October 7, 2025 • 25 mins
Amy and T.J. spent the day listening to Taylor Swift’s new album “The Life of a Showgirl” and then read all the critical reviews. Taylor’s lyrics appear to highlight her sex life with fiancé Travis Kelce and shine a light on some pop beef she may have with Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole and singer Charli XCX… details that did not go unnoticed by the critics and fans alike.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, there are folks. It is Tuesday, October seventh. Taylor
Swift is happy and apparently horny. Welcome to this episode
of Amy and TJ. I didn't that's not me. That
is not me. I am relaying what I had no
idea this was going on, this conversation around Taylor swift album,
(00:24):
So Heart, what did I miss? Am I not in
tune enough to pop culture? I thought she's had a
record setting album and we're going about our business.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, I mean that can all be true. At the
same time, I think look, right away, people were writing
about how this was a departure, not from the way
it sounds the music necessarily, but certainly the subject matter.
I mean, she's often talked about breakups and heartbreak and
all of that. Now she's in love and apparently she's
having amazing sex because there is and I haven't seen
(00:56):
this for some fairly adult themes in her music, where
you know, typically she was you know, selling to a
younger audience. She started when she was a teenager, but
we have to remember she is thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Old now, Yeah, very grown woman.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So she's fully capable of talking about and writing about
and singing about sex. But it just is a little
It threw me a little bit when I read some
of the lyrics.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I guess her fans are. Is that what we were
dealing with here, So let's start with that Life of
a Show Girl came out last Friday to record numbers
over the two point seven first day, one day, one day,
so it beat her own week of sales record with
(01:40):
two point seven in the first day. That's just astronomical.
And then her movie was number one at the box
office over the weekend. Everything is cooking for this young
lady when it comes to her music. I am not
used to robes and this threw me. She's almost certainly
critic proof, but she has made I guess she doesn't
have a lot of projects that not a lot of
(02:01):
people are bold enough to go after her and to
go after her music, to go after her lyrics, and
I have never seen it. I'm not the biggest Swift follower,
but there is a different tone to what I'm seeing,
or I guess more in the masses of what I'm
hearing about her music.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, you think what you're saying is basically there are
media outlets, magazines, and even a lot of folks on
social media daring to criticize her work, daring to criticize
her lyrics, and that is not something we're used to
seeing or hearing.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I guess I don't know. Something just feels a little.
People feel a little more emboldened, or maybe they're going
after her art and her life differently now and we
can get into the possibility of why this is a
young woman, this is period, point blank. I don't give
a damn really one way or another, if she ever
(03:02):
put out another album. I am a fan of hers,
not necessarily her music. It's not my lane. I respect it,
but it's just I don't put on Taylor Swift's music.
I've seen her in concert one of the best things
I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I love her music, so I run to her music
and have obviously because of just our relationship at ABC News,
got to meet her several times. She was kind to
my daughters. She will always be a superstar to me.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So if she has taken a turn and produced an
album that's different from the rest, talking about things that
are different from the rest, and if that has been
fed by her personal life and this woman being happy
that I'm saying this is the best album of her life.
I love if this is what she produces when she
(03:48):
is happy. Girl, do you think?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Look she she writes, she writes her songs, and she
obviously famously writes about the ups and downs of her
love life. And now she is on a upward trajectory,
and she's writing about the good sex. She's writing about
the great relationships. She's writing about being engaged. She's writing
about maybe even an ex girlfriend of Travis, maybe a
(04:15):
friend or an ex friend or never was, a friend
who's a fellow singer who they both were dating, someone
in the same group. So she's going there and maybe
being a little edgier than she's been before.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You okay with that?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, of course. I mean if you can't stay in
the same lane, you can't be seventeen all your life
talking about it's a love story, you know. No, it's
she's obviously gone through some shit and she's writing about it,
and she's singing about it.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Dang it. Can can you think of one who successfully
with somebody? Obviously we're gonna miss that made that transition
and their fans grew up with them that they went
from kind of a teeny bopper thing. But you know,
what Justin Bieber's is not a bad example.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's a great example. I was actually thinking of Michael Jackson.
I was thinking about someone who you know, started singing
young and was singing about poppy, fun songs and then
was able to Yeah, grow the lyrics grew with them.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Who else are we missing as guy's gotta be something.
But yeah, to think about that, Okay, her maybe did
her evolution come a little later? Did her the maturity
or a grit or a I don't know, a ruggedness
to her lyrics about adulthood not come until she's thirty five.
I am not familiar enough with her music just be
(05:31):
honest there to know what kind of themes. But she
talks about heartbreak.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yes, and she's she's gotten edgy or her themes have softened.
I mean again, when she was young, it was all
I mean, I love her early stuff. When she was
a young, hopeful, bright eyed, bushy tailed girl who had
the whole world in front of her and she was
conquering her dreams. Those are sweet fun songs, even twenty two.
