TAYLOR SWIFT has admitted she no longer believed in marriage and had given up on love after splitting from long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
The superstar has used her new album The Life Of A Showgirl — out today — to document going from depression to being wooed back to life by her fiancé, Travis Kelce.
Though in a move that is sure to get the world talking, Taylor savages a mystery person, believed to be singer Charli XCX, for mocking her.
Taylor and Travis started dating in the summer of 2023 before he popped the question in August this year.
On lead single The Fate Of Ophelia, Taylor sings: "And if you'd never called for me. I might have drowned in the melancholy.
Rediscovered love of life
"I swore my loyalty to me, myself and I, right before you lit my sky up."
She adds: "You dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia.
"And if you'd not come for me, I might have lingered in purgatory.
"No longer drowning and deceived, all because you came for me."
The song is based on Shakespeare's character Ophelia in Hamlet.
After being toyed with by rich and powerful men, Ophelia goes insane and kills herself by drowning.
The track acts as a bridge between the doom of Taylor's 11th album The Tortured Poets Department and her new, rediscovered love of life, all thanks to her Kansas City Chiefs man.
On Eldest Daughter, Taylor pines for true love, admitting she feels played and betrayed by men her whole life.
She says: "I've been dying just from trying to seem cool. But I'm not a bad bitch.
"The last time I laughed this hard was on the trampoline in somebody's backyard. I must have been eight or nine.
"The night I fell off and broke my arm. Pretty soon I learned cautious discretion. When your first crush crushes something kind. When I said I don't believe in marriage, that was a lie."
Vowing she still secretly pines for true love despite being hardened to disappointment, Taylor sings: "And I'm never gonna let you down. I'm never gonna leave you out. So many traitors. Smooth operators.
"But I'm never gonna break that vow. I'm never gonna leave you now."
Despite only being out today, thanks to pre-orders The Life Of A Showgirl is already the fastest selling album of the year.
Written during Taylor's record-breaking Eras Tour last summer, the record peels back what life was like for the star away from the stage.
On song Elizabeth Taylor, she sings about dating Travis: "Sometimes it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me.
"All the right guys promised they'd stay, under bright lights they withered away. But you bloom. Tell me for real. Do you think it's forever?"
Despite the glitz and glamour, Taylor says she had "everything and nothing all at once" — pining for true love over material goods.
She sings: "Hey, what could you possibly get for the girl who has everything and nothing all at once?
"Babe, I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust."
On Opalite, Taylor sings about "dancing through the lightning strikes", a reference to her splitting with British actor Joe just weeks before embarking on the biggest tour of her career.
Storytelling best
Continuing with the theme of yearning for the simple things in life, Taylor uses Wi$h Li$t to double down on wanting love over material goods.
She pines: "I made wishes on all of the stars. Please, God bring me a best friend who I think is hot, I thought I had it right once, twice but I did not."
She adds: "I just want you. Have a couple kids."
For the title track, Taylor reverts to her storytelling best alongside fellow superstar Sabrina Carpenter.
The Life Of A Showgirl tells the brutal reality of life on the road chasing fame and fortune.
Taylor sings: "The more you play the more that you pay. You're softer than a kitten so. You don't know the life of a showgirl, babe
She continues: "I'm married to the hustle. And now I know the life of a showgirl, babe. And I'll never know another. Pain hidden by the lipstick and lace."
As a final nod to her record-breaking 24 months, the song — and album — fades out with live audio thanking fans as she takes her final bow on her Eras Tour.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
1. The Fate Of Ophelia 3:46
AN infectious pop track about Travis making a play for Taylor while she was heartbroken and had vowed herself off men following the breakdown of her relationship with Brit Joe Alwyn.
2. Elizabeth Taylor 3:28
A POP earworm which reveals how Taylor's life away from the stage isn't as glamourous as fans think and she pines for a man rather than material goods. She says if her Travis fling doesn't work out, it will break her.
3. Opalite 3:55
ANOTHER pop track about how she often finds herself thinking about former flames – but meeting Travis has turned her heartbroken days at the start of the Eras Tour to a love-filled life.
4. Father Figure 3:32 (written by Swift, Martin, Shellback, and George Michael)
THIS is about how she was courted by record label Big Machine Records' Scott Borchetta and signed when she was just 15, looking to him for guidance. He then turned on her and sold her master recordings, forcing a six-year battle to own her own work.
