The Life of a Showgirl Part 1: Love
Keep it one hundred on the land, the sea, the sky
“Pulling me into the fire” …unlike Ophelia, Swift doesn’t drown of heartbreak.
You Saved My Heart
Taylor Swift falls in love this album. But that’s not new. She’s written literally hundreds of love songs.
What makes this time different?
Last album’s The Tortured Poets Department, heartbreak happened to Swift: “Did you really beam me up?” (Down Bad), “He stole my tortured heart,” (My Boy…) “You left me at the house by the heath” (So Long London). Guys acted and she was helpless against it.
Swift compares herself to Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia was was driven mad by heartbreak, then left for dead in a river: “drowning and deceived” (The Fate of Ophelia). Not unlike Swift last album: “handcuffed to the spell I was under” (Fresh Out the Slammer).
But! Unlike Ophelia, Swift survives: “you dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia.”
Now that Swift is out of the water, will she repeat old patterns…or forge a new path?
“I get so high everytime you’re loving me” - Don’t Blame Me, from reputation
My Drug Is My Baby
In old songs, if a guy liked Swift, she felt good about herself. Almost like she was on a high, “love made me crazy if it doesn’t you ain’t doing it right…my drug is my baby” (Don’t Blame Me from reputation).
If a guy didn’t like her, she felt bad. Like she wasn’t worthy as a person, “I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here…they say all’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell” (All Too Well from Red).
This is why love felt like madness. It controlled her. She rose and fell with every heartbreak: “I don’t like that falling feels like flying til the bone crush” (gold rush from evermore).
This is not unique to Swift. Everybody gets upset by heartbreak. We might use relationships as a marker of self-worth. To zoom out even further, there’s a lot of stuff we might use to feel good internally, like career, exercise, popularity.
This gets tricky. After a certain point, are we really hung up on that person? Or are we trying to fix something internal?
“My brother used to call it eating out of the trash.” - Opalite
Finally Left the Table
I would argue this is the shift in Showgirl. Swift’s self-worth comes from within, instead of depending on boyfriends.
She sings about how she use to “miss lovers past,” AKA “eating out of the trash” (Opalite). Even after relationships ended, she looked to ex-boyfriends for nourishment. She had to learn to get that from herself. She sings, “I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I, right before you lit my sky up” (The Fate of Ophelia).
Interestingly, her boyfriend changed in the same way. He had to “finally [leave] the table” where ex-girlfriends were feeding him scraps (Opalite).
When you’re hungry for love, it’s really hard to turn down food…even a measly offering, even out of a trash can. But I think we have to. It forces us to rely on ourselves for self-confidence.
Then, “what a simple thought, you’re starving til your not” (Opalite). Swift argues that if we can endure that temporary starvation, we’ll be ready to receive a whole damn meal.
“Dancing through the lightening strikes” - Opalite
Now the Sky is Opalite
This new self-confidence doesn’t just bring love. It allows Swift to slow down. Instead of relying on outside events to make her okay, she is okay on her own.
Before, bad times would really rock Swift, “if your cascade ocean wave blues come” (peace from folklore). Now, bad times are “just a storm inside a teacup” (Opalite). Even if this relationship goes away, she has her own solid ground.
Being present gives her breathing room. She remembers bad times will fade: “this is just a temporary speed bump” (Opalite). In fact, she remembers all of this is temporary: “life is a song, it ends when it ends” (Opalite).
If we believe happiness is the absence of storms, we will never be happy. Because there will always be storms: “it rains when you’re here and it rains when you’re gone” (Forever & Always from Fearless).
Instead, it’s about how we respond to the storm. When it rains, Swift and her boyfriend “dance through the lightening strikes” (Opalite).
They’re not naive and they don’t pretend everything is okay. Swift straight up says, “this life will beat you up” (Opalite). Instead, they choose to be present through the highs and lows. To remember that you can find purpose even in the bad times: “failure brings you freedom” (Opalite).
They don’t wait around for the good times either. They choose to “make your own sunshine”……..just like man made opalite.
“The black cat laughed” - Wood
His Love Was the Key
So yes, Swift is in love. He is her safe-space (Eldest Daughter). Her biggest cheerleader (Honey). Her dreams come true (Wi$h Li$t).
But my favorite love song is Wood. It’s the other half of hard-work…luck: “the curse on me was broken by your magic wand.”
Yes, you have to work hard at relationships. But when you’re with the right person, that work feels natural. Because below all that work, you have compatibility. Which is total luck.
And boy did Swift get lucky. Moral of the story: life’s not so hard when your boyfriend is.
The Life of a Showgirl Part 2: Power
The Life of a Showgirl Part 3: Work