I'm feeling twenty two. But yes, now she went in
(05:56):
like ooh, look what you made me do? Like she
starts you know, she's been she's been doing some not
the necessarily just pop songs. She's had some fun edge
to some of her songs.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So is this then about the sex?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Okay, sex, I haven't really And look, I don't know
Taylor swift songs the way her fans do the Swifties do,
but I don't recall there being much sex talk in
any of her lyrics.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Okay, So let's get to what look people have. And again,
there are critics music criigs out. They're doing their thing,
and they're supposed to be critical of the music. And
I think a lot of those folks have been respectful
of it and doing their jobs. But there are three
things that are standing out to fans certainly and critics alike,
and in particular a song that people are pointing to
(06:44):
in particular lyrics having to do about sex. And it's
almost no, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna put anything
you had to influence you, but I'll just tell you
the name of the song. It's would, Okay, And now
we'll share the lyrics that people are just having a
blast with.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
All right, this is I'm actually blushing a little even
with these lyrics because yeah, all right, she says, forgive me.
It sounds cocky. He amatized me and opened my eyes.
You told me amatized is a Yes, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
A she shortened a popular online reference to having sex
so good that you have been dimatized. I didn't want
to say.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It, all right, but amatized and opened my eyes Redwood Tree,
it ain't hard to see. His love was the key
that opened my thighs.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Heal.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah again. I'm like, I don't really want to read this,
but okay, girls, I don't need to catch the bouquet
to know a hard rock is on the way.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
But bump, bump, I mean, and.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious. The curse
on me was broken by your magic. Wand man seems
to be that you and me we make our own
luck new heights of manhood. I ain't got a knock
on wood.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Do you think Taylor if she's happy have fun? Look, Yes,
that's fun, it's funny. That's just it's hilarious. How much
I always say man rappers are some great writers, because
even if they talk about some of the most bulgar
things you've ever heard, it's creative And how it's delivered.
If she's having fun and talking about sex in this
(08:29):
way in a song, and this is more actually one
of the more upbeat it has, like the Jackson five
with that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, it sounds like ABC a little bit at the beginning.
But you know, I was thinking, sure, I think it's great.
She should be able to write about whatever and sing
about whatever she wants. And if she's singing about having
great sex and being really happy, amazing. I was just
thinking about his mom and her mom like that would
give me so much pause. But I love that she's
risen above that, and it's all for the art. It's
(08:57):
all for the art.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
She's a grown woman. However, I will, you know, say
okay to the fans who have grown up with her,
who have been listening to every line of every album,
and to hear that from her might be a little stunning.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, it's just I mean, I think if you can.
It seems like she's laughing as she's saying it, and
so if you can just laugh with her and say, man,
if you haven't experienced that one day, I hope I will,
you know, just lean in, enjoy it all right.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The other issue here that some have pointed out is
the idea. I guess you put it this way, right,
Disney is trying to get away from the princess who
needs to be saved in the tower from the prince,
and then once he comes, everything is going to be okay.
And I guess it's that the life of Ophelia. That
song is one that folks are pointing to it and
again do you think, sister, But it does have kind
(09:56):
of that theme of everything's okay in my life, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That is what happened for her, that's I think we again,
we can overcoreac overcorrect, excuse me, instead of teaching all
little girls that they need a prince to come save her.
It's okay. If maybe you were not feel in love
and had gotten disappointed so many times, when someone comes
and suddenly you believe in love again, I think. And
if it took that guy to make you feel that
way again, to realize that it was possible, that can
(10:22):
be okay too. You know, I don't think it has
to be, but I get it. There were some folks
online saying things like, please don't tell me that you
know Ophelia ends up dying killing herself in Shakespearean tragedy
that it is. And she was like, please don't tell
me that you know you needed a quarterback so that
you didn't, you know, do harm or kill yourself or
(10:45):
end up like Ophelia. So the people who've taken it
a little too far, like they're personally offended that she's
saying she was at death's door until Travis Kelsey came around.
But maybe that's true and that's her path and that's
what happened with her.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, the thing, I don't know how, and I haven't
heard the breakdown that she does a thing where she
kind of goes into each song. I haven't listened to
her and the meaning behind this and the story behind it.
But I don't know. I didn't think about it until
you just said, well, maybe that's true for her, Like
we don't know how propable place and I suggesting Taylor
Swift with everything. No, but she caring herself.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
She does say this all that time, This is life
of Ophelia. All that time I sat alone in my tower,
you were just honing your powers. Now I can see
it all. Late one night you dug me out of
my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia,
so her heart from the Fate of Ophelia where she
wanted to die because she was heartbroken. So I think
(11:45):
that's okay. I mean, look her one of her big
hits that I sang so badly, The beginning Love story
is all about a love story. It's a very like
a I'm a princess, I'm Romeo, I'm Juliette, You're Romeo
like she's She's sung about fairy tales before. So this
is a little bit of a darker twist to it
with a happy ending.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, but again, we're just passing along what some are
saying out there. I wouldn't suggest the other thing about it.
It's just art, right, Yeah, she's just telling telling a story. Now,
that's one part that's being looked out. The other one
has to do with Travis Kelsey's ex girlfriend. Now there's
no way I would have been able to dig this
one out on my own. These folks can spot stuff,
(12:26):
can't think, because this takes a little bit of a
deep dive.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, people know all the ins and outs. We did not.
