7 Lyrics From ‘Life Of A Showgirl’ That Give Us Insight Into Taylor Swift’s Romance With Travis Kelce
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce might be officially engaged, but before The Life Of A Showgirl, we’ve gotten little musical insight into their relationship (minus a few odd songs from The Tortured Poets Department, like “So High School.”) But we finally have a whole album influenced by the Swift-Kelce love affair, and here’s what we can glean from this high-profile engagement thanks to some telling lyrics:
1. “Keep it one hundred on the land , the sea , the sky / Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes”
The Life Of A Showgirl‘s first track, “The Fate of Ophelia,” is clearly all about Taylor’s gratitude toward Travis for saving her from drowning in her past relationships. One of the most interesting lyrics here, though, are the ones about keeping it one hundred and pledging allegiance to everything that he is.
The number one hundred is interesting here, because “keeping it one hundred” is a phrase that means keeping it real and authentic, but it’s also special to Taylor and Travis specifically—her lucky number is famously 13, and his jersey number for The Kansas City Chiefs is 87. Add them together? Yep, you get 100.
She’s saying that they’ll stay together everywhere—the land, the sea, the sky—but also keep it real in all of those places, continuing to be their most real selves with one another. She also promises to always stay on his side, pledging her allegiance to everything that he is.
This reference of “pledging allegiance” is also interesting, because it calls back to a past song: “Death By A Thousand Cuts.” In this song, referencing her early past relationship with Joe Alwyn, Taylor wrote:
“Our songs, our films, united we stand / Our country, guess it was a lawless land / Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand / Paper cut stings from our paper thin plans”
“Death By A Thousand Cuts” is clearly Taylor grappling with her allegiance to a relationship that ultimately hurts her, while “The Fate Of Ophelia” is her finally finding a relationship to pledge her loyalty to that will give her what she wants—and needs.
2. “All the right guys promised they’d stay / Under bright lights, they withered away / But you bloom”
In “Elizabeth Taylor,” Swift likens herself to the Hollywood star who had a famously fraught romantic life. It’s clear why she would feel a kinship there—Taylor is very well known (and often judged) for her relationships, many of which famously influence her music.
Taylor has been open about how fame has influenced her relationships in the past, perhaps most so during her longterm partnership with actor Joe Alwyn. The pair were more private, though the rumor mill believes that was more because of Alwyn’s wishes. In her Midnights song “Bejeweled,” Taylor wrote about feeling like her lover was leaving her “in the basement,” singing: “Best believe I’m still bejeweled / When I walk in the room / I can still make the whole place shimmer”
So “Elizabeth Taylor” shows that her partnership with Travis has changed that—and that she finally has a partner that doesn’t shy away from the spotlight Taylor naturally attracts but who also blooms within it.
3. “You know, thе last time I laughed this hard was / On the trampoline in somebody’s backyard / I must’ve been about eight or nine”
In “Eldest Daughter,” Taylor sings about the woes of being, unsurprisingsly, the eldest daughter—how it makes you feel the need to be more responsible, more serious, and more cautious. Basically, being the eldest daughter means growing up faster than you should’ve needed to.
However, this lyric specifically seems to reference her relationship with Kelce specifically and how he brings out her youth again and makes her return to all of those things she felt she missed. These lyrics add additional context:
“We lie back / A beautiful, beautiful time-lapse / Ferris wheels, kisses, and lilacs / And things I said were dumb / ‘Cause I thought that I’d never find that / Beautiful, beautiful life that / Shimmers that innocent light back / Like when we were young”
Basically, Travis seems to be healing Taylor’s inner child.
4. “I made wishes on all of the stars / Please, God, bring me a best friend who I think is hot / I thought I had it right, once, twice, but I did not /
You caught me off my guard”
“Wi$h Li$t” perhaps more famously highlights Taylor’s dreams of settling down with Travis (“I just want you / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you”), but I think this specific lyric is actually more telling about Taylor and Travis’s relationship.
“I thought I had it right once, twice, but I did not” likely refers to exes Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, especially since soon after her breakup with both of them, Travis “caught her off guard” during the Eras Tour when he went on his podcast and admittedly loudly to the world that he had wanted to give his number to Taylor during her Kansas City concert—but that her security wouldn’t let him through. Soon after his podcast admission, Taylor and Travis began seeing one another.
These lyrics also give us some insight to the relationship dynamic between the two: best friends who think the other is hot.
5. And, baby, I’ll admit I’ve been a little superstitious / The curse on me was broken by your magic wand / Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck
Okay, yeah, admittedly, the majority of “Wood” sure tells us something about Taylor and Travis’s relationship. This ode to Travis Kelce’s New Heights manhood sure tells us that Taylor is not wanting for much, which is great for her!
However, I do think that even aside from all the innuendos, this song—and especially these lyrics—do kind of show how Taylor feels about the relationship, even outside of the physical aspect. She’s clearly felt quite uncertain in her past relationships and unlucky in love, and Travis offers her the security that allows her to no longer doubt the future. And hey! Good for them!
6. “Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way”
This is another snippet from “Wood,” but I do think it’s a good one to point out. Aside from the obvious innuendo, it’s also clear that when Swift wrote this song (nearly a year ago, if she’s to be believed with the timeline), she already felt secure enough in her relationship to know that Travis likely was the one—and that a certain hard rock (in this case, an engagement ring) would be on its way. And guess what! Now they’re happily engaged.
7. “When anyone called me lovely / They were finding ways not to praise me / But you say it like you’re in awe of me / And you stay until the morning / Honey”
This is a nice addition to the Taylor/Travis lore, I think, especially in terms of her discography. Truthfully, Taylor doesn’t give us the most vulnerable insight into her current relationship in this album, but here, she does give us a hint into the emotional intimacy the two share. Clearly, Travis isn’t afraid to sing praises to the popstar, and Taylor feels he treats her differently than anyone before—a great sign for an upcoming marriage.
