Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album dropped Friday at midnight, and — as many fans expected — it includes several nods to the singer’s fiancé, Travis Kelce.
From lyrics about wanting to “settle down” to a jaw-dropping “New Heights of manhood” line, Page Six is breaking down all the new tracks that seemingly reference Swift’s romance with the NFL star.
Swift wastes no time commemorating the early days of her romance with Kelce. On the first track off “The Life of a Showgirl,” she seemingly sings about how the athlete swooped in and made the first move.
“I heard you calling / On the megaphone / You wanna see me all alone,” lyrics from “The Fate of Ophelia” read in part. “And if you’d never come for me / I might’ve drowned in the melancholy.”
Kelce admitted in July 2023 that he tried to give Swift his phone number (via a friendship bracelet) at the Kansas City, Mo., stop of her Eras Tour. Despite failing to meet her at the time, he didn’t give up.
Swift eventually accepted a date with Kelce after several people put in a good word to her about the “New Heights” podcast co-host.
The song implies that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end shooting his shot ultimately “saved [her] heart from the fate of Ophelia,” a character from Shakespeare’s famous “Hamlet” tragedy.
“Keep it one hundred / On the land, the sea, the sky / Pledge allegiance to your hands / Your team, your vibes,” Swift continues on the track. “Don’t care where the hell you been / ‘Cause now you’re mine.”
When the official track list for “The Life of a Showgirl” was revealed back in August, Swifties immediately theorized that “Opalite” could be in reference to Kelce.
The three-time Super Bowl champion was born on Oct. 5, 1989, meaning his astrological sign is Libra and his birthstones are opal and tourmaline.
Swift’s “Opalite” follows the story of someone who “had a bad habit” of finding relationships that were “never gonna last,” with lyrics about living “with ghosts” and believing they were “haunted” forever. Until, of course, everything changed.
“My Mama told me / It’s alright / you were dancing through the lightning strikes,” Swift sings. “Sleepless in the onyx night / But now the sky is opalite.”
“When you found me I said I was busy / That was a lie,” Swift hums on the album’s catchy fifth track. “I have been afflicted by a terminal uniqueness / I’ve been dying just from trying to seem cool.”
Some Swifties believe those lyrics, specifically, reference Kelce’s previous admission about not getting to meet the singer at her 2023 Kansas City Eras Tour stop. At the time, Swift was still fresh off her split from The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, whom the singer wrote several songs about on her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“Well, I was disappointed, she doesn’t talk before or after her shows, because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Kelce explained to “New Heights” podcast listeners at the time.
“So I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her,” he added. “She doesn’t meet anybody, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it personal.”
The pop star has a “wish list” — and starting a family with Kelce appears to be at the top of it.
The lyrics for track No. 8 seemingly reference Swift’s new era of life with Kelce as they get ready to tie the knot following the engagement news heard around the world.
“I just want you / Have a couple kids / Got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us the f-k alone … and they do / Wow,” Swift croons. “Got me dreaming ’bout a driveway / with a basketball hoop / Boss up, settle down / Got a wish list / I just want you.”
Toward the end of the song, Swift also sings about making “wishes” on stars and praying for a loyal companion after romances that have failed her in the past.
“Please, God bring me a best friend / who I think is hot,” she begs, with some humor. “I thought I had it right once, twice / But I did not.”
Remember when Kelce joked on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast in July that he “didn’t want [his] meat all over Page Six?” Welp, we’re so sorry, but we can’t seem to avoid that now.
In what is arguably her most vulgar song to date, Swift sings about her “curse” of bad relationships being “broken” by, ahem, a “magic wand.”
“Forgive me, it sounds cocky / he (ah!)matized me / And opened my eyes,” Swift croons. “Redwood tree / It ain’t hard to see / His love was the key / That opened my thighs.”
“Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way,” she continues, later adding, “Seems to me that you and me we make our own luck / New Heights of manhood / I ain’t gotta knock on wood.”
Later on the album, Swift sings about someone bringing a whole “different meaning” to the term “honey.” The track seems to be an obvious reference to Kelce, who has used endearing nicknames like “sweetie” and “my lady” when chatting about his pop star fiancée.
“But you touch my face / Redefine all of those blues / When you say… ‘Honey’ / Summertime spritz, pink skies,” Swift marvels. “You can call me ‘honey’ if you want / Because I’m the one you want / Wintergreen kiss, all mine / You give it different meaning, ’cause you mean it when you talk.”
“Honey, I’m home, we can play house / We can bed down, pick me up, who’s the baddest in the land, what’s the plan?” she adds. “What’s the plan? / You could be my forever night stand / Honey.”
The Grammy winner also gushes over having a partner who is finally “in awe” of her — and not afraid to “praise” her in public.
It’s no secret that Kelce has been hyping Swift up since the beginning of their romance, showing up to support her on the Eras Tour, bragging about her in various interviews and not shying away from PDA when cameras are around.
Their love story is a drastic change from what the “Bad Blood” singer experienced in previous high-profile relationships with celebrities like Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy.
As Page Six previously reported, Swift announced “The Life of a Showgirl” in August while making her record-breaking debut on the “New Heights” podcast, which Travis co-hosts with his brother, Jason.
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during [the Eras] Tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” she teased at the time, revealing the album’s official artwork, Oct. 3 release date and more.
“It just comes from, like, the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in, in my life. And so that effervescence has come through on this record … this is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time.”
She added, “This album isn’t really about what happened to me on stage, it’s about what I was going through off stage … it’s the life, behind it all; the life beyond the show.”
Just weeks after the podcast appearance, Swift and Kelce, both 35, announced via Instagram that they had secretly gotten engaged.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” they captioned the joint post, which featured pics from Kelce’s intimate garden proposal.
The NFL star got down on one knee with a dreamy, old mine brilliant-cut sparkler he co-designed with jeweler Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine. The lovebirds have yet to reveal details about their nuptials.