I actually I knew what Travis Kelsey's ex girlfriend looked like,
but I didn't really know anything about her, So yes,
I would never have been able to figure this out.
But it is all in the song Opaighte and she
describes a scene, or at least a past love of
(12:51):
the person she's writing about that very much mimics something
that happened in real life between Travis Kelcey and his
now ex girlfriend Kaylin Nicole. She writes, you were dancing
through the lightning strikes sleepless in the Onyx Night. We
should point out that Travis Kelcey's ex girlfriend is black,
so there is that people are pointing to Onyx Knight.
(13:12):
But now the sky is opal light. Oples are white.
Oh oh oh oh, my Lord never made no one
like you before. You had to make your own sunshine.
But now the sky is opal light.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I think that's a stretch for anybody to try to
I don't think that's what she was singing about. That's
just me, and that's that's some folks out there. Really,
it could.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Have just been a dark night, like a black night,
like meaning you were depressed, you were sad, but there
was a specific lyric. This is where they really pointed
to Kayla Nicole. This was different, yeah, she said, and
this is speaking of her person she's singing about. We
can't say it's for sure, Travis Kelsey, but people, of
course are connecting the dots. You couldn't understand it. Why
you felt alone? You were in it for real. She
(13:56):
was in her phone and you were just a poet.
And why don't we try to love love? We give
it all we got. You finally left the table, and
what a simple thought. You're starving till you're not the
phone thing. There is a story behind that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, there was a video out there that was posted
that showed Travis Kelsey in an interaction interaction with the
ex girlfriend in which there was a back and forth
over the phone, essentially in attention, if you will, a
focus in the relationship, paying more attention to the phone
in that moment than they were to each other. So
that's the backstory there. It's hard to look at this
(14:31):
one and see what a quinkie dink.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yes, well, and here's another quinky dink. So on the
very day October three, that Taylor's album came out and
the song Open LIGHTE and its lyrics were out for everybody,
Caylin Nicole posted this to her story without any reference
to anything she re shared in America's Next Top Model
clip that featured Tyra Banks asking a contestant, how do
(14:57):
you compare yourself to the other girls out there? That
contestant said, I don't compare myself to other girls. I'm
no comparison to anyone else. Kuwinki deeck.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Maybe she's a producer on the show and she's trying
to promote it in the new season.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I love how everybody now, well, if you, I guess,
if you can't write a song for millions to hear.
We all have our social media feeds and don't people
just love to send veiled messages.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's a pretty good one, I.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Do. I agree because it wasn't mean.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It wasn't me at all. She's just and you know,
as she turned it back on herself. I don't know
this show.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It was well done.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
That's kind of well done. Give it all this so
we haven't even got to another one of the big
big mysteries. It does Taylor Swift have pop beef? They've
been listening to Drake and Kendrick Lamar too long? Stay
with us, folks, All right, folks, welcome back here now. Yes,
(16:03):
there's a possibility of a pop beef. I didn't know
this was a real kind of funny thing. But yes,
it's not. The Life of a Showgirl is out now
setting records, but a lot of folks have been de
siphering a bunch of songs, the lyrics, the meaning behind them,
and surprisingly it's I didn't this. The Metacritics score for
this her twelfth album is in the bottom two of
(16:26):
all of her wow previous albums. So those are critics
speaking up. We'll get you assume some of what the
critics are saying here in just a second. But Charlie
xc X, Now, I didn't know these two had any
type of relationship of any kind, and certainly didn't know
there was something bull bubbling at the surface, I should say.
But she's a British singer and a big deal who
(16:47):
has blown up over the past few years.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yes, and I didn't know this either, but apparently at
one point they were both dating a member of the
same band and so.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Very important to the backstory.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yes, so Charlie XCX's song Sympathy is a Knife came
out first.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I think it was last year.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yes, okay, last year. And the lyric in Charlie XCX's
song is this one girl taps my insecurities. Don't know
if it's real or if I'm spiraling. Don't want to
see her backstage at my boyfriend's show, fingers crossed behind
my back. I hope they break up quick. And then
there was also a reference to a boring blonde, sorry,
(17:25):
a boring did I get it wrong? Boring Barbie Barbie.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
That's h Taylor Swift picked up yes on that line
in her song, but that's very important. I didn't know this.
So these are two women who were dating guys in
the same band. That's the backstory. Now that lyric comes
along and all the fans are piecing this together. So
now Taylor Swift on this new album has a song
called actually Romantic and robes. They picked up on this immediately.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It seems like it might be all about Charlie XCX.
So here's what Taylor Swift sings, high five my ex
and then said, you're glad he goasted me, wrote me
a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.
Some people might be offended, but it's actually sweet. All
the time you've spent on me, it's honestly wild, all
the effort you've put in. It's actually romantic. I really
(18:14):
got to hand it to you. No man has ever
loved me like you do.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You couldn't even get through it, could you.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Oh? I was just dripping with sarcast So that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Is the lyric everybody's pointing to. And also at the top,
what's the top lyric about the one you were just
trying to pull up about the the Barbie boring Barbie
line where she and accused her of being bold because
she's on coke. Oh, yes, that line. So apparently this
has been going back and forth, and mind you, folks,
(18:45):
we should put this out there. We didn't say, did we.
