83 Heartfelt & Hilarious “The Life of a Showgirl” Lyrics I Can’t Stop Thinking About (Of Course Including “The Encore”!)

It turns out Taylor Swift wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her The Life of a Showgirl era. The singer announced on September 23 that she would debut new tracks for a deluxe version of the album, called The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. It was released on September 25, and Swift says the four additional songs came from a recording session in Sweden to celebrate the album’s success last year. (Swift originally dropped The Life of a Showgirl on October 3, 2025.) Now, with new tracks like “Patient Zero” and “Babylon,” Swifties have even more lyrics to dig into to try to understand the expanded story of the album — and also try to spot the perfect Showgirl lyrics to caption all your TikTok and Instagram posts.

Last fall, Swift said that this album was about what was going on behind the scenes of her Eras Tour — and from the sounds of it, a lot of it was about falling in love with her now-husband, Travis Kelce. In an interview with Capital Breakfast in October 2025, Swift said The Life of a Showgirl represents “exactly where I am in my life.” She added, “It feels very accurate to my life experience right now, which feels kinda cool.”

You might not be experiencing the exact same life moments as the billionaire pop star, but the special thing about Swift’s music is that her fans can connect to it in their own ways. So, whether you can’t stop playing “Opalite” on repeat (just like Kelce, apparently), or you’re trying to figure out who “Pink Clouding” is about, here are the best The Life of a Showgirl lyrics for all types of captions — from sweet to sincere to hilarious.

Of course, you’ll have your own favorite lyrics, but here are some from each song — including the new Encore tracks — that you can easily pull out for photo dumps.

Break out your schoolbooks for this song, because Swift is nodding to the character Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. And if you’re familiar with the play, then you know her fate is going mad and drowning. But Swift flips the script in her song and describes being saved from this fate herself, likely alluding to her relationship with Kelce. 

1. “I heard you calling on the megaphone.”
2. “I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I.”
3. “Keep it 100 on the land, the sea, the sky.”
4. “Saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia.”

Swift speaks to the Old Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor, whose love life also faced much scrutiny. She’s seemingly asking if her relationship with Kelce is the real thing, while nodding to some past relationships that didn’t work out.   

1. “Oftentimes, it doesn’t feel so glamorous to be me.”
2. “I’d cry my eyes violet.”
3. “Elizabeth Taylor, tell me for real, do you think it’s forever?”
4. “You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby.”
5. “Been number one, but I never had two.”
6. “Don’t you ever end up anything but mine.”

If you’re an “Opalite” stan, you have something in common with a future hall-of-fame tight end. “I think that’s his favorite,” Swift told Capital Breakfast when talking about the tracks Kelce likes. “He loves that one.” Kelce has an October birthday, making his birthstone an opal, and Swift went on to say that opalite is man-made, as opposed to a natural gem, and she liked that it represents how you can make your own happiness as well.

1. “I thought my house was haunted; I used to live with ghosts.”
2. “But my mama told me, ‘It’s alright, you were dancing through the lightning strikes.’”
3. “You had to make your own sunshine, but now the sky is opalite.”
4. “Never met no one like you before.”
5. “Failure brings you freedom.” 

Despite sharing the same name as the George Michael song, which Swift got permission to use, this song is mainly about her professional experiences. Fans have speculated it’s about Swift regaining control of her masters after they were sold to Scooter Braun. 

1. “I’ll be your father figure.”
2. “This love is pure profit.”
3. “I protect the family.” 
4. “You want a fight, you found it.”
5. “Whose portrait’s on your mantel?”

I can’t relate to being the eldest daughter, but Swift is one. This song leans into her experience as being the older sibling, and she seems to combine that with promising to keep vows. She also references “every youngest child,” and Kelce is the younger brother in his family, which makes this song sound a lot like promising to take care of their relationship.

1. “Everyone’s so punk on the internet.”
2. “Everyone’s unbothered ‘til they’re not.”
3. “I have been afflicted by a terminal uniqueness.”
4. “But I’m never gonna let you down, I’m never gonna leave you out.”
5. “Ferris wheels, kisses, and lilacs.”
6. “’Cause I’m not a bad b*itch, and this isn’t savage.”

Now, I’ll admit when I only knew the title of this song, I expected something a lot different — but after listening to the lyrics, it seems to be about a high school friendship Swift had. And if the lyrics paint a picture of reality, it appears the person she’s singing about has since passed away. It’s not totally a lighthearted bop, but it does include some nostalgic high school memories.

1. “Your smile, miles wide.”
2. “Should’ve kissed you anyway.”
3. “Shiny wood floors underneath my feet.”
4. “Disco ball makes everything look cheap.”
5. “Staying friends is safe, doesn’t mean you should.”

Here’s another song where the lyrics really shed light on the title. Fan speculation is that this is a response to a certain artist who may have written a song also pointed at Swift. Basically, it’s a little unhinged, but also kind of hilarious. To avoid starting fanbase feuds, here are some of the more laugh-worthy lyrics in the song—shared without pointing them at anyone in particular.

