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Taylor Swift explains meaning of The Fate of Ophelia

13 October 2025, 10:20

Taylor Swift fangirls over Emma Bunton and reveals her hen do plans!

By Hope Wilson

What does The Fate of Ophelia mean and who is Ophelia? Taylor Swift explains the meaning behind her song on The Life of a Showgirl.

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Taylor Swift has explained the meaning behind her new single 'The Fate of Ophelia' and revealed her favourite song on her upcoming album 'The Life of a Showgirl'.

The singing superstar joined Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Emma Bunton to chat about her new record and confessed all about her love for the Spice Girls and how partner Travis Kelce has impacted her music.

Along with songs such such as 'Wi$h Li$t', 'Opalite', 'Actually Romantic', 'Ruin the Friendship', 'Honey', 'Wood', 'Cancelled!', 'Elizabeth Taylor', 'Eldest Daughter' and 'Father Figure', Taylor has decided the first single to be released from 'The Life of a Showgirl' to be 'The Fate of Ophelia', with the starlet telling Heart why she chose to base her tune on the iconic Shakespeare character Ophelia from the play Hamlet.

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Speaking about the meaning behind the song, Taylor told Heart: "She was driven mad by love. And so the play on it, the hook is like, someone comes into your life and rescues you from the fate of being driven mad by love."

Taylor Swift has spoken about her new album. Picture: Heart

The singer also revealed her favourite track on 'The Life of a Showgirl', confessing: "I think it might be Wi$h Li$t. It's a song that was actually the last song that we made for the album. It was the song where after we finished it, I was like, 'Oh, we're done. We're good, we're done with this, this is the final piece.'

"It's a really dreamy song. It's a really romantic song. It's all about... It details all these different things that people aspire to have in their lives and all the wishes that people are making all over the world of things in their lifestyle or things they want to buy or places they want to go. Then in the course, it talks about what mine would be. I'm really into that one."

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The Life of a Showgirl has been released. Picture: Instagram/Taylor Swift

Taylor went on to disclose how her relationship with Travis has changed her music, stating: "Writing songs is one of my favourite things.

"I did nurture fear earlier on in my career that if I ever wasn't truly miserable in my personal life, would I be able to write? I think that's one of the reasons I love this album so much is we were catching lightning in a bottle every time we were writing songs for this record.

"I do think that someone in your life who fuels you. Everyone in my life is like, 'you've never been so yourself', which is this interesting thing that you've been you your whole life, but we are different shades and ourselves at different volume levels.

"And this person came into my life, and everybody's like, 'yeah, you've never been so you'. I think that comes through in music. People who fuel you, they fuel every part of you, and they make you walk taller, and they make you present in a more vibrant way and so hopefully that bleeds into the music, too."