Charlie XCX has opened for Taylor Swift on tour before,
so these two know each other pretty doll going well,
I don't know if any of this is real. Taylor
Swift has put out not a statement, but she explained
some of the songs lyrics, and she says, you know what,
(19:08):
get that lyric first, and then I'm gonna read this quote.
How are you doing over there?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Because I'm trying to find I'm trying to find exactly
where the boring Barbie came in. Okay, wait, hold on,
So Charlie XCX said there are no diss tracks on
her album, but.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The song the top of the song is where I
have it here and take this with starts. The first
line of the song is I heard you call me
boring Barbie when the Kochs got you brave. That's how
the song starts. Now that's some I mean, even Kendrick
Lamar is applaud that whoever he's talking about. So I
(19:53):
don't know how much of this is real. And the
back and forth of Charlie XCX is now put out
a video something online in which it's a recording studio
and you hear just a couple of notes, essentially, I
give your heads up, I'm in the studio.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I'm working you like that. Huh, that's good. I got
a new album coming out.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's good, rap beep stuff. Now folks are saying Taylor
explained what the lyric and what the song is about
the robes and reading her explanation, it didn't turn me
away from it, said, oh, she's confirming.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, thinking she didn't say yes it was Charlie XCX,
but she explained the exact scenario in which these two,
it seems, have found themselves. So Taylor said, it's a
song about realizing that someone else has kind of had
a one sided adversarial relationship with you that you didn't
know about, and all of a sudden they start doing
too much and they start letting you know that actually
you've been living in their head rent free and you
(20:47):
had no idea. That kind of sounds exactly what we
just described.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That's more brutal than the lyrics. Yeah, oh so, I
I don't know Charlie XCX saying.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
No one's love no man's loved me the way you
do that, that's pretty. That's that's a big poke.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
That's a compliment and the greatest insult ever. We want
to hit you with a few reviews here, just from
the New York Times Robes, because some of this stuff
is really good, oh says while the album goes down easy,
it's not a hard pivot or a grand leap. It's
another missive from the inner world. The most famous politician
(21:26):
of our generation.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Musician, you said, politician.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Famous musician. Well, she did well. She was out in
the campaign.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Drill, wasn't She's a musician, Well, the.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Most famous musician of her generation set to meticulous mid
tempo creations that often glisten and sometimes trip over themselves.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
She said. They say. In nearly every song, the music
makes a sparkling first impression, but as the album unfolds,
the lyrics undermine those pop satisfactions. As the words sank in,
I was left wondering how many scores does Swift still
need to settle.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, that's interesting that I'm telling you she's got She's
creating pop Beef's.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I mean, maybe it's brilliant. Look at what it did
for Kendrick Lamar and even look at what it's done
for Drake in terms of album sales. You keep pulling
up Spotify and Drake's like number one, number two, number.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I mean, he just got back to work.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Look at the end of the day. Well, even if
that rap beef kind of ignited a fire in him
and his fans to say, hey, we like him too,
this could be brilliant marketing.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Babe. Wow, all right. Now are a few folks critics
of this album. One says we may have seen Taylor
on far better songwriting form than with the Life of
a Show Goal, but perhaps now more than ever, she
is making music for herself over anyone else. I buy that.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Simon Cowell calls that indulgent on American idol, but you
know what, she's earned the right to be. I feel
like my personal opinion this one also is she leans
fully into the idea of her sona as a work
of artifice. The twelve songs here are either a peak
under the mask or are another mask altogether. From a
(23:08):
critical perspective, that pivot makes it at least a little
bit interesting as an exercise. But what's most surprising about
the Life of a Showgirl is the extent to which
it's off putting, both as a pop album and as
a Taylor Swift album.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
That's why I put in parentheses before that one. This
is the best quote. This is the best critic The
best way I've seen it put is that people don't
like it as a Taylor Swift album.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I thought that was a good way for them to
put that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, that does make sense, But I do you know,
I do appreciate hmmm. This one's tough. The Life of
a Showgirl isn't a particularly bad album, but given Swift's
immense back catalog, too much of it sounds like an
artist on auto pilot. That's tough.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Upfront, The one two up says it's kind of the
same thing at the end appears a signal of disinterest
in evolution. Again, these are folks who, again I'm familiar
with her, Yeah, but there's are folks who pay attention
and know her, know her music, know all of those albums.
I was shocked, Grobes. I was sitting up there with
Savine earlier and asked, can you name any of the
(24:14):
other I really could not name a Taylor Swift album.
I couldn't think of the name of even of them.