1. “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie.’”
2. “But it’s actually sweet, all the time you’ve spent on me.”
3. “It’s actually romantic, I’ve really gotta hand it to you.”
4. “Like a toy Chihuahua laughing at me from a tiny purse, that’s how much it hurts.”
5. “You think I’m tacky, baby.”
6. “You’ve just given me so much … attention!”

Juxtaposing the money signs in the title, Swift sings about a simpler wish list for herself and her future marriage with Kelce. She mentions having “a couple kids” and a “driveway with a basketball hoop.” While sharing her plans for the future, she also talks about more material things others (and perhaps her former self) want, saying she hopes they get those, too, and likely alluding to the fact that she already “boss[ed] up” and is now ready to “settle down.”

1. “They want that yacht life under chopper blades.”
2. “We tell the world to leave us alone, and they do.”
3. “Boss up, settle down; got a wish list.”
4. “I just want you.” 
5. “I made wishes on all of the stars.”

Swift plays on superstitions in this fun, cheeky song, and she heavily leans into innuendo, so post lyrics at your own risk. The ones I shared here are mostly benign, but you’ll probably find some other lyrics in the song that can really go one way or another, depending on how you interpret them. 

1. “Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck.”
2. “All of the b*tch*n’, wishing on a falling star.”
3. “I ain’t got to knock on wood.”
4. “It’s you and me forever dancing in the dark.”

Swift’s relationships aren’t the only part of her life put under a microscope. Her friendships are also scrutinized, and she seems to be saying here that perhaps her fans don’t know who she is and isn’t cool with — and that she doesn’t throw away friendships easily. 

1. “Did you girl-boss too close to the sun?” 
2. “Good thing I like my friends cancelled.”
3. “At least you know exactly who your friends are.”
4. “They believed I was innocent, so I’m not here for judgment.”
5. “I salute you if you’re much too much to handle.”

Another song for Kelce, Swift sings about how he has changed her perception of terms that she may have previously viewed as putdowns.

1. “You can call me ‘honey’ if you want, because I’m the one you want.”
2. “Redefine all of those blues when you say, ‘honey.’”
3. “Summertime spritz, pink skies.”
4. “Wintergreen kiss, all mine.”
5. “Buy paint in the color of your eyes, and graffiti my whole damn life, honey.”

This is the only duet on the album. Sabrina Carpenter joined Swift on the title track that tells the story of meeting a fictional showgirl and then blends into Swift (and likely Carpenter) both experiencing the “life of a showgirl.”

1. “Made her money being pretty and witty.”
2. “Looking back, I guess it was kismet.”
3. “You’re sweeter than a peach.”
4. “Do you want to take a skate on the ice inside my veins?”
5. “But I’m immortal now, baby dolls.” 
6. “Sequins are forever, and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe.”

The term “patient zero” refers to the first person infected with a contagion in an outbreak of illness, and this song applies that device to relationships. In an apparent radio snippet sent to Capital FM on September 25, Swift revealed the inspiration for this song came from a friend who said an ex’s current girlfriend reached out to her, “asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy.” Swift said she related to the situation and thought it’d be interesting to explore in a song “from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before,” the metaphorical “patient zero.”

1. “If you wanna party with someone who might know about the devil on his shoulder under his halo.”
2. “But if you’re sick of him, I’ve got you; I was patient zero.”
3. “I bet he burst into your life like fireworks.”
4. “I know it seems like he shines so bright, but he’s bathing in your reflected light.”
5. “Felt the reeling, done the healing, said the curses and prayers.”

As a fan of “Florida!” off TTPD, I was very excited for this song, but it is the one I’m replaying the least among the new tracks (although I love the message that she’s extremely happy and in love with Kelce, who happens to be from Cleveland). The lyrics sound like a cathartic clapback to people who had — and still have — a lot to say about her relationship with Travis Kelce.

1. “He already took me to Cleveland, and showed me The Heights, so hate all you like, this is the love of my life.”
2. “He likes what he likes, what he likes, and he likes me.”
3. “You only need to find one person in this world who doesn’t find you completely insufferable, and I have an important announcement to make: I found mine!”
4. “Now I’m wearing white, so hate all you like, this is the love of my life.”

Pink cloud syndrome is most widely known as a period of recovery defined by an inflated sense of optimism and confidence. Swift seems to use this device in the song to describe the period after a relationship, when she quickly got into a new one.

1. “Met the magenta sunrise, fuchsia forever intertwined.”
2. “It was so good letting you want me, so good to make promises, promises.”
3. “I was pink clouding from the thrill of it.”
4. “You met me at a cursed time; I told you I was fine.”
5. “I hope you realized my kinda trouble wasn’t worth it.”
6. “It didn’t mean nothing just ’cause I could leave it.”

Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia in the 18th century BCE. It has a complicated reputation that, in part, includes being revered as a beacon of societal advancement. Swift seems to latch onto this facet of the ancient city in her song; it sounds like it’s about someone who seems to have everything they want, but doesn’t realize it until it’s gone.

1. “And though the box is wrapped up nice, it’s just a cage to you.”
2. “But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone, then that melody is all you want.”
3. “You never knew that it was Babylon ’til it was gone.”
4. “Give the people what they want, then you keep it moving.”
5. “Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb.”
6. “You’re using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself, but darling, you end up hurting everybody else.”