1. The Fate of Ophelia

1. Musical Style: 1960s Girl-group Pop

2. Literary References: "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare

3. Key Lyric: "Keep it 100 on the land, the sea, the sky, pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibe"

4. Favorite Lyric: "Tis locked inside my memory, and only you possess the key, no longer drowning and deceived, all because you came for me."

5. Taylor's Callback: "The Alchemy" and "So High School" from "The Tortured Poets Department"; "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (video)

6. TL/DR: "Travis saved me from drowning in my sadness"

The most amazing thing about Taylor's first track, first single, first video from "The Life of a Showgirl" is what a bop it is, given the subject matter. Ophelia is one of the most tragic characters in Shakespeare's plays, a young woman whose love for Hamlet is used as a political weapon that backfires on her, resulting in madness and suicide. Fun times!

Give credit on this song and the whole album to Taylor and her musical collaborators, Max Martin and Shellback, who crafted twelve songs that use drums and bass so effectively. The rhythms on these songs are the stars of the show, and they are front and center for Ophelia right from the get-go.

Taylor said she wanted the album to be a journey through different eras and styles of music, and the Sixties Girl-group vibe is revealed through the first chorus in the video, where she is part of a three-girl group performing the song in a club.

Others have pointed out the irony of Taylor's reputation for being a, how should I say it, less than masterful dancer against the fact that the chorus of Ophelia resulted in the biggest viral dance craze of 2025 on the Internet. Musically, the girl-group influence is found in the layered harmonies the trio of songwriters create throughout the track.

The key to my key lyric is the number 100, which is the sum of 13 (Taylor's birthday and favorite number) and 87 (Travis Kelce's jersey number). Credit goes to the "Switched on Pop" podcast for pointing this out. 

There's no doubt that she's singing about her relationship with Travis here, but in a more allegorical style, reversing the tragic fate of Ophelia with the image of him saving her: "You dug me out of my grave; No longer drowning and deceived."

Many have pointed out, including Taylor herself, that her lyrics are not a direct revelation of her personal life. This is true for all poets; the poetic speaker should never be confused with the poet herself. However, the obviousness of the clues ("Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes") cannot be confused for anything else.

Taylor loves to do callbacks to her previous songs, something that many skilled songwriters do quite often (Sting is a master at this). Here the callback is not directly musical or lyrical but rather, once again, a "vibe," namely her two songs about Travis from "The Tortured Poets Department," "The Alchemy" and "So High School," both of which describe the vibe she has with Kelce.

She also does a wonderful callback in her video, where the next-to-last scene in a hotel room (#87, of course) features a band playing on the bed and a crowd of friends dancing happily, a direct homage to the same next-to-last scene of the video for "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" from her "Red" album. 

In the final analysis, this may be her best opening track of any album (my favorites include "Mine," "...Ready for It?" and "The 1.") The melody is infectious without being annoying, the lyrics are insanely catchy, and the viral dance craze speaks for itself. Ophelia sets the bar ridiculously high for the rest of the album; watch as she keeps jumping right over it.