See Sabine popped off all twelve.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah, oh wow, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Without even trying. So I'm for her to be at
this place, to have that reach, to evolve that this
may be the album she's been singing about eleven previous albums.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You know, I feel like the song the sound does
sound the same, but it's just the lyrics that have
changed a bit, and I appreciate that. And look, you know,
she's it does seem she's very proud of it. The
fans are gobbling it up, and she looks happier than
she's ever been before, and that makes.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It a great album, folks. And with that, always appreciate
you hanging thus for now, I'm teaching.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Hold and I'm Amy Robot. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
M m m mmm
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Mm hmmm mm
Hey, there are folks. It is Tuesday, October seventh. Taylor
Swift is happy and apparently horny. Welcome to this episode
of Amy and TJ. I didn't that's not me. That
is not me. I am relaying what I had no
idea this was going on, this conversation around Taylor swift album,
(00:24):
So Heart, what did I miss? Am I not in
tune enough to pop culture? I thought she's had a
record setting album and we're going about our business.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, I mean that can all be true. At the
same time, I think look, right away, people were writing
about how this was a departure, not from the way
it sounds the music necessarily, but certainly the subject matter.
I mean, she's often talked about breakups and heartbreak and
all of that. Now she's in love and apparently she's
having amazing sex because there is and I haven't seen
(00:56):
this for some fairly adult themes in her music, where
you know, typically she was you know, selling to a
younger audience. She started when she was a teenager, but
we have to remember she is thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Old now, Yeah, very grown woman.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So she's fully capable of talking about and writing about
and singing about sex. But it just is a little
It threw me a little bit when I read some
of the lyrics.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I guess her fans are. Is that what we were
dealing with here, So let's start with that Life of
a Show Girl came out last Friday to record numbers
over the two point seven first day, one day, one day,
so it beat her own week of sales record with
(01:40):
two point seven in the first day. That's just astronomical.
And then her movie was number one at the box
office over the weekend. Everything is cooking for this young
lady when it comes to her music. I am not
used to robes and this threw me. She's almost certainly
critic proof, but she has made I guess she doesn't
have a lot of projects that not a lot of
(02:01):
people are bold enough to go after her and to
go after her music, to go after her lyrics, and
I have never seen it. I'm not the biggest Swift follower,
but there is a different tone to what I'm seeing,
or I guess more in the masses of what I'm
hearing about her music.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, you think what you're saying is basically there are
media outlets, magazines, and even a lot of folks on
social media daring to criticize her work, daring to criticize
her lyrics, and that is not something we're used to
seeing or hearing.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I guess I don't know. Something just feels a little.
People feel a little more emboldened, or maybe they're going
after her art and her life differently now and we
can get into the possibility of why this is a
young woman, this is period, point blank. I don't give
a damn really one way or another, if she ever
(03:02):
put out another album. I am a fan of hers,
not necessarily her music. It's not my lane. I respect it,
but it's just I don't put on Taylor Swift's music.
I've seen her in concert one of the best things
I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I love her music, so I run to her music
and have obviously because of just our relationship at ABC News,
got to meet her several times. She was kind to
my daughters. She will always be a superstar to me.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So if she has taken a turn and produced an
album that's different from the rest, talking about things that
are different from the rest, and if that has been
fed by her personal life and this woman being happy
that I'm saying this is the best album of her life.
I love if this is what she produces when she
(03:48):
is happy. Girl, do you think?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Look she she writes, she writes her songs, and she
obviously famously writes about the ups and downs of her
love life. And now she is on a upward trajectory,
and she's writing about the good sex. She's writing about
the great relationships. She's writing about being engaged. She's writing
about maybe even an ex girlfriend of Travis, maybe a
(04:15):
friend or an ex friend or never was, a friend
who's a fellow singer who they both were dating, someone
in the same group. So she's going there and maybe
being a little edgier than she's been before.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You okay with that?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, of course. I mean if you can't stay in
the same lane, you can't be seventeen all your life
talking about it's a love story, you know. No, it's
she's obviously gone through some shit and she's writing about it,
and she's singing about it.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Dang it. Can can you think of one who successfully
with somebody? Obviously we're gonna miss that made that transition
and their fans grew up with them that they went
from kind of a teeny bopper thing. But you know,
what Justin Bieber's is not a bad example.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's a great example. I was actually thinking of Michael Jackson.
I was thinking about someone who you know, started singing
young and was singing about poppy, fun songs and then
was able to Yeah, grow the lyrics grew with them.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Who else are we missing as guy's gotta be something.
But yeah, to think about that, Okay, her maybe did
her evolution come a little later? Did her the maturity
or a grit or a I don't know, a ruggedness
to her lyrics about adulthood not come until she's thirty five.
I am not familiar enough with her music just be
(05:31):
honest there to know what kind of themes. But she
talks about heartbreak.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yes, and she's she's gotten edgy or her themes have softened.
I mean again, when she was young, it was all
I mean, I love her early stuff. When she was
a young, hopeful, bright eyed, bushy tailed girl who had
the whole world in front of her and she was
conquering her dreams. Those are sweet fun songs, even twenty two.
