Taylor Swift 'The Life of a Showgirl' tracklist song titles and meanings explained
4 October 2025, 22:47
From 'The Fate of Ophelia' and 'Opalite' to 'Wood' and 'Honey', here's all of Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' song titles and their meanings explained.
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Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl is finally here and Swifties are decoding what the song titles and lyrics mean.
Ever since, Taylor announced her The Life of a Showgirl tracklist, fans have been trying to figure out what each song could be about. With titles like 'The Fate of Ophelia', 'Ruin the Friendship' and 'CANCELLED!', theories have been running wild over the past few weeks but Taylor refrained from giving fans any specific song meaning details... until now.
Now, Taylor's released The Life of a Showgirl and the lyrics are officially out in the open. So what does each The Life of a Showgirl song title mean? Scroll down to find out.
- Read more: EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Swift explains 'Opalite' meaning and connection to Travis Kelce
- Read more: Taylor Swift explains true meaning behind The Life of a Showgirl album
Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl tracklist songs and their meanings explained
Taylor Swift ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ meaning
The world's English teacher has logged back for another important literature lesson, this time with a song referencing William Shakespeare character Ophelia, from Hamlet.
In the play, Ophelia is defined by her relationships with her father, brother and romantic interest Hamlet. She is obedient, naive, has little agency and is controlled by her father and brother's expectations. Following her father's murder at the hands of Hamlet, Ophelia is driven to madness and sadly drowns in a river, under a willow tree.
Ophelia symbolises femininity and innocence within the play, and highlights the struggles women face within a patriarchal society.
Taylor has referenced 'madness' several times within some of her recent songs, including Folklore's 'mad woman' and The Tortured Poets Department as a whole. But in 'The Fate of Ophelia', Taylor sings about how she's avoided suffering a similar, metaphorical fate by finding true love with Travis Kelce.
Explaining the track to Capital Breakfast, Taylor said: "The play on it is like, you saved me from that fate, right? You rescued me. Like, meeting someone and finding someone who took you away from that way that your life could have gone."
Taylor riffs off lines from Hamlet, weaving Shakespearan bars with modern day phrases. And there's plenty of references to Travis too. Right at the start of the song, she references the moment she heard him 'calling on the megaphone' a.k.a. the New Heights podcast when he publicly declared that he wanted to date her.
Later in the song, she throws in another reference to his football team, and their signature numbers (13 + 87) with the "keep it one hundred" lyrics.
- Read more: Taylor Swift's 'The Fate of Ophelia' lyrics meaning and Travis Kelce references explained
Taylor Swift reveals how Hamlet inspired her song ‘The Fate of Ophelia’
Taylor Swift ‘Elizabeth Taylor’ meaning
After namedropping Elizabeth Taylor in Reputation’s ‘…Ready For It?’, the legendary film icon has returned to Taylor’s discography, this time with a full song named after her.
Elizabeth, who passed away in 2013, was a Hollywood icon, a true movie star and a massive figure in modern celebrity culture. Elizabeth was famously married eight times to seven men, marrying fellow legendary actor Richard Burton (also named dropped in ‘…Ready For It?’) twice.
Thanks to her much-talked about love life which often eclipsed her on-screen accomplishments, Elizabeth was frequently hounded by paparazzi everywhere she went. With Richard Burton, the frenzy was even bigger.
In 'Elizabeth Taylor', Taylor draws comparisons between hers and Elizabeth's lives. She sings about a new love and her fears over what she would do if the relationship ever ended. The song is full of actual references to Elizabeth and Richard's relationship, too.
- Portofino is where Richard proposed to Elizabeth
- Plaza Athénée is where the couple once lived for a short time.
- The couple frequently wrote love letters to each other.
- Musso & Frank's where they would frequently dine.
- I'd cry my eyes violet is a nod to Elizabeth's own eyes, which were often described as "violet".
- Elizabeth owned countless expensive pieces of Cartier jewellery.
- White Diamonds is the name of Elizabeth Taylor's iconic perfume.
