Well, Taylor Swift’s new music dropped today. I was wrong, this isn’t technically a new album, it’s the same old Life of a Showgirl, but with four new songs. The whole project is called The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. She has released “Patient Zero” as a single, and the music video for that song will premiere at Sunday night’s MTV VMAs. The music video preview (released by Swift this week) shows that Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell star in it, in some kind of love triangle.
Now that “Patient Zero” has been released and we know what the song is actually about though… it’s less like a love triangle and more like Taylor waiting for a call from one of her exes’ new girlfriends/wives/partners. Swifties already have theories about who the song is actually about: Gabbriette Bechtel (Matt Healy), Sophie Turner (Joe Jonas) or Sarah Pidgeon (Joe Alwyn). Considering how lovesick Taylor was/is about Healy, I suspect this is about waiting for a call from Gabbriette, but Sophie fits really well.
One of the other new songs is “Cleveland,” obviously about Travis Kelce and how much he loves her. Lyrically, this is not it. It’s one of the funniest ironies in the world that Taylor can write some truly heart-wrenching and poetic songs about dating f–kboys and scrubs, but now that she’s with a normal guy who loves her and doesn’t play games, suddenly her love songs are about Ohio and his dong.
Here’s “Pink Clouding” – they’re saying this is about Tom Hiddleston!!
And here’s the preview for the music video for “Patient Zero.”
This Sunday. @vmas. pic.twitter.com/dqELDIADSF
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 24, 2026
Photos courtesy of Taylor Swift’s social media.
Didn’t it just drop at midnight or something? There are theories already???
I wasn’t even halfway through my first listen of “Patient Zero” when I was like, ohh Sofi Turner and Joe Jonas. It was very obvious.
Fairly certain it’s actually about Sarah Pidgeon and Joe Alwyn. In the song she says she is the one who left, and the other two left her. She also says the person had a devil under a halo, which wouldn’t fit matty healy. Also, the dress she is wearing is one of Sarah Pidgeon’s love story dresses and CBK was known for black turtlenecks.
Good catch re: the dress!
The beginning of Patient Zero reminded me of “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder.
For Patient Zero – sounds like she’s sampled Nik Kershaw’s Wouldn’t It Be Good (the violin part at the beginning).
It also sounds like “Wait for Me” from Hadestown to me.
Immediately clocked Wait for Me (theater kid) too. Also the Cleveland song sounds like the Office theme.
Her song writing has really gone down hill if you compare it to Folklore etc. Sounds like she’s definitely been using AI to help her song write. Also, if she’s allegedly so happily married, why is she still writing songs about her exes?? Woof.
I haven’t listening to these songs yet, but I agree that her music has gone downhill. My feeling is that she’s just putting out too much, not taking enough time to recharge creatively, so she’s just creating pale versions of what she’s already done. Also agree–why still writing songs about exes? It’s embarrassing.
Why does she keep writing about her exes? Well, what else is a woman mentally stuck in her high school days supposed to write about?
It’s also ironic that someone can have such incredible legs but still appear awkward in certain standing poses. Like a baby horse trying to stand up for the very first time.
The only reasons this re-release is happening is to drain more money out of fans again and she was unhappy with reception to the album when it was first released.
The songs about Travis remind me of Sara Barrellis’ “Love song”, where she sings an entire song about how she is NOT going to write him a love song, just because he demanded it. I feel like it’s Travis asking for a love song or her really wanting to write him a love song and it’s just not happening organically.
Fun fact – the Sara Barrelllis love song was to her record company. They wouldn’t release her album unless she wrote a love song and that was her response to them.
Good to know! The sentiment still fits. LOL
Patient Zero I think is about JA’s new gf. Cleveland! Sounds like Cleveland, I just get a Midwest vibe from it, and it’s fun. Pink Clouds for sure about Hiddleston. Babylon reminds me a lot of Cowboy Like Me. Today it’s cool enough I could drive to work with my windows down and Patient Zero hit the vibe perfectly. People will hate on her music no matter what she does, there’s no winning.
Before I heard any of the lyrics, I saw a headline saying it was about “escaping a toxic relationship” and thought it might be about Blake Lively, lol.