I'm feeling twenty two. But yes, now she went in
(05:56):
like ooh, look what you made me do? Like she
starts you know, she's been she's been doing some not
the necessarily just pop songs. She's had some fun edge
to some of her songs.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So is this then about the sex?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Okay, sex, I haven't really And look, I don't know
Taylor swift songs the way her fans do the Swifties do,
but I don't recall there being much sex talk in
any of her lyrics.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Okay, So let's get to what look people have. And again,
there are critics music criigs out. They're doing their thing,
and they're supposed to be critical of the music. And
I think a lot of those folks have been respectful
of it and doing their jobs. But there are three
things that are standing out to fans certainly and critics alike,
and in particular a song that people are pointing to
(06:44):
in particular lyrics having to do about sex. And it's
almost no, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna put anything
you had to influence you, but I'll just tell you
the name of the song. It's would, Okay, And now
we'll share the lyrics that people are just having a
blast with.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
All right, this is I'm actually blushing a little even
with these lyrics because yeah, all right, she says, forgive me.
It sounds cocky. He amatized me and opened my eyes.
You told me amatized is a Yes, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
A she shortened a popular online reference to having sex
so good that you have been dimatized. I didn't want
to say.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It, all right, but amatized and opened my eyes Redwood Tree,
it ain't hard to see. His love was the key
that opened my thighs.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Heal.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah again. I'm like, I don't really want to read this,
but okay, girls, I don't need to catch the bouquet
to know a hard rock is on the way.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
But bump, bump, I mean, and.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Baby, I'll admit I've been a little superstitious. The curse
on me was broken by your magic. Wand man seems
to be that you and me we make our own
luck new heights of manhood. I ain't got a knock
on wood.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Do you think Taylor if she's happy have fun? Look, Yes,
that's fun, it's funny. That's just it's hilarious. How much
I always say man rappers are some great writers, because
even if they talk about some of the most bulgar
things you've ever heard, it's creative And how it's delivered.
If she's having fun and talking about sex in this
(08:29):
way in a song, and this is more actually one
of the more upbeat it has, like the Jackson five
with that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, it sounds like ABC a little bit at the beginning.
But you know, I was thinking, sure, I think it's great.
She should be able to write about whatever and sing
about whatever she wants. And if she's singing about having
great sex and being really happy, amazing. I was just
thinking about his mom and her mom like that would
give me so much pause. But I love that she's
risen above that, and it's all for the art. It's
(08:57):
all for the art.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
She's a grown woman. However, I will, you know, say
okay to the fans who have grown up with her,
who have been listening to every line of every album,
and to hear that from her might be a little stunning.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, it's just I mean, I think if you can.
It seems like she's laughing as she's saying it, and
so if you can just laugh with her and say, man,
if you haven't experienced that one day, I hope I will,
you know, just lean in, enjoy it all right.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The other issue here that some have pointed out is
the idea. I guess you put it this way, right,
Disney is trying to get away from the princess who
needs to be saved in the tower from the prince,
and then once he comes, everything is going to be okay.
And I guess it's that the life of Ophelia. That
song is one that folks are pointing to it and
again do you think, sister, But it does have kind
(09:56):
of that theme of everything's okay in my life, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That is what happened for her, that's I think we again,
we can overcoreac overcorrect, excuse me, instead of teaching all
little girls that they need a prince to come save her.
It's okay. If maybe you were not feel in love
and had gotten disappointed so many times, when someone comes
and suddenly you believe in love again, I think. And
if it took that guy to make you feel that
way again, to realize that it was possible, that can
(10:22):
be okay too. You know, I don't think it has
to be, but I get it. There were some folks
online saying things like, please don't tell me that you
know Ophelia ends up dying killing herself in Shakespearean tragedy
that it is. And she was like, please don't tell
me that you know you needed a quarterback so that
you didn't, you know, do harm or kill yourself or
(10:45):
end up like Ophelia. So the people who've taken it
a little too far, like they're personally offended that she's
saying she was at death's door until Travis Kelsey came around.
But maybe that's true and that's her path and that's
what happened with her.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, the thing, I don't know how, and I haven't
heard the breakdown that she does a thing where she
kind of goes into each song. I haven't listened to
her and the meaning behind this and the story behind it.
But I don't know. I didn't think about it until
you just said, well, maybe that's true for her, Like
we don't know how propable place and I suggesting Taylor
Swift with everything. No, but she caring herself.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
She does say this all that time, This is life
of Ophelia. All that time I sat alone in my tower,
you were just honing your powers. Now I can see
it all. Late one night you dug me out of
my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia,
so her heart from the Fate of Ophelia where she
wanted to die because she was heartbroken. So I think
(11:45):
that's okay. I mean, look her one of her big
hits that I sang so badly, The beginning Love story
is all about a love story. It's a very like
a I'm a princess, I'm Romeo, I'm Juliette, You're Romeo
like she's She's sung about fairy tales before. So this
is a little bit of a darker twist to it
with a happy ending.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, but again, we're just passing along what some are
saying out there. I wouldn't suggest the other thing about it.
It's just art, right, Yeah, she's just telling telling a story. Now,
that's one part that's being looked out. The other one
has to do with Travis Kelsey's ex girlfriend. Now there's
no way I would have been able to dig this
one out on my own. These folks can spot stuff,
(12:26):
can't think, because this takes a little bit of a
deep dive.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, people know all the ins and outs. We did not.
I actually I knew what Travis Kelsey's ex girlfriend looked like,
but I didn't really know anything about her, So yes,
I would never have been able to figure this out.
