#taylor-swift

#taylor-swift

Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl is off to a record-breaking start, selling 2.7 million copies on its first day in the US. Already, Swift has secured the second-biggest sales week of the modern era - since Luminate began electronically tracking data in 1991 - trailing only Adele's 25, which moved 3.378 million copies in its first week back in 2015 (per ).

'Showgirl' is the most brazenly pop-forward, melodically savvy, and structurally polished album that Swift has released in about a decade,

"We were delighted when Taylor Swift and her team approached us earlier this year about incorporating an interpolation of George Michael's classic song 'Father Figure' into a brand new song of the same title to be featured on her forthcoming album," the wrote on social media. ""When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same."

Taylor Swift has been writing songs since she was 10 years old, when she first picked up a guitar. At 15, Swift became the youngest songwriter to ever sign a publishing deal with Sony. In the two decades since, she has built a billion-dollar empire off the strength and popularity of her musical catalog. "Everybody has their own sort of niche or specialty thing that they do that, you know, sets them apart from everybody else," Swift said in "Miss Americana," her 2020 Netflix documentary.

"Like, how you would be in the public eye back during the 1800s when you'd sit for a pre-Raphaelite painting," she explained. "Or you could be a showgirl by being a cabaret burlesque club performer, you could be a theatrical actor putting on a performance, you could be a Vegas showgirl. You could be one of the girls in the Busby Berkeley screen-siren era of the '30s and '40s."

For Taylor Swift's 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 of clever clues and references 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. Read on, and happy digging!

Swift's "Honey" lyrics explain that she used to have bad associations with pet names such as "honey" and "sweetheart." Like many women, she was accustomed to hearing them in passive-aggressive contexts - such as a woman in a bar telling her to "back off" or someone criticizing her outfit in a public bathroom. "But you touch my face, redefine all of those blues when you say 'Honey,' Swift sings."

On the dreamy track from The Life of a Showgirl, Swift has fun rattling off the things others might want - from a "fat ass with a baby face" to a Palme d'Or. "They should have what they want. They deserve what they want," she says. But her biggest desire? "I just want you. Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you," Swift sings in the apparent ode to her fiancé, Travis Kelce.

While the petty lyrics are aimed at a certain someone who calls Taylor "Boring Barbie," the song sounds directly from Olivia Rodrigo's guts. Wait, is that feud still a thing? Swift digs deeper on "Father Figure," a song that posthumously doles out writing credits to George Michael, propping herself up as inspiration and guidance to "a younger version of me." "I saw potential," she sings on the outro.

Taylor Swift is getting a little Shakespearean - except this time, she's writing a happy ending. On Oct. 3, the singer released her new single "The Fate of Ophelia," which serves as the lead track of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. With the song, she turns William Shakespeare's famed play Hamlet on its head, but in the catchiest way possible.

Her not-quite-a-movie Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl is on track to make $30 to $35 million at the domestic box office this weekend, and another $8 to $10 million worldwide, per Deadline. That would put its high-end estimate around $45 million, and we'd never bet against Swift, so don't be surprised if it hits that target.

Essentially, the answer is unknown, as Swift has not commented on her touring plans for the near future, and none of her signature Easter eggs have pointed towards a tour (at least so far). However, some reports have indicated that the singer is indeed plotting some sort of show, although what that may look like remains unclear. When Will Taylor Go On Tour?

Swift made The Life of a Showgirl with Swedish super-producers Max Martin and Shellback while touring Europe last year. She described the project as a tribute to her joyful, wild, dramatic life as an entertainer, and a look behind the scenes of the Eras spectacle. Album imagery by fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shows Swift bejewelled with diamantes, fishnet tights, fur and feathered headdresses.