5. Eldest Daughter 4:06
THE most emotional track about how Taylor has desperately tried to be "cool" to win a man but accepts she is never going to be an "It Girl". Then adds that despite meeting a series of men with bad intentions, she will still do anything for real love
6. Ruin The Friendship 3:40
A LOVE letter to Taylor's late high school friend Jeff Lang, who passed away aged 21. The track is about the inner battle of whether you tell a friend you have deeper feelings for them and risk ruining the friendship but in turn potentially find The One.
7. Actually Romantic 2:43
BELIEVED to be about Charli XCX and how Taylor believes the singer mocks her and slags her off behind her back. Rather than being offended, Taylor finds her obsession amusing.
8. Wi$h Li$t 3:27
WHILE the world wants material goods, cars and money, Taylor says she just wants a man and kids, and to live her life away from the media spotlight.
9. Wood 2:30
A FUNKY track and Taylor's dirtiest ever. Littered with innuendos about hooking up with Travis
10. Cancelled! 3:31
REMINISCENT of her Reputation album which sees Taylor play the role of an evil villain who masterminds her friends all being cancelled and they unite together in some evil union. Fans will no doubt link it to her fall-out with actress Blake Lively.
11. Honey 3:01
PRIOR to meeting Travis, being called Honey was seen by the star as an insult – but he uses it as her pet name.
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter) 4:01
A FICTIONAL tale of how many dream of being a showgirl for the fame and fortune but, in reality, it is a lot harder than that in a cut-throat industry
TOTAL LENGTH: 41:40
CHARLI XCX
'It's sweet all the time you've spent on me'
THE most brutal track on the album is called Actually Romantic.
It appears to be a full take-down of Brit singer Charli XCX, who is friends with Taylor's love rat ex Matty Healy.
Charli's husband George Daniel is part of Matty's band The 1975.
Taylor sings: "I heard you call me 'Boring Barbie' when the coke's got you brave.
"High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me.
"Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face. Some people might be offended. But it's actually sweet, all the time you've spent on me."
Charli has long been accused of glamorising drug use – even releasing a vinyl of her latest record Brat filled with white powder. Rather than being a flash-in-the-pan spat, the duo have a long history.
Charli supported Taylor on her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour. But the Brit hated the experience.
She told Pitchfork mag in 2019: "I'm really grateful that Taylor asked me on that tour. But, as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds."
From then on things seemed to sour further – and Charli's Brat album track Sympathy Is A Knife is believed to be about Taylor.
Charli sings: "This one girl taps my insecurities. Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiraling. Cause I couldn't even be her if I tried.
"I'm opposite, I'm on the other side. I feel all these feelings I can't control."
SCOTT BORCHETTA
'They don't make loyalty like they used to'
DESPITE plenty of floor fillers, Taylor's new album is not all sweetness and light. As well as having a dig at Charli XCX, on Father Figure Taylor appears to round on Scott Borchetta.
He is the CEO of her first label Big Machine Records, who sold the rights to her first six albums in 2019.
The track features lines of George Michael's 1987 single of the same name, as she seemingly talks about how Borchetta, right, boasted about being able to make her a star before stabbing her in the back.
"I'll be your father figure, I drink that brown liquor. I can make a deal with the devil because my d's bigger. This love is pure profit, just step into my office."
She later adds: "They don't make loyalty like they used to."
Her reference to brown liquor is thought to be a nod to how Borchetta celebrated selling her masters to Scooter Braun over a glass of whisky.
In an open letter to fans about the sale, Taylor wrote: "These are two very rich, very powerful men.
"Then they're standing in a wood-panel bar doing a tacky photoshoot, raising a glass of scotch to themselves.
"Because they pulled one over on me and got this done so sneakily that I didn't even see it coming."
Earlier this year, Taylor finally bought back her masters.
Hinting at her victory, she ends the track singing: "We drank that brown liquor. You made a deal with this devil. Turns out my d's bigger. You want a fight, you found it."
BIZARRE VERDICT
★★★★☆
THE Tortured Poets Department – for me the best Taylor album until now – was always going to be a hard act to follow.
But a drastic change of direction here has served the star well.
Lyrically, she continues at her best – with enough metaphors and coded literary references to keep fans speculating for ages.
Pop records are the hardest to perfect when it comes to both lyrics and melodies, but with producers Max Martin and Shellback by her side, Taylor has once again made magic.
With The Life Of A Showgirl, she proves yet again she's the best in the business. Are there a couple of skips? Yes. But there's also some of her best ever work.
Lead single The Fate Of Ophelia is an earworm of a track that's perfect for both radio and dancefloors. It's also possibly the most infectious Taylor lead single of all time.
Elizabeth Taylor, Ophalite and Cancelled! are also standouts.
Taylor's reign atop the music industry is far from over.
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