FILE - Travis Kelce, left, and Taylor Swift pose after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Jan. 26, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE - Travis Kelce, left, and Taylor Swift pose after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Jan. 26, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE - Taylor Swift performs at the Paris Le Defense Arena during her Eras Tour concert in Paris, on May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)
This album cover image released by Republic Records shows "The Life of a Showgirl" by Taylor Swift. (Republic Records via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — The curtain has been drawn. The stage lights are on. It’s time for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
For most dedicated audience, a new album means new opportunities to decode Easter eggs in her lyrics and music videos. The pop superstar’s 12th studio album has no shortage to her public life and discography. Many are opaque, revealing just enough to inspire a myriad of fan theories. Others are concrete – explicit names and places worth exploring. Below, you will find a guide to those instances, and how they relate to Swift.
Meaning: Both locations make appearances in Swift’s songwriting. Among them: “Welcome to New York” from and “White Horse” from 2008’s “F±đ˛ą°ů±ô±đ˛ő˛ő.” She also owns property in both locations.
Lyric: “Babe, I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust … just kidding”
Meaning: In August of this year, Swift to Kelce by posting a carousel of images on Instagram. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the ring wasn’t the only jewelry she was showing off. She was also wearing a Cartier watch.
Lyric: “We hit the best booth at Musso & Frank’s”
Meaning: Since opening in 1919, Musso & Frank Grill has been a hot spot for celebrities in Los Angeles – embodying the kind of old school Hollywood glamor that inspired “The Life of a Showgirl” artwork.
Lyric: “All my white diamonds and lovers are forever”
Meaning: The song is titled after the classic Hollywood starlet who, in 1991, created her own perfume called “White Diamonds.”
“Ruin the Friendship”
Lyric: “You drive, 85 / Gallatin Road and the lakeside beach”
Meaning: There are several Gallatin Roads in the United States, but given the other lyrics in the song, this one likely refers to a street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, where Swift spent her adolescence.
Lyric: “But as the 50 Cent song played”
Meaning: A reference further implies this song is rooted in Swift’s teen years in the ’00s, when the rapper was at the height of his popularity. The song also mentions “prom” and “second period,” what is typically associated with high school.
Lyric: “When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye”
Meaning: Abigail refers to Swift’s best friend Abigail Anderson, who she attended Hendersonville High School with. This marks the second time Abigail is mentioned in Swift’s discography: the first is the evocative “Fifteen” from
“W´Ç´Ç»ĺ”
Lyric: “Redwood tree / It ain’t hard to see”
Meaning: In Oct. 2023, Swift and Kelce made a surprise appearance at for a season premiere episode that featured host Pete Davidson and musical performer/friend to Swift, Ice Spice.Afterwards, “SNL” cast member Bowen Yang described the couple as the “tallest people in the world,” on the podcast he co-hosts with comedian Matt Rogers. “I see them together, I go, â€I am in the Redwood Forest.’” Hence, “Redwood tree.”
Lyric: “New Heights of manhood”
Meaning: is a direct reference to the Kelces’ podcast of the same name.
“H´Ç˛Ô±đ˛â”
Lyric: “Summertime spritz, pink skies”
Meaning: have been a huge part of Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” rollout, and in some ways, they appear in the lyrics of “Honey.” The color of her exclusive vinyl release with Target, “The Crowd Is Your King” edition, was described online as “summertime spritz pink shimmer.”
Lyric: “Wintergreen kiss, all mine”
Meaning: This line relates to another one of her variants: “The Shiny Bug Collection,” which is available in “violet shimmer marbled vinyl” and more relevantly, “wintergreen and onyx marbled vinyl.” (“Violet” is mentioned in “Elizabeth Taylor,” as is “onyx” in “Opalite.”)