But it is all in the song Opaighte and she
describes a scene, or at least a past love of
(12:51):
the person she's writing about that very much mimics something
that happened in real life between Travis Kelcey and his
now ex girlfriend Kaylin Nicole. She writes, you were dancing
through the lightning strikes sleepless in the Onyx Night. We
should point out that Travis Kelcey's ex girlfriend is black,
so there is that people are pointing to Onyx Knight.
(13:12):
But now the sky is opal light. Oples are white.
Oh oh oh oh, my Lord never made no one
like you before. You had to make your own sunshine.
But now the sky is opal light.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I think that's a stretch for anybody to try to
I don't think that's what she was singing about. That's
just me, and that's that's some folks out there. Really,
it could.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Have just been a dark night, like a black night,
like meaning you were depressed, you were sad, but there
was a specific lyric. This is where they really pointed
to Kayla Nicole. This was different, yeah, she said, and
this is speaking of her person she's singing about. We
can't say it's for sure, Travis Kelsey, but people, of
course are connecting the dots. You couldn't understand it. Why
you felt alone? You were in it for real. She
(13:56):
was in her phone and you were just a poet.
And why don't we try to love love? We give
it all we got. You finally left the table, and
what a simple thought. You're starving till you're not the
phone thing. There is a story behind that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, there was a video out there that was posted
that showed Travis Kelsey in an interaction interaction with the
ex girlfriend in which there was a back and forth
over the phone, essentially in attention, if you will, a
focus in the relationship, paying more attention to the phone
in that moment than they were to each other. So
that's the backstory there. It's hard to look at this
(14:31):
one and see what a quinkie dink.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yes, well, and here's another quinky dink. So on the
very day October three, that Taylor's album came out and
the song Open LIGHTE and its lyrics were out for everybody,
Caylin Nicole posted this to her story without any reference
to anything she re shared in America's Next Top Model
clip that featured Tyra Banks asking a contestant, how do
(14:57):
you compare yourself to the other girls out there? That
contestant said, I don't compare myself to other girls. I'm
no comparison to anyone else. Kuwinki deeck.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Maybe she's a producer on the show and she's trying
to promote it in the new season.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I love how everybody now, well, if you, I guess,
if you can't write a song for millions to hear.
We all have our social media feeds and don't people
just love to send veiled messages.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's a pretty good one, I.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Do. I agree because it wasn't mean.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It wasn't me at all. She's just and you know,
as she turned it back on herself. I don't know
this show.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It was well done.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
That's kind of well done. Give it all this so
we haven't even got to another one of the big
big mysteries. It does Taylor Swift have pop beef? They've
been listening to Drake and Kendrick Lamar too long? Stay
with us, folks, All right, folks, welcome back here now. Yes,
(16:03):
there's a possibility of a pop beef. I didn't know
this was a real kind of funny thing. But yes,
it's not. The Life of a Showgirl is out now
setting records, but a lot of folks have been de
siphering a bunch of songs, the lyrics, the meaning behind them,
and surprisingly it's I didn't this. The Metacritics score for
this her twelfth album is in the bottom two of
(16:26):
all of her wow previous albums. So those are critics
speaking up. We'll get you assume some of what the
critics are saying here in just a second. But Charlie
xc X, Now, I didn't know these two had any
type of relationship of any kind, and certainly didn't know
there was something bull bubbling at the surface, I should say.
But she's a British singer and a big deal who
(16:47):
has blown up over the past few years.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yes, and I didn't know this either, but apparently at
one point they were both dating a member of the
same band and so.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Very important to the backstory.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yes, so Charlie XCX's song Sympathy is a Knife came
out first.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I think it was last year.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yes, okay, last year. And the lyric in Charlie XCX's
song is this one girl taps my insecurities. Don't know
if it's real or if I'm spiraling. Don't want to
see her backstage at my boyfriend's show, fingers crossed behind
my back. I hope they break up quick. And then
there was also a reference to a boring blonde, sorry,
(17:25):
a boring did I get it wrong? Boring Barbie Barbie.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
That's h Taylor Swift picked up yes on that line
in her song, but that's very important. I didn't know this.
So these are two women who were dating guys in
the same band. That's the backstory. Now that lyric comes
along and all the fans are piecing this together. So
now Taylor Swift on this new album has a song
called actually Romantic and robes. They picked up on this immediately.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It seems like it might be all about Charlie XCX.
So here's what Taylor Swift sings, high five my ex
and then said, you're glad he goasted me, wrote me
a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.
Some people might be offended, but it's actually sweet. All
the time you've spent on me, it's honestly wild, all
the effort you've put in. It's actually romantic. I really
(18:14):
got to hand it to you. No man has ever
loved me like you do.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You couldn't even get through it, could you.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Oh? I was just dripping with sarcast So that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Is the lyric everybody's pointing to. And also at the top,
what's the top lyric about the one you were just
trying to pull up about the the Barbie boring Barbie
line where she and accused her of being bold because
she's on coke. Oh, yes, that line. So apparently this
has been going back and forth, and mind you, folks,
(18:45):
we should put this out there. We didn't say, did we.