If you were an active Swiftie during the Reputation era, you may also remember that Elizabeth and Richard were featured on posters in the Rep Room on the Reputation Stadium Tour. Taylor also shared a photo of Olivia the cat sitting on top of ‘Furious Love’, a biography written about Elizabeth and Richard’s tumultuous and passionate iconic love affair. Taylor even referenced the book in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
Taylor Swift ‘Opalite’ meaning
Explaining how the song came to be on Capital Breakfast, Taylor said: "I had written down the word 'opalite' because I learned that it's actually a man-made opal. Like, opal can be man-made just like diamonds. And so Travis's birthstone is an opal. So it's like that. I've always fixated on that. I've always loved that stone and I thought it was a kind a cool metaphor that like, it's a man-made opal. And happiness can also be man made too."
Opalite is a man-made glass that resembles natural opal and is known for its calming and transformative energies, often symbolises new beginnings and healing.
With Taylor ending The Tortured Poets Department on ‘The Manuscript’, it’s clear has she moved on to a brand new phase in her life, echoing the qualities of Opalite.
In the song, Taylor recounts advice from her mother telling her that she had to "make your own sunshine". She then flips it, appearing to pass that advice on to Travis. Together, the two have found their own happiness through their own achievements and finding true love with each other.
Taylor Swift ‘Father Figure’ meaning
Yes, Taylor has officially interpolated George Michael's 'Father Figure' on a song of her own – but it's completely different to George's 1987 track.
Taylor's 'Father Figure' appears to reference her old label executive Scott Borchetta, and his 'father figure' role in her life and career before he ultimately betrayed her by selling her masters. Taylor then flips the song and alludes to how she's now become Scott's father figure by outsmarting him and buying back her masters.
Introducing the track on Amazon Music, Taylor said: "I remember just writing the lyrics just like sitting there just being like, 'Heheh, heheheh'. It's the stuff that I've always wanted to say."
In Taylor Nation's 12-photo carousel teasing the album, the fourth image was a picture of Taylor performing 'The Man' during the Eras Tour. Pretty fitting given that she takes on the 'father figure' role in the track.
Taylor ‘Eldest Daughter’ meaning
Ladies and gentlemen, 'Eldest Daughter' has officially been added to the Track 5 Hall of Fame and it's heartbreaking and vulnerable.
Taylor might be the oldest sibling out of her and brother Austin Swift but she is literally the only daughter. That said, there is a thing called ‘eldest daughter syndrome’, which sees oldest daughters take on more responsibilities and caretaking roles when it comes to their parents, siblings and family units.
They tend to feel a much greater sense of obligation and pressure, with traits including leadership, rule-following and perfectionism.
Describing the song, Taylor says: "You have a life that you portray to other people or what you portray on social media, and then you have the you that everyone gets to know who has earned the right to be closest to you. And it's really hard to be sincere publicly because that's not really what our culture rewards.
People reward you for being like tough and unbothered and like too busy to care. And you may be that about some things, but everyone has things that matter to them and people that matter to them. This song really kind of gets to the heart of when someone gets close enough to you to earn your trust, that's when you can admit to them that you actually really do care about some things."
In the song, Taylor references how being an eldest daughter meant that she lost some of her childhood joy and abandon. However, she then sings that she's found that joy again through herself and her relationship with Travis.
Taylor Swift ‘Ruin the Friendship’ meaning
In 'Ruin the Friendship', Taylor sings about her regrets that she never took a high school friendship to a romantic level. While she hasn't confirmed who it's about, fans have deduced that it's likely about her old friend Jeff Lang who sadly passed away in 2010. ('Forever Winter' is also said to be about him.)
Taylor describes the song as a "beautiful story of taking chances when they present themselves and not letting them pass you by, not having to spend your lifе wondering what would have happenеd if you would have done it."
My advice is always ruin the friendship / Better that than regret it for all time / Should've kissed you anyway.
Taylor Swift 'Actually Romantic' meaning
Many fans speculated that 'Actually Romantic' would be a love song about Travis Kelce but Taylor is actually singing about someone, who she believed was a friend, who seems to talk about her behind her back a lot.
