The internet and fan opinions on the album from Taylor Swift that was released on October 3rd vary, but the meanings behind the songs show a new period in Swift’s life, and uplifts listeners.
The title of Swift’s 12th studio album comes from a description of her own life. She created this album partly while on her monumental Eras Tour. In a sense, she was a showgirl during this time, going on the stage for 3 hours at a time, often multiple nights in a row for over 21 months, totaling 149 shows. She did this all while sick, injured, and tired, pushing through any struggles. This is the same as the life of a traditional showgirl, pushing themselves to perform for their fans. Much of the album also takes on the darker, theatrical theme, along with some sounds of happiness from her life outside of being a showgirl.
The Fate of Ophelia, the opening track of the album, modernizes and positively updates the tragic story of Ophelia for the new age. The original story of Ophelia is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which ends in the drowning of Ophelia after her father was killed and she was rejected by Hamlet. She was driven mad by many of the men in her life, along with grief for those very men. In her song, Swift recounts how her fiancé, the Chiefs player, Travis Kelce, saved her from “The Fate of Ophelia.” She even makes a direct reference to her story with the line “I might’ve drowned in the melancholy.” He came into her life, or as Swift says, “you dug me out of my grave,” and saved her from going mad because of the past men in her life. There are many references to Kelce throughout the song, such as the line “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.” As a reference to Kelce calling Swift out on his and his brother Jason Kelce’s podcast New Heights, Swift says the line, “I heard you calling on the megaphone. You wanna see me all alone.” In interviews, she had said this was one of the reasons she ever even considered Travis was because he put himself out into the world, with no worry if he would fail. The modern tone weaved throughout a former piece of work allows listeners to understand and relate more to the material. This track was also put out as the first single on the album, and has seemed to be universally loved by all of the fans.
The second track on the album is Elizabeth Taylor, named after the timeless American actress. The song again seems to be a reference to her now fiancé, Travis Kelce. Throughout the song appear many references to the star of A Place in the Sun and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. One is the mention of Portofino, in the line “That view of Portofino was on my mind when you called me at the Plaza Athénée,” which is where one of Taylor’s partners, Richard Burton, proposed to her. It seems as though Swift admires Taylor as she and Burton have been mentioned in another song of Swift’s, Ready for It?, in the line “Burton to this Taylor.” Many more subtle references are made to Taylor with lines including the words: glamorous, bright lights, Cartier, violet eyes (a trait of Taylor), Musso & Frank’s (a restaurant Taylor frequented), and Hollywood. These references are also mixed with hints towards Swift’s own life and how she relates to Taylor, saying, “You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby,” which can apply to both music and movies. The song encompasses both her and Taylor’s lives, along with hoping that this love with Travis continues forever, ending with the line, “Don’t you ever end up anything but mine…”
Opalite, named after an often manmade stone, is the third track on the album. Once again, the song is a love letter to her fiancé, but with a much more positive tone, unlike the first two songs. She makes the comparison between the stone Opalite, being something that is manmade, and happiness, also being something created by humans. By coincidence, Opal is also Travis’s birthstone. Swift talks about her past relationships and the process of working through the heartbreak after. She pokes fun at the relationships with the opening line, “I had a bad habit of missing lovers past. My brother used to call it Eating out of the trash.” She and Travis both worked through their past relationships and then found happiness in each other and their relationship. She references this in the line, “Never met no one like you before. You had to make your own sunshine, but now the sky is opalite.” The trials and tribulations, or the “temporary speed bump” as Swift calls it, are what helped them build their relationship to be strong and stable. The lyrics are placed over an upbeat melody and sound, showing how happy she truly is.
Father Figure, a reference to the well-known George Michael track, is the fourth one on this album. In fact, George is given songwriting credits on the song because of the use of his melody in the song. The song borrows some ideas from the original song of a mentor teaching a protege. But in Swift’s, it’s likely a jab at Scooter Braun, who sold her masters, which she only recently bought back. She struggled with power dynamics in the music industry, and this song tells that story. She mentions being tricked into trusting someone (like her record company) in the line “All I ask for is your loyalty…” The song features a much darker tone than past songs with intimidating lyrics like “I protect the family,” “you want a fight, you found it,” and “you’ll be sleeping with the fishes.” She also mentions making deals with the devil because the mentor has more power than the protege, and they can abuse this. The darker lyrics pair with the deep singing style from Swift, along with mellow and percussion-heavy production.
Track 5 of this album, usually noted as the saddest song on each of her albums, is Eldest Daughter. She is referring to herself with this track, as she is the eldest daughter of her family, with her brother Austin Swift, aged 33. The song is about the feelings of growing up, being the one to learn lessons first, and being there for people. She talks about how eldest daughters are loyal to a fault with the lines, “I’m never gonna leave you now, now, now,” and “I’m never gonna let you down.” She talks about how not all people are loyal and caring like her and use things such as the internet to be rude and aggressive towards others, something an eldest daughter wouldn’t do. She sings, “Everybody’s cutthroat in the comments” and “Everybody’s so punk on the internet.” She also talks about marriage and feelings of happiness now saying, “When I said I don’t believe in marriage, that was a lie.” Her new relationship has made her loyal, but he is also loyal back. She also references Travis being the youngest child in his family and how this has shaped him with the line, “Every youngest child felt they were raised up in the wild. But now you’re home.” The song is much more mellow than most songs on the album, with her voice being paired with just an acoustic guitar and a piano. This adds to the tone of her looking back on her life and how her past shaped her now, both in her personal life and the music industry.
Ruin The Friendship, an unexpectedly melancholy song, is track 6. It starts out as just a song where she wishes she had ruined a friendship with someone, saying, “Shoud’ve kissed you anyway.” She goes back to high school and her relationship with this person, and how she always wished to be with them, mentioning prom, second period, and a 50 Cent song. She continues going into more detail about how she chose the safe option, saying, “Staying friends is safe,” but regretting it with the line, “Doesn’t mean you should.” We learn about the melancholy part of the song later, saying, “Abigail called me with the bad news.” We learn that the person Swift is talking about in this song has passed away, and she never got to experience that relationship. They had lost touch with this person, so she heard the news from her best friend from childhood, Abigail. As a final goodbye to this person, she went to the grave, saying she regretted not ruining the friendship. She leaves the song on a hopeful note for her fans, giving them advice to ruin the friendship with those people you love instead of regretting not doing it. This song pairs well with the sonic qualities of the song, with just the use of piano, acoustic guitar, and soft drums.
While the album covers much about Swift’s relationship with Travis, it also encompasses many other topics, such as struggles in the music industry, regretting decisions, and growing up. I think the album brings a new side to Swift for audiences to learn about and allows a peek into her and Travis’s more personal lives. While not all of the songs connect as much to listeners, there are lyrics from each song that stand out and have an impact. The album was produced by Max Martin and Shellback, the same producers of many songs on Swift’s albums Red, 1989, and Reputation, many of her pop-forward albums. Many, including myself, expected more songs with the sound of these albums. This album seems to be a mix of both old and new sounds as she transitions into a new stage of her life.
An overview of the second half of the album will be coming next week, along with reader opinions. If you would like to be interviewed, send me an email at [email protected]!
