NEW YORK (AP) — The curtain has been drawn. The stage lights are on. It’s time for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
For Taylor Swift’s most devoted viewers, a brand new album means new alternatives to decode Easter eggs in her lyrics and music movies. The pop famous person’s twelfth studio album has no scarcity of intelligent clues and references to her public life and discography. Many are opaque, revealing simply sufficient to encourage a myriad of fan theories. Others are concrete – specific names and locations price exploring. Under, one can find a information to these situations, and the way they relate to Swift.
Learn on, and comfortable digging!
“Elizabeth Taylor”
Lyric: “That view of Portofino was on my mind / When you called me at the Plaza Athénée”
That means: When Swift introduced her new album, she did so with the introduction of a shade she’s calling Portofino Orange Glitter after donning the colour onstage through the latter a part of her “Eras Tour.” “I’ve just always liked it,” she mentioned of the hue throughout her first look on “New Heights,” the favored, sometimes football-focused podcast hosted by her fiancé Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce. “It feels like energetically how my life has felt. And this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour.” She and beau Kelce have been noticed final 12 months in Lake Como, Italy, however it’s unclear in the event that they hung out in close by Portofino. Moreover, the usual model of her album is accessible in “sweat and vanilla perfume Portofino orange vinyl.” As for the Plaza Athénée? That’s a luxurious lodge in Paris.
Lyric: “Be my NY when Hollywood hates me”
That means: Each places make appearances in Swift’s songwriting. Amongst them: “Welcome to New York” from 2014’s “1989” and “White Horse” from 2008’s “Fearless.” She additionally owns property in each places.
Lyric: “Babe, I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust … just kidding”
That means: In August of this 12 months, Swift introduced her engagement to Kelce by posting a carousel of photos on Instagram. Eagle-eyed followers seen that the ring wasn’t the one jewellery she was exhibiting off. She was additionally sporting a Cartier watch.
Lyric: “We hit the best booth at Musso & Frank’s”
That means: Since opening in 1919, Musso & Frank Grill has been a scorching spot for celebrities in Los Angeles – embodying the form of old style Hollywood glamor that impressed “The Life of a Showgirl” paintings.
Lyric: “All my white diamonds and lovers are forever”
That means: The tune is titled “Elizabeth Taylor” after the basic Hollywood starlet who, in 1991, created her personal fragrance known as “White Diamonds.”
“Ruin the Friendship”
Lyric: “You drive, 85 / Gallatin Road and the lakeside beach”
That means: There are a number of Gallatin Roads in the USA, however given the opposite lyrics within the tune, this one probably refers to a avenue in Hendersonville, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, the place Swift spent her adolescence.
Lyric: “But as the 50 Cent song played”
That means: A 50 Cent reference additional implies this tune is rooted in Swift’s teen years within the ’00s, when the rapper was on the top of his recognition. The tune additionally mentions “prom” and “second period,” what is usually related to highschool.
Lyric: “When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye”
That means: Abigail refers to Swift’s greatest pal AbigailAnderson, who she attended Hendersonville Excessive Faculty with. This marks the second time Abigail is talked about in Swift’s discography: the primary is the evocative “Fifteen” from “Fearless.”
“Wood”
Lyric: “Redwood tree / It ain’t hard to see”
That means: In Oct. 2023, Swift and Kelce made a shock look at “Saturday Night Live” for a season premiere episode that featured host Pete Davidson and musical performer/pal to Swift, Ice Spice.Afterwards, “SNL” forged member Bowen Yang described the couple because the “tallest people in the world,” on the “Las Culturistas” podcast he co-hosts with comic Matt Rogers. “I see them together, I go, ‘I am in the Redwood Forest.’” Therefore, “Redwood tree.”
Lyric: “New Heights of manhood”
That means: “New Heights” is a direct reference to the Kelces’ podcast of the identical title.
“Honey”
Lyric: “Summertime spritz, pink skies”
That means: Bodily album variants have been an enormous a part of Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” rollout, and in some methods, they seem within the lyrics of “Honey.” The colour of her unique vinyl launch with Goal, “The Crowd Is Your King” version, was described on-line as “summertime spritz pink shimmer.”
Lyric: “Wintergreen kiss, all mine”
That means: This line pertains to one other one in every of her variants: “The Shiny Bug Collection,” which is accessible in “violet shimmer marbled vinyl” and extra relevantly, “wintergreen and onyx marbled vinyl.” (“Violet” is talked about in “Elizabeth Tylor,” as is “onyx” in “Opalite.”)