Per Taylor's explanation, the song is about "realising that someone else has kind of had a one-sided adversarial relationship with you that you didn't know about. And all of a sudden they start, like, doing too much, and they start letting you know that actually you’ve been living in their head rent-free and you had no idea and it's presenting itself as them sort of resenting you or having a problem with you."
The song flips that on its head, with Taylor singing about how it's actually really romantic of them to think and talk about her so much.
While there's no confirmation, fans have speculated that it could be about Charli xcx thanks to the specific reference of Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Matty Healy, who is in The 1975 with Charli's husband George Daniel.
Taylor Swift 'Wi$h Li$t' meaning
With 'Wi$h Li$t', Taylor sings about all the different dreams people have, wanting money, wealth and material goods but all that matters to her is starting a family with the person she loves.
She sings: I just want you, huh / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us thе f--k alone, and they do, wow / Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop / Boss up, settle down, got a wish list.
There's also an emotional nod to 'The Prophecy' in the bridge where Taylor mentions how she's hoped, wished and prayed for true love and the fact that she thought she'd found up. But out of nowhere, Travis entered her life and now she truly has found it.
Taylor told Capital Breakfast that 'Wish List' might be her favourite song on the album.
Taylor Swift 'Wood' meaning
Congrats to everyone who guessed the meaning of this one correctly... it was, in fact, about Travis' manhood.
Taylor has given us her most overtly NSFW song with 'Wood' which contains a double meaning. The song starts by riffing on common superstitions like knocking on wood, stepping on cracks, black cats and picking petals.
Taylor then sings that now she's found true love, she no longer has to knock on wood anymore.
The wood in question is... well, Travis. She described him as a Redwood tree (the biggest trees on earth, btw), delivers a cheeky spin on the term 'hard rock' and even sings "New Heights of manhood".
Taylor Swift 'CANCELLED!' meaning
Now *this* is a Reputation coded song title, right?! As any Swiftie will tell you, the year before Taylor released Rep was tough one as people were hell bent on trying to cancel Taylor over the whole Kimye phone call saga with #TaylorSwiftIsCancelled trending on social media.
With 'CANCELLED!', Taylor sings about how she will always be there for her friends even if they get "cancelled" like she did. And how she hopes the experience will change them, harden them and make them smarter.
Reflecting on that situation in her TIME profile in 2024, Taylor described the whole thing as "a career death", adding: "Make no mistake—my career was taken away from me."
Back in September 2019, in an interview with Vogue, Taylor directly commented on the idea of 'cancellation' in the court of social media, saying: "A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote 'cancelled', is a very isolating experience. I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”
"When you say someone is cancelled, it's not a TV show. It's a human being. You're sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, k--- yourself," she added.
Taylor Swift 'Honey' meaning
Taylor has used the word 'Honey' frequently throughout her discography (it's actually used five times across five different tracks on Reputation).
As for the meaning of this particular song? Well, Taylor sings about how she used to hate when people called her "honey" but she loves when her true love calls her "honey".
On the New Heights podcast, Travis called this one a "banger".
Taylor Swift 'The Life of a Showgirl' meaning
In the song, Taylor and Sabrina sing about taking advice from a fictional showgirl named Kitty. In the song, Kitty teaches them that there's a darker side to fame and they reflect on how that advice helped them in their own journeys with show business.
Taylor said: "It is the story of a fictional showgirl name Kitty and how my character in the song goes to see her perform and is completely inspired by her but rather than responding with fakeness, she tells it like it is and she kind of warns me off this lifestyle because it’s much more other than the glitter and the glamour. There's a lot else that comes with it."
- Read more: Taylor Swift explains dark meaning behind 'The Life of A Showgirl' lyrics with Sabrina Carpenter
Read more about Taylor Swift here:
- The devastating meaning behind Taylor Swift's Eldest Daughter lyrics explained
- Who are Taylor Swift's 'Actually Romantic' lyrics about? The meaning explained
- Taylor Swift's 'The Fate of Ophelia' lyrics meaning and Travis Kelce references explained
- Is Taylor Swift going on tour in 2026? All the hints and The Life of a Showgirl Tour info so far
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