THE RUNDOWNTaylor Swift included original poems in each vinyl variant of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl.Swift writes about her life as a performer, fiancé Travis Kelce’s impact on her, and the thought of facing backlash again.Swifties have combined all of them to reveal the album’s full prologue.Just as she did with The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift wrote poems to accompany her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.Each vinyl variant (a few of which are subtitled “The Tiny Bubbles in Champagne” and “The Shiny Bug”) includes a unique poem. Although each variant was only available to shop for 48 hours, fans who received them have pieced together each one to create the album’s prologue.View full post on XView full post on XIn one of the poems, Swift seemingly writes about the experience of rehearsing in locker rooms during her Eras Tour. (The singer wrote the album while doing her European shows.) “Coffee stretch / Piano keys / Vocal warm ups in a locker room shower / Eyelash glue / A photo of him on the mirror.”Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce, spoke in 2023 about how she prepared for her Arrowhead Stadium concert near his locker in Kansas City, Missouri. “She’ll probably hate me for saying this, but…when she came to Arrowhead, they gave her the big locker room as a dressing room, and her little cousins were taking pictures…in front of my locker,” he recalled.In her “The Fate of Ophelia” music video, Swift includes a photo of Kelce on her dressing room mirror as an Easter egg:View full post on XSwift focuses more on Kelce in “The Tiny Bubbles in Champagne” poem, writing about him traveling to watch her perform and how she feels like he is the one who is “reckless, but never with your heart / If he’s in, you are too / You’ve begun to feel that / Every song before was just a prayer / A wish list / He is not what you’ve been waiting for / He is more / Why you held out / Why you left / And nothing aches suddenly / He has that effect.” Swift has a track called “Wi$h Li$t” on the album where she sings about her hopes for her future with Kelce.In another, she writes about getting older: “Remember this city? / You’ve been here before in another life / On another tour / Remember her? / She’s got a mortgage now.”She also reflected on the idea of facing backlash again, alluding to her Reputation era and recovery from that: “Perhaps someday they will despise you again / Perhaps it is not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when?’” She adds, “But you live by a strict code / Never believe your own mythology / Never type your name into the search bar / Let the wolves howl all they want / So you keep yourself too busy to ever learn what’s-their-name’s name.”Swift spoke in her Official Release Party of a Showgirl film about how she copes with people “canceling” her and others:“[Being canceled is] something everyone goes through now. It’s not just like a public figure type whatever, it’s like people gossiping about you in your town, negative comments you read on your Instagram. You can literally feel canceled by any sort of social backlash that you get. And I’ve been through a lot of discussion about everything that happens in my life and everything I do and everything I say and so I tend to like—first of all, anytime people get backlash, I tend to be the person they reach out to so it’s very funny because it’s just sort of like, ‘Oh yeah, OK, somebody told me that you got in trouble for making that joke. Hey, yeah, how are you doing? It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine. Do you want to go to lunch? Yeah, it’s fine.’ And I don’t know, I kind of wanted to write a song about how you can become wiser for it and you can become sharper, and I definitely judge people a lot less now that I’ve been kind of under the microscope for so long. I just judge people based on who I know them to be, their actions, not like some kind of general consensus where people are like, ‘Step away! They’re radioactive.’ I’m just not going to do that. I’m going to do that if somebody proves that they’re not a good person.”Swift purposely wrote all the poems to give her fans a special experience. She explained, “I really spent a lot of time figuring out how I could make the best vinyl product and the best packaging and the best CD experience that they could have. So the CDs all have photo cards in them, the vinyls each have a poem inside of them, a unique poem. They’ve got more images than we ever planned to put in there.”View full post on InstagramRead all of the poems in full below, courtesy of Genius, which offer a intimate portrait of Swift’s life on tour:You wake up branded with the lines of pillow creasesThunderbolted tree roots across your cheekIn turn, last night’s mascara stains the ivory hotel pillowcaseEach one leaving their mark on the otherLooks like you’re evenYou say “good morning” to them when you walk in and they don’t correct youAs they spray vodka on the armpits of the dancer’s costumesWe learn these tricks along the wayThe flesh toned bandage wrapCovered by skin colored fishnetsBecause you will cover the wound, no matter how deep it isNo one ever knewAnd baby, that’s show business for youCoffee stretchPiano keysVocal warm ups in a locker room showerEyelash glueA photo of him on the mirrorSweat and vanilla perfumeThe cracking of joints and the distant beat of a drumThe curtain callThe monotonous thrill of it allPlan it out so it doesn’t look plannedTen different backup plansIf your red bottomed heel breaksYou will keep struttingBalancing on the walls of your blistered feetKnow your exitsShoulders backEyes upHit your marksYour winksSparksTell them a story like it’s an intimate dinner partyThe looks on their wondrous facesTheir expressions like mood ringsIsn’t it all so majestic?Of course it isIt’s a lot of other things tooRemember this city?You’ve been here before in another lifeOn another tourRemember her?She’s got a mortgage nowStraight teeth where there’d been metal bracketsStanding with her 8-year-old daughterYou mouth “I know you”In the millisecond gap in your choreographyTo you, she will look exactly the same age as when you first saw herShe will always be 14-and-a-halfRememberLock right back into the footworkAny missed step is a misstepYou must remember everythingBut mostly this: the crowd is your king who has ruled over you for centuriesBenevolently for the most partPerhaps someday they will despise you againPerhaps it is not a matter of “if,” but “when?”They’ll re-assess your merits and then take a magnifying glass to the shiny bugDeflate all the heroes they had decided she wasAnd maybe they’ll do it just becauseBut you live by a strict codeNever believe your own mythologyNever type your name into the search barLet the wolves howl all they wantSo you keep yourself too busy to ever learn what’s-their-name’s nameHe ran to his car from work to catch the flightMissed the first act but somehow it’s better this wayIt’s just right because you get to watch him make his way through the massesParting the crowd like some neon Moses in a sequin seaHe is a magnet and a trampolineThe tiny bubbles in champagneHaphazard but precise, he crash-landed next to youReckless, but never with your heartIf he’s in, you are tooYou’ve begun to feel thatEvery song before was just a prayerA wish listHe is not what you’ve been waiting forHe is moreWhy you held outWhy you leftAnd nothing aches suddenlyHe has that effectTonight all these lives converge hereThe mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tearsWhere fraternal souls sing identical thingsAnd it’s beautiful, it’s rapturous, it is frighteningIt’s worth everything it has cost youAnd even at your darkest or drunkestYou wouldn’t say any differentWould you?You would choose all of it againNo matter how the story endsWith the ugliest boos or the loveliest bouquetThey say that love is a choice you make every single dayAnd that is how you love the life of a showgirl