Obviously, Taylor Swift is a large and looming presence in the music industry, but it isn’t easy to stay fully up to date on her life, her music, and her brand.
Here’s a complete guide to everything you need to know before you listen to her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, when it releases on October 3.
Swift’s personal life
Everyone has heard of Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” and over 10 million people attended the concert tour worldwide. Spanning from March 2023 to December 2024, “The Eras Tour” has become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. However, Swift has stayed very busy in the nine months since her tour ended.
Swift and Kelce
After long-awaited confirmation and many sightings together, Swift finally posted about her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end, Travis Kelce, on social media via their engagement photos. It was the ultimate hard launch!
Swift posted their engagement photos on August 26, 2025. While it is unknown what day the proposal actually happened, Kelce talked about the big event on his podcast, New Heights, and said how happy they both are.
The pair first sparked rumors in July 2023 when Kelce spoke about her on his podcast. He said,
“If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.”
Since then, Swift has attended many of Kelce’s football games, including the 2024 Superbowl, where the Chiefs won the biggest and most popular game in the NFL. The media and fans have spotted them together all around the world, and Swift even invited Kelce to perform on stage with her during a show at “The Eras Tour.”
Master recordings
To lifelong fans, the most important change to happen in Swift’s life since “The Eras Tour” ended is that the singer/songwriter bought back her master recordings of all her music. This means that Swift owns the right to all of her singles, albums, and music videos.
Swift started her career with Scott Borchetta and Big Machine Records. She worked with Borchetta for 13 years and produced six studio albums through his record label. Then, in 2018, Swift signed a new contract with Republic Records and made it known through social media how excited she was to finally own all her work in this transfer.
In 2019, though, Borchetta sold his record label, including Swift’s music, to Scooter Braun for more than $300 million.
She was not happy with this change in ownership based on Braun’s relationship with his other clients, like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. Specifically, Swift didn’t want to work with him because of the way that Braun and those clients had treated her publicly in the past.
However, after signing the contract with Republic Records in 2018, any new music Swift released was owned by her. So, rather than let Braun profit off of her music, Swift had the idea to re-record her previous albums. Swift’s idea to re-record and release her music was revolutionary in the music industry and to her fans!
Since 2020, when Swift announced this plan, she has re-recorded and released four of her original albums with the same titles. The only difference is the addition of “(Taylor’s Version)” to the end of the album titles.
On May 30, 2025, Swift posted to her Instagram account with posed photos of her sitting with the original versions of her albums and the instruction to go to her website. On her website, she had posted a letter detailing the events that led up to her ultimately buying her original master recordings back from Braun and owning all of her music for the first time in her professional career.
The Life of a Showgirl tracklist expectations
The Life of a Showgirl is set to have 12 songs. While no one knows exactly what every song will be about except Swift herself, there is lots of speculation online about what the content could be.
The tracklist is:
- The Fate of Ophelia
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Opalite
- Father Figure
- Eldest Daughter
- Ruin the Friendship
- Actually Romantic
- Wi$h Li$t
- Wood
- CANCELLED!
- Honey
- The Life of a Showgirl (ft. Sabrina Carpenter)
1) The Fate of Ophelia
Fans speculate that “The Fate of Ophelia” will most likely be based on the character Ophelia from Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet.
Ophelia’s character and personality are almost entirely dictated by the men in her life: her father, her brother, and her romantic interest, Hamlet. She had no power in her own life and was forced to maintain an image of purity and naivety, all while being criticized for her sexuality.
Ultimately, Ophelia throws herself into the river with flowers, committing suicide. By letting the water take her, Ophelia truly loses all her power to the outside factors of her life one last time.
So, if Swift’s song relates to this story, it could be about her own feelings of powerlessness in regards to her image in the media or owning her music.
2) Elizabeth Taylor
The title of this track refers to Hollywood actress and Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor, who was popular in the 1940s.
