Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl lyrics: Who are the songs about?

Yes, Travis Kelce’s dick is on this list.

The Life Of A Showgirl is marked as Taylor Swift’s return to pop music after a period spent wrapped in a cardigan and collaborating with members of The National. The songs on the album make good on that promise, with producers Max Martin and Shellback bringing some of the same bubblegum sheen to Swift’s songwriting as they did on their previous work together making 1989 hits “Blank Space”, “Shake It Off”, and “Style.”

While musically The Life Of A Showgirl represents a shift in approach, lyrically the album remains consistent with two of Swift’s main preoccupations; romantic love and settling scores with rivals.

Swift’s writing has long created a space for fans and critics alike to translate and read meaning into, with songs on her latest album that seem both obvious to decode and others that are kept more open to interpretation. With that in mind, here is a largely speculative run-down of just who Taylor Swift is singing about on The Life of a Showgirl.

Travis Kelce (Multiple)

OK, let’s get this out of the way up top. A lot of The Life Of A Showgirl is about Travis Kelce. That’s fair, it’s her first album since the pair got engaged and she’s clearly very happy. It does, however, lead to lines like “Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see/ His love was thе key that opened my thighs” on “Wood.” No prizes for cracking that metaphor.

Elsewhere, Swift writes about the way Kelce publicly pursued her via his New Heights podcast (“I heard you calling on the megaphone,” from “The Fate of Ophelia”) and praises the way he is “in awe” of her (“Honey”). It’s clear they’re very much in love, though a cynic could read lines like “Babe, I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust” (“Elizabeth Taylor”) and suggest she’s happy to have found commitment, rather than a man she feels the same about.

Charli xcx (“Actually Romantic”)

When Charli xcx alluded to a superstar that she doesn’t want to see backstage as she “taps my insecurities” on brat song “Sympathy Is A Knife” the subtext was clear; it was impossible to avoid comparing herself to this person who, while ostensibly similar to her, was so much more successful it only invited negative thoughts.

Fans immediately speculated that Charli’s song was written about Swift, with both of them dating members of The 1975 around the same time (Charli has subsequently married drummer George Daniel while Swift and Matty Healy split after a brief romance).

“Actually Romantic” would appear to be Swift’s riposte to “Sympathy…” with an apparent disregard for the subtlety of the original. “I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave,” she sings in the direction of a nameless foe. “High-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me. Wrote me a song sayin’ it makes you sick to see my face.” That last line is technically true but, to quote another Charli song, it’s confusing!

The song continues with Swift comparing her unnamed nemesis to “a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse,” making it clear she doesn’t regard them as a serious threat, and an unfortunate self-own when she sings “No man has ever loved me like you do.” Charli is never named directly but it feels safe to assume she’s the target of this one.

Olivia Rodrigo and/or Scott Borchetta (“Father Figure”)

“Father Figure” is one of the more multi-faceted songs on the album, playing with perspectives and time in an interesting way. On a track that samples the George Michael song of the same name, Swift sings about a mentor who chose financial gain over their alliance. “They don’t make loyalty like they used to,” she sings. “Your thoughtless ambition sparked the ignition. On foolish decisions which led to misguided visions.” Could this be aimed at Scott Borchetta, the CEO of her former record label Big Machine Label Group, and the man who sold her masters to Scooter Braun.

Others online, however, have speculated that the song could in fact be about Olivia Rodrigo with Swift herself in the mentor role. “You remind me of a younger me. I saw potential…” she sings early in the song while discussing time spent with someone at the chateau (Marmont?). Rodrigo made no secret of her love for Taylor early in her career, though has been quieter about her in recent years with speculation of a feud over a songwriting credit on “Deja Vu.”

Swift wrote about a younger artist potentially taking her spot on The Tortured Poets Department track “Clara Bow”. “You look like Taylor Swift in this light. We’re loving it. You’ve got edge; she never did,” that song goes. “Father Figure” could be seen as Swift asserting her edge or, to put it in her words, showing that she “can make deals with the devil because my dick’s bigger.”

Blake Lively (“CANCELLED!”)

“Did you girl-boss too close to the sun?” Swift asks in a line that, like a lot of The Life Of A Showgirl, feels trapped in a different era. “CANCELLED!” is a song about standing by a friend who has become the subject of hate and ire on a huge scale. Could that friend be Blake Lively, a BFF of Swift’s and a star at the center of a messy legal case with Justin Baldoni, the director of her movie It Ends with Us?

An orchestrated backlash against Lively in 2024 led to her being “cancelled,” a largely meaningless term that most celebrities seem to apply to facing any criticism at all. In Lively’s case, though, it felt undeserving and Swift clearly feels the same way. “Good thing I like my friends cancelled/ I like ’em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal/ Like my whiskey sour/ And poison thorny flowers,” she sings. If you really want to get into the Easter eggs of it all, Lively is a former Gucci brand ambassador and also owns a liquor company, Betty Booze.

The main thrust of “CANCELLED!”, though, is how Swift stands by her pals, especially when she sees similarities to her own life. “At least you know exactly who your friends are,” she sings. “They’re the ones with matching scars.”

The Kardashians (“Wi$h Li$t”)

“Wi$h Li$t” is a fun exercise in finding happiness while also recognizing that some people’s dreams differ from others. “Got me dreaming ‘bout a driveway with a basketball hoop,” she sings as she imagines a life of domestic bliss. “Boss up, settle down.”

Of course, life in the suburbs isn’t something she can slip quietly into and she goes on to cycle through a more Hollywood list of dreams. “They want that yacht life, under chopper blades, They want those bright lights and Balenci’ shades, And a fat ass with a baby face / They want it all.” Some fans have speculated that this, specifically the line about the ass and face, are a reference to the Kardashians. That feels like a bit of a stretch in a song that also namechecks soccer team Real Madrid and the Cannes Film Festival. However, wanting “that video taken off the internet” Well, that feels very much like it could be written about longtime foe Kim K.

The haters (“Eldest Daughter”)

Not all of Swift’s enemies have names and a celebrity profile. In fact, many of them are completely anonymous and stick to posting their insults online. It’s these people she comes for on “Eldest Daughter,” a song about how everyone thinks they’re “so punk on the internet.”

She sings about trolling and memes, lamenting how “apathy is hot” and juxtaposing it with how she feels when she’s with Travis Kelce (a man who knows a thing or two about good tweets). “I’m not a bad bitch and this isn’t savage,” she sighs, acknowledging that she’s not cut out for the comment section battles. Like a lot of The Life Of A Showgirl it’s hard to listen to and not think, “You’re literally a billionaire, why do you still care?”