Taylor Swift lyric meanings in full - The Fate Of Ophelia to Actually Romantic

Taylor Swift's brand new album The Life of a Showgirl is full of hidden meanings and emotional lyrics including a dig at past people in her life and a heartbreaking ode to a lost love.

Taylor Swift's new album has been released today and features a number of tracks including The Fate of Ophelia, Father Figure, Ruin The Friendship, Actually Romantic and CANCELLED!

Speaking about the LP, she said: "One thing about this album that I think is really exciting is that oftentimes when I make a record there's like a lag time between when I made it and when it enters the world.

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"Like for example, my last album, Tortured Post Department, by the time that album came out, I was in a completely different point in my life. With this one I would say that this album is a complete and total snapshot of what my life looks like right now."

Here's what all the songs mean and the best lyrics from each, as Taylor gets candid about her life and love now.

The Fate Of Ophelia

The track The Fate of Ophelia is the lead single off the new release and features multiple references to her relationship with Travis Kelce. She references a "megaphone", a hint at the fact he reached out to her by screaming it out into the world rather than going through the usual channels like chatting to her team.

There is reference to her loyalty to "me myself and I - right before you lit my sky up", which is linked to a post she did before her tour in Kansas City, where Travis wanted to meet her. She posted a pic from the "local neighbourhood independent girlies".

The song features multiple references to Ophelia, the character in Hamlet - including the fact the character drowned out of madness and grief of love she lost. But Taylor turns her heroine's story to a positive ending, when she sings "You saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia" in a nod to her romance with Travis.

Elizabeth Taylor

The track Elizabeth Taylor has many nods and mention to the real life star on which it is based. The Hollywood star had deep connections to both Portofino, Italy, and the Hotel Plaza Athénee in Paris, both referenced in the song.

Some believe the line "Under bright lights, they withered away, but you bloom", there is reference to her ex Joe Alwyn's alleged dislike of the spotlight in which she lives, but Travis seems to love it.

In the lyric, "Hey, what could you possibly get for the girl who has everything and nothing all at once?", she seems to hint that whilst she's famous, there are some things her success and money can't give her.

Opalite

Travis' favourite song on the album, Opalite is named after her husband-to-be's birthstone. Sharing the significance of the song, she says: "I think that is his favourite he loves that one. I have favourite words and favourite phrases and things that I will put in an endless file of lyrics that I’m just constantly going to and cherry picking from when I’m writing.

"And I had written down the word Opalite because I learned that it is actually a man-made Opal. Opal can be man-made just like diamonds. Travis’ birthstone is an opal, so I have always fixated on that, and I’ve always loved that stone."

She added: "And I thought it was kind of a cool metaphor that man-made Opal and happiness can also be man-made too. So that is kind of what the song is about the kind of juxtaposition of those two."

Father Figure

A dig at the men who tried to control her career, Taylor appears defiant on Father Figure as she sings from their perspective: "When I found you, you were young, wayward, lost in the cold / Pulled up to you in the Jag', turned your rags into gold."

She also sings about how the men who helped with her business career only wanted to see her "rise" rather than "reign", and that they wanted full control of what she was doing and the music she put out.

At the end of the song she sings "this empire belongs to me", referencing that she now owns her masters once again and was able to purchase them back with the money she got from The Eras Tour.

Eldest Daughter

Taylor makes several references to her romance with Travis in this song, including the line "When you found me, I said I was busy, that was a lie", which directly relates to how she said she was too busy to meet Travis when he showed up to The Eras Tour with a friendship bracelet with his number on, now admitting she was just trying to play it cool.

In this track, she also references "traitors", a theme which goes throughout her song catalogue and features multiple times throughout her music, including in Dear John, Getaway Car and Is It Over Now?

Ruin The Friendship

This song seemingly follows the story of a lost love, who Taylor never told how she felt about them. She is believed to be signing about Jeff Lang, a friend from high school who sadly died from an overdose.

She sings "When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye, and we'll never know why," and later says: "But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say ... But I whispered at the grave / Should've kissed you anyway."

Jeff Lang was also remembered by Taylor at the 2010 BMI Country Music Awards, where she said: "Yesterday, I sang at the funeral of one of my best friends. And he was 21, and I used to play my songs for him first. So I would like to thank Jeff Lang."

Actually Romantic

Actually Romantic seems to reference a feud with another singer, which some believe is Charli XCX. In the track, she 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."

Some believe this is a direct dig at Charli XCX, who sang a track which said "don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show". At the time, Charli was dating George Daniel and Taylor Swift was dating Matty Healy - both in The 1975.

Charli also has a song called Everything is Romantic, seemingly cementing further that Taylor's track is about the pop star.

Wi$h Li$t

Taylor's favourite song Wi$h Li$t is an ode to Travis and her dream to settle down with him and have children.

"I just want you / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us thе f*** alone, and they do," she sings, adding: "Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop / Boss up, settle down."

Perhaps this is Taylor's biggest hint of what her next 'era' might be?

Wood

A very playful song full of word play and double entendres, Taylor sings about Travis in the most explicit way. She sings: "Forgive me, it sounds cocky / He ah-matized me and opened my еyes / Redwood tree, it ain't hard to see / His love was thе key that opened my thighs," amongst other references to sex.

She also says about the "new heights of manhood", a direct link to Travis and his brother Jason's podcast where she announced the exciting news of the new album.

CANCELLED!

Here, Taylor sings about how on a knife edge fame can be. In the pre-chorus, she sings: "Did you girl-boss too close to the sun? / Did they catch you having far too much fun?" as she sings about people's fear of being cancelled.

Some references in this song link back to her previous works including "bring a tiny violin to a knife fight" and "Did they catch you having far too much fun?," which relate to previous tracks.

Honey

The penultimate track on her album, Honey talks about how people use nice words to actually make backstabbing and mean comments. She explained that people would fake being nice, just to talk about her behind her back.

"When anyone called me "Sweetheart" / It was passive-aggressive at the bar And the b***h was tellin' me to back off / Cause her man had looked at me wrong," she sings as she reflects on the mean things people would say about her.

The Life of a Showgirl

The final track on the album, which it shares its title with, documents Taylor's experience with fame as she sings alongside Sabrina Carpenter about the ups and downs of their worldwide success.

"Hеy, thank you for the lovely bouquet / You're sweeter than a peach / But you don't know the life of a showgirl, babe / And you're never, ever gonna," she sings as she discusses how others might perceive her fame as great but it's not all its cracked up to be.

Later, she adds that she's "married to the hustle" and that she's "making money being pretty and witty".

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