Elizabeth Taylor grew in popularity, not only for her talent in acting, but also for her multiple marriages. Her love interests overshadowed her talent and work, and fans believe that may be the aspect of Elizabeth Taylor’s life that Swift is relating to in her song.
During the releases of her albums Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department, fans and the media were focusing more on who the topics of her songs could be than the music itself.
Whether people were trying to figure out if she was still dating long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn, if she was back together with rumored ex-boyfriend Matty Healy, or if the love songs were about Travis Kelce in their beginning stages, the men in Swift’s life became more important than she.
3) Opalite
“Opalite” is one of the tracks on this album that feels very personal to Swift and her brand. In the past, Swift has made her love of opals very well known. She wears plenty of opal jewelry, including rings and pendants. The stone even made its way into “The Eras Tour” in some of her bodysuits and in other lyrics. In her song “Ivy,” Swift even mentions “opal eyes.”
The stone itself has multiple meanings as well. First, fans think the song could be about her fiancé, Travis Kelce, because his birthstone is an opal. Additionally, opals shine in orange and green tones, which are the signature colors of The Life of a Showgirl album.
Finally, opals typically represent new beginnings and growth. So maybe this new Taylor Swift “era” is truly a new era for her!
4) Father Figure
“Father Figure” is rumored to be a cover of George Michael’s song by the same name, released in 1987.
Michael’s version is about a person seeking a similar relationship with a romantic interest to the one they have with their parent. Specifically, it’s about a young person finding love in an older man, resembling their father.
Even if Swift’s version isn’t a cover of Michael’s song, it could definitely have some of those same themes!
5) Eldest Daughter
Many fans on social media are anticipating, or hoping, that Swift’s song “Eldest Daughter” will reflect on the ideas of “eldest daughter syndrome,” as it has been dubbed online.
“Eldest daughter syndrome” is the idea that the oldest daughter of a family feels the pressure to make her life, and her family’s lives, perfect. While this isn’t an actual medically diagnosed problem, social media users have bonded over their shared struggles with setting boundaries within their families and feeling responsible for their siblings and parents.
These same users are hoping that Swift’s song will help them feel seen and become another connection to each other.
Track five is also notoriously devastating on Swift’s albums. Fans will recognize songs like “So Long, London,” “The Archer,” “This Is Me Trying,” “All Too Well,” and more as some of her most heart-wrenching and deeply personal, and they are all track five.
So, between the expected content of the lyrics and Swift’s use of the track five spot, this song is seemingly going to be a sad one!
6) Ruin The Friendship
“Ruin The Friendship” is speculated to be about Swift’s relationship with actress Blake Lively.
It is unlikely that Swift will confirm who the song is about, but the working fan theory is that this song might mention the possibly troubled friendship between Swift and Lively.
Swift and Lively have been friends for about a decade; they began posting together in 2015. They are very intertwined in each other’s lives and careers. Swift has used Lively’s children’s names in her music, and even used one of their voices in a song. Lively also directed one of Swift’s music videos, and Swift’s song “My Tears Ricochet” was used in the trailer for Lively’s movie It Ends With Us
But Lively has been involved in a very public legal battle with former co-star Justin Baldoni regarding It Ends With Us, that is rumored to have involved Swift in some way.
7) Actually Romantic
This track is supposedly going to be about Travis Kelce.
The title, “Actually Romantic,” nods to the idea that Swift’s relationship with Kelce is romantic in a way that her past relationships were not. Notable ex-boyfriends in Swift’s life that this could be referencing are Joe Alywn, Matty Healy, Jake Gyllenhal, John Mayer, Taylor Lautner, and any other relationships she may have kept quiet from the media.
Kelce seems to love Swift very loudly in a way we have never seen from her exes in the past. He performed with her on stage, mentions her on his podcast a lot, came to watch her shows, and has been seen holding her hand, kissing her, and dancing with her in public.
