Taylor Swift only just announced her new album and already fans think it comes with a subtle dig at her longtime nemesis, Kanye West.
In case you missed all the bright orange glitter splayed across your feeds, the pop star yesterday revealed that her new album, titled The Life of a Showgirl, will arrive this year.
In between the shock of the announcement, the uncovering of years-old Easter eggs, and the drip-feeding of teasers on Swift’s website, a lesser known detail has been doing the rounds on social media, and naturally, it has to do with West.
In 2016, the controversial rapper released his album The Life of Pablo, and that mighty familiar title immediately got fans wondering whether The Life of a Showgirl was coming for its bag, with scores of social media users theorising Swift is trying to dethrone West.
One TikToker pointed out that, when searching the first three words of the respective albums on Apple Music or Spotify, it’s Swift’s that now appears first.
While the pop star has not yet confirmed whether she intentionally riffed on West’s album title to cannibalise it on streaming services, the theory was given extra weight when users pointed to its colour scheme.
As mentioned, Swift is going orange for this new era — an aesthetic some believe was years-in-the-making — and that choice of colour mirrors almost exactly the orange tones of The Life of Pablo’s album cover.
“The Life of?? The orange??” one fan wrote in response to the theory.
“She really is a mastermind and I love that about her lol.”
As for why Swift might want to jab at West in this way, well, let me give you a lesson in pop culture history so integral it should be written on chalkboards across the world.
In 2009, West infamously interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs, and years later, he took credit for Swift’s success and fame on the 2016 track “Famous”.
That song led to a notorious tit-for-tat that came to involve Kim Kardashian, an influx of snake emojis, and the inspirational fodder that birthed Swift’s album Reputation.
The fact that “Famous” was the lead single from The Life of Pablo was evidence enough in fans’