back” and brought her more joy.
The album name and color scheme bring to light many possible meanings, but the biggest part of the album is the songs and therefore the meaning behind the song titles. Track 1, The Fate of Ophelia is rumored to be about how Swift grew up, and what she became from the events of her childhood.
Track 2, Elizabeth Taylor contains Swift’s first name therefore hinting at a tie to who she is, or another song similar to her song Clara Bow from The Tortured Poets Department.
Track 3, Opalite shares the same name as the iridescent glass. As these share a name, Swifties have been theorizing that this song could be about Swift’s “glow” and opalite, being an iridescent glass could be representative of how much people see Swift.
Swift’s 4th track is called, Father Figure. In most cases a father figure is someone who stepped up in place of a father in order to be a supportive and caring member. As Swift has grown within the industry, she has gained many fans and many supporters. The title hints at a song about someone who stepped up for her and was there to support her throughout her career.
Known to be the saddest or deepest song in each album Swift has released, track 5, Eldest Daughter, already has Swifties on the edge of their seats. As many associate being the eldest daughter with taking care of family struggles and holding the family together, it points to more meaningful lyrics about the weight of struggles and how they get handled.
Track 6, Ruin the Friendship, has already gotten Swifties trying to guess who this could be about. As Swift’s career has grown greatly successful she has gained and lost friendships for a variety of reasons, therefore giving Swifties many theories of who and what this song could be about.
Swift has been in a handful of relationships previous to her fiancé Travis Kelce, each ending in a heartbroken song, but as Swift is now engaged, track 7, Actually Romantic, is likely to be about her happy relationship with Travis Kelce.
A more unique title than Swift’s previous tracks, track 8 is called, Wi$h Li$t. The name and emphasis on the two dollar signs could have many meanings, but some of the stronger ones from the Swifties have been a new song about the purchase of Swift’s stolen albums, or a “list” of all of the things Swift has been pressured into or wanted to happen as a result of her constant publicity.
Track 9 has a title that reveals little called Wood. With a shorter, less descriptive name, Swifties have had little to go off of but have had some speculation of a possible reference to the different kinds of wood, all being the same category but many different kinds, similar to the music industry and Swift’s music.
Another new kind of title is track 10, CANCELLED!, written in all caps with an exclamation mark at the end. The capital letters and exclamation mark put an emphasis on the name making it louder and more pronounced. Swift’s 6th album, Reputation, was written while the world was trying to cancel Swift. With the similarities to the Reputation album, many Swifties are hoping for a song similar to that era.
Track 11, which many Swifties are hoping is about Travis Kelce, is called Honey. Although the name could have many meanings ranging from a sweet song about the people she loves to a song about Kelce, Swifties are hopeful that this track will end up being about Kelce.
The final track on this 12 song album is, The Life of a Showgirl ft. Sabrina Carpenter. After years of Swifties hoping for a collaboration between Swift and Carpenter, they are beyond excited to finally get the collaboration they’ve been waiting for. As both have spent much of the recent years on tour, the song will most likely be focused around their lives and experiences on tour, including both behind the scenes and on stage.
Overall Swifties have created many new theories, some reasonable, some far-fetched, but ultimately Swifties all over the world are beyond excited for Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl.
