“Oh Taylor #WOOD was EXACTLY what I needed tonight,” Nicki Minaj said along with a slew of other comments about Swift’s 16th studio album.
Att: Swifties our showgirl era has begun!
Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” has dropped and the internet is alight with opinions, excitement and reactions for each of the 12 tracks.
Swift took to her Instagram to mark the moment with a post featuring behind-the-scenes images taken by photography duo Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, and a short poem:
“Tonight all these lives converge here
The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears
Where fraternal souls sing identical things
And it’s beautiful
It’s rapturous.
It is frightening.”
The 35-year-old Grammy-award winning artist went on to say how “proud” she is of the album.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right,” she wrote.
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From the second the album hit streaming services, Swifties shared every opinion as each track played — and talk about kicking off strong, Rolling Stone gave the album five stars just minutes after it dropped!
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As for the fans, Track 1, “The Fate of Ophelia” is already a favorite from the album.
Swift’s lead single proved to be a downright bop — something Swift promised the album would be with the return of Max Martin and Shellback, who have been Swift’s frequent collaborators.
We didn’t need to go too far into the album to get our first Travis Kelce reference either.
“I heard you calling on the megaphone / Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes / Don’t care where the hell you been, ’cause now you’re mine.”
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In true Swiftie fashion, a new album drop means new opportunities to decode Easter eggs in her lyrics and music videos.
Listeners stayed up late to pick a part each lyric, reading into every word as they attempted to decipher who Swift could potentially be singing about.
Many fans are assuming “Actually Romantic” is aimed at fellow pop icon Charli XCX.
“I heard you called me boring Barbie when the coke’s got you brave,” Swift kicks the song off with, something has been aligned with, even referencing the party drug in her song “365,” referencing “doing a little key.”
Later in the song Swift adds more fuel to fire with: “High-fived my ex, and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me / Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.”
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While the lyrics for “Wood” had listeners looking straight to Travis Kelce.
“Forgive me, it sounds cocky / He unties me and opens my eyes / Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see / His love was the key that opened my thighs” — we all know a lot more than we needed to know about Kelce, but who doesn’t love a bit of risqué wordplay.
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Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj has taken a break from her escalating social media feud with Cardi B to share her many thoughts about the album.
Minaj’s flurry of tweets included, “Oh Taylor #WOOD was EXACTLY what I needed tonight. Thank you,” and “And now…The Sagittarius lashing spree culminates with The Life Of A Showgirl.”
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When Swift dropped the track list, fans were quick to assume “Ruin The Friendship” would touch on the demise of Swift’s friendship with Blake Lively, however fans noted that it seemed to be about an old crush from high school.
The song references Swift’s real life high school best friend Abigail, who calls Swift to tell her that a former crush passed away.
Swift sings of the emotional moment, and her regret over missed opportunities.
“Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye, and we’ll never know why / It was not an invitation / But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say / It was not convenient, no / But I whispered at the grave / Should’ve kissed you anyway.”
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Swift also gave a nod to the great George Michael by referencing his 1987 hit “Father Figure” — which enjoyed a resurgence earlier this year after it was featured in Nicole Kidman’s Babygirl.
“I’ll be your father figure / I drink that brown liquor / I can make deals with the devil because my d–k’s bigger,” she sung.
The late singer is credited as a co-writer on the song, with Michael’s estate celebrating the collaboration on Instagram, writing, “When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists.”
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It’s safe to say Swifties would have gone to sleep with a smile on their face last night, while The Empire State Building was also celebrating Swift’s release as it lit up in “The Life of a Showgirl” orange.
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