8) Wi$h Li$t
The song “Wi$h Li$t” on Life of a Showgirl is a very different format and idea than some of the other tracks on her upcoming album.
Firstly, the letter “S” being a dollar sign alludes to the idea that the thing on her wish list might be money, but Swift’s fans know that’s probably not the case. Swift tends to be fairly charitable in terms of money. She highly tips the crew at every arena she attends and donates to disaster relief and other charities.
So, the title could be ironic because the only thing on her wishlist is something money can’t buy, happiness or peace. She has written about wanting a peaceful life before in her song titled “Peace.” In reference to a romantic relationship, she says,
“Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”
9) Wood
The name “Wood” doesn’t give a lot of information about what this song could be about. Big Swift fans know that there’s a potential third album in the Folklore and Evermore universe called Woodvale, and are hoping that this song might tie in some elements from those albums.
But, according to The Tenessean, Swift said on the New Heights podcast:
“I wanted melodies that were so infectious that you were almost angry at it and lyrics that are just as vivid.”
And even though Folklore and Evermore are definitely known for their lyricism, the vibes Swift described don’t necessarily match up with those of Folklore and Evermore. So, who knows what “Wood” will be about?
10) CANCELLED!
“CANCELLED!” is also unique in its format, much like “Wi$h Li$t.”
Many fans think that it could be a “call-out” of sorts on the media’s parasocial relationship with her because of its unique format. In songs like “But Daddy I Love Him” and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” Swift sings directly to fans who either think they know what’s best for her and criticize her choices online or to fans who ask too much of her when she is already releasing music at a much faster pace than many popular artists right now.
So, “CANCELLED!” could be another song aimed directly at people who call themselves her fans but publicly criticize her.
11) Honey
“Honey” is not only the 11th song title on The Life of a Showgirl, but also a word that Swift uses fairly often across her discography. In fact, she uses it five times in her album Reputation, which is famously a love album even though it was originally inspired by Swift’s drama with Scooter Braun.
Because of it’s possible correlation to the Reputation album, “Honey” could definitely be a love song especially considering its connotation as a term of endearment. This leads fans to believe it is about Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce.
12) The Life of a Showgirl featuring Sabrina Carpenter
The title track of the album The Life of a Showgirl comes at the very end of the album in track 12.
A lot of fans are really looking forward to seeing Taylor Swift collab with another big pop artist in the industry, Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter’s music tends to be both explicit and upbeat, so it is likely that is the kind of song that “The Life of a Showgirl” will be.
Swift explained on the New Heights podcast:
“I would be playing three shows in a row, I’d have three days off. I’d fly to Sweden, go back to the tour, and I was pretty exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally simulated and so excited to be creating.”
So, the song “The Life of a Showgirl” could be about Swift’s life while she performed on “The Eras tour”!
Fan theories
There are quite a few fan theories going around about The Life of a Showgirl.
Famously, Swift’s favorite number is 13, so it probably isn’t a coincidence that there are only 12 tracks. Could there be a surprise 13th song coming out separately from the album release?
It wouldn’t be Swift’s first time dropping a surprise extra song. In fact, with the release of her last album, The Tortured Poets Department, she released a full, unexpected, deluxe album titled The Anthology. There is also a possibility, according to fans, that Swift won’t be releasing more music. Instead, she will put out an “Eras Tour” documentary called The Life of a Showgirl.
This idea comes from a possible easter egg hint Swift dropped in her episode of New Heights. She said,
“You won’t be able to get to bed ’til 4 in the morning after this.”
Will there be a documentary released at four in the morning on October 3? Maybe!
Swift has also trademarked the term “Female Rage: The Musical.” So, some fans think that The Life of a Showgirl tracks could even be used in a potential Taylor Swift-themed Broadway musical. Whether or not these fan theories are true, all Taylor Swift fans are anxiously waiting for the album release to roll around. Don’t miss The Life of a Showgirl on October 3.
Article updated on October 3rd, 2025.