Charlie XCX has opened for Taylor Swift on tour before,
so these two know each other pretty doll going well,
I don't know if any of this is real. Taylor
Swift has put out not a statement, but she explained
some of the songs lyrics, and she says, you know what,
(19:08):
get that lyric first, and then I'm gonna read this quote.
How are you doing over there?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Because I'm trying to find I'm trying to find exactly
where the boring Barbie came in. Okay, wait, hold on,
So Charlie XCX said there are no diss tracks on
her album, but.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The song the top of the song is where I
have it here and take this with starts. The first
line of the song is I heard you call me
boring Barbie when the Kochs got you brave. That's how
the song starts. Now that's some I mean, even Kendrick
Lamar is applaud that whoever he's talking about. So I
(19:53):
don't know how much of this is real. And the
back and forth of Charlie XCX is now put out
a video something online in which it's a recording studio
and you hear just a couple of notes, essentially, I
give your heads up, I'm in the studio.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I'm working you like that. Huh, that's good. I got
a new album coming out.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's good, rap beep stuff. Now folks are saying Taylor
explained what the lyric and what the song is about
the robes and reading her explanation, it didn't turn me
away from it, said, oh, she's confirming.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, thinking she didn't say yes it was Charlie XCX,
but she explained the exact scenario in which these two,
it seems, have found themselves. So Taylor said, it's a
song about realizing that someone else has kind of had
a one sided adversarial relationship with you that you didn't
know about, and all of a sudden they start doing
too much and they start letting you know that actually
you've been living in their head rent free and you
(20:47):
had no idea. That kind of sounds exactly what we
just described.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That's more brutal than the lyrics. Yeah, oh so, I
I don't know Charlie XCX saying.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
No one's love no man's loved me the way you
do that, that's pretty. That's that's a big poke.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
That's a compliment and the greatest insult ever. We want
to hit you with a few reviews here, just from
the New York Times Robes, because some of this stuff
is really good, oh says while the album goes down easy,
it's not a hard pivot or a grand leap. It's
another missive from the inner world. The most famous politician
(21:26):
of our generation.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Musician, you said, politician.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Famous musician. Well, she did well. She was out in
the campaign.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Drill, wasn't She's a musician, Well, the.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Most famous musician of her generation set to meticulous mid
tempo creations that often glisten and sometimes trip over themselves.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
She said. They say. In nearly every song, the music
makes a sparkling first impression, but as the album unfolds,
the lyrics undermine those pop satisfactions. As the words sank in,
I was left wondering how many scores does Swift still
need to settle.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, that's interesting that I'm telling you she's got She's
creating pop Beef's.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I mean, maybe it's brilliant. Look at what it did
for Kendrick Lamar and even look at what it's done
for Drake in terms of album sales. You keep pulling
up Spotify and Drake's like number one, number two, number.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I mean, he just got back to work.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Look at the end of the day. Well, even if
that rap beef kind of ignited a fire in him
and his fans to say, hey, we like him too,
this could be brilliant marketing.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Babe. Wow, all right. Now are a few folks critics
of this album. One says we may have seen Taylor
on far better songwriting form than with the Life of
a Show Goal, but perhaps now more than ever, she
is making music for herself over anyone else. I buy that.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Simon Cowell calls that indulgent on American idol, but you
know what, she's earned the right to be. I feel
like my personal opinion this one also is she leans
fully into the idea of her sona as a work
of artifice. The twelve songs here are either a peak
under the mask or are another mask altogether. From a
(23:08):
critical perspective, that pivot makes it at least a little
bit interesting as an exercise. But what's most surprising about
the Life of a Showgirl is the extent to which
it's off putting, both as a pop album and as
a Taylor Swift album.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
That's why I put in parentheses before that one. This
is the best quote. This is the best critic The
best way I've seen it put is that people don't
like it as a Taylor Swift album.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I thought that was a good way for them to
put that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, that does make sense, But I do you know,
I do appreciate hmmm. This one's tough. The Life of
a Showgirl isn't a particularly bad album, but given Swift's
immense back catalog, too much of it sounds like an
artist on auto pilot. That's tough.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Upfront, The one two up says it's kind of the
same thing at the end appears a signal of disinterest
in evolution. Again, these are folks who, again I'm familiar
with her, Yeah, but there's are folks who pay attention
and know her, know her music, know all of those albums.
I was shocked, Grobes. I was sitting up there with
Savine earlier and asked, can you name any of the
(24:14):
other I really could not name a Taylor Swift album.
I couldn't think of the name of even of them.
See Sabine popped off all twelve.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah, oh wow, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Without even trying. So I'm for her to be at
this place, to have that reach, to evolve that this
may be the album she's been singing about eleven previous albums.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You know, I feel like the song the sound does
sound the same, but it's just the lyrics that have
changed a bit, and I appreciate that. And look, you know,
she's it does seem she's very proud of it. The
fans are gobbling it up, and she looks happier than
she's ever been before, and that makes.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It a great album, folks. And with that, always appreciate
you hanging thus for now, I'm teaching.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Hold and I'm Amy Robot. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
M m m mmm
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Mm hmmm mm
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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