I was already sick of this album the first time around, now there’s an encore? Girl, go on a honeymoon and don’t bother us for another two years, please! Her music is not good anymore and she refuses to see it.
You don’t have to listen or engage in stuff about it.
I’d literally have to move to another planet to avoid Tswift and her Swifties lol, since she’s everywhere by design. She’s the most exposure thirsty celeb in the world
This is always such a funny response to TS critics. It’s like “if you don’t like America then move” you can be disappointed in something. Also, it’s a pop culture blog so commenting about things is kind of the point???
Isn’t this just another album variant with a couple of bonus tracks thrown in?
Yikes, I hope she didn’t write a song as a married woman in her 30s about her ex from when she was a teenager. About a woman the ex is not even married to anymore. I’m gonna nix that theory and hope for the best.
She said in a radio interview patient zero was about an experience a group of friends were talking about and how this had happened to them. It’s not about her exes specifically. Though I’m sure the Sophie turner of it came to mind. It’s not about her exes. Even pink clouding is about her guilt of how she treated someone not the person.
I’m not judging these as her new era because it’s not a new album. But when a new album comes I am generally curious what he me new shtick will be as a happily married women. Writing about the people’s breakups is still legit though.
But what would be amazing is if she pivoted to like writing about real people’s lives. Take some time to listen to Springsteen, Mellancamp, Joel, and write some true Americana about our communities.
You can always tell people don’t listen and just focus on the tweets. I loved Babylon, which isn’t about an ex but life and not appreciating what you have when you have it.
Pink clouding at first listen I wasn’t sure but I went and read the lyrics and that song is wonderful and it’s on a piano it could be folklore, but the production makes it more poppy but I do like it a lot.
Cleveland is supposed to be fun and cheeky which isn’t her best stuff but it’s eh.
I liked patient zero but i would have make babylon or pink clouding the single.
She should have released “Life of a Showgirl” duet with Sabrina Carpenter. That is a good song and would have been well received.
Hope she takes a break for a while and let people miss her a little…
Swift had a real moment–her Macklemore Moment, let us say–where she could have used her voice, power, money, and talents for good, but instead she’s chosen to flounce around writing meaningless nonsense like this.
ITA but the moment isn’t gone. Plenty of good still needs doing and she might get to that point someday. That’s why I suggested above that she listen to the working class icons who’ve used their music to raise awareness of the daily struggles of average Americans. Even though they’ve all come out as raging liberals, they spent decades making music that made people feel seen across the spectrum so it doesn’t even have to be political. Tay is also gifted at making her fans feel seen and can use it for good if she chooses.
She’s so self-centered, can’t write meaningful lyrics about anything outside of her own romantic past. PLEASE, you aren’t the teen feeling left out on the bleachers any more, you are a MIDDLE-AGED woman that just got MARRIED, move on from the guy that you think did you wrong eleven years ago or whatever. Start a charitable foundation with your bajillion dollars and get inspiration from helping fellow human beings in the real world!
I think that might be true but it also might be true that she found a wildly successful formula that made her a billionaire. Either way, she has to reinvent herself now. She can’t be a 40 year old married mother of two in a few years and writing pop hits about teenage heartbreak, not if she wants to maintain her status as a global superstar. I am genuinely curious to see what’s next for her.
ETA: just googled what themes Madonna sang about in her 40s. Here’s the response: “spirituality, motherhood, fame, and the emptiness of materialism, marking a deeply reflective and mature phase in her career“.
wow, I’m bored already. they should have stayed away longer.
She has not written her hit songs since she crossed over to pop music. Her producer Max Martin’s team wrote all her hits and all of Life of a Showgirl. They wrote Shake it Off, We are Never, etc. This is the same producer who wrote Katy Perry’s, Britney Spears’, Back Street Boys’, etc. hits. Max Martin asks her what she wants to convey, then writes and records all the music. She only records the vocals at the end. They share the songwriting credit. She pays per song and a percentage.
What she has is great PR. I googled all of this when I learned that she did write her own songs.
That is not true. Max Martin is the one who requires a songwriting credit for any song he produces. He also specifically said in court documents he did not write Shake It Off.
“I did not write or provide any input into any lyrics in Shake It Off, which were written entirely by Ms. Swift”.