Taylor Swift has returned with her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” and fans are here for it. The follow-up to last year’s “The Tortured Poets Department” sold 2.7 million copies in its first day, making it the pop star’s biggest first-week U.S. album sales. She also broke the all-time record for most copies of a vinyl album sold in a single week.
Swift co-wrote the album with legendary producers Max Martin and Shellback, a Swedish duo that has written hits for artists such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, and more. Together, they wrote the songs between the European concerts of her latest “Eras” tour cycle. Since it was put together so recently, it remains a fresh reflection on the past two years of her life.
“One thing about this album that I think is really exciting is that, oftentimes when I make a record, we then take all this time to plan out how we’re going to put it out,” Swift said during an interview with UK Hits Radio. “There’s a little lag time between when I made it and when it enters the world. Oftentimes, your life can change drastically between that point and this other point. With this one, the coolest part is that it is absolutely the place that I am in my life. The music matches the moment I’m in. It’s so much easier to come in here [for an interview] and talk about the music that completely, accurately reflects what’s going on in my life.”
The album opens with “The Fate of Ophelia,” a direct reference to the Shakespearean character from “Hamlet.” The song reimagines Ophelia’s tragic fate to depict a happy ending. Fans have easily read the meaning to be about Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce, “saving her” from a spiral of isolation and heartbreak.
“You dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia,” she sings.
“The Fate of Ophelia” reflects these feelings in its harmonic structure. The verse is a four-chord pattern of G minor, D minor, F, and C chords. Pairing two minor chords before resolving to two major chords front-loads a darker sound followed by a more hopeful feeling, just like the lyrical content suggests.
The songwriters also made each phrase five measures long, giving the lyrics a moment to breathe. It also creates a waiting feeling, building anticipation as to what comes next.
The chorus moves to Bb, the relative major key to G minor, to add an even greater sense of triumph to the story arc.
Swift has announced she won’t be touring behind the new album, but she’s still giving fans a show. She threw an official release party at movie theaters around the world, and she has also released the official music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” on YouTube.
Watch the video above and follow along with the sheet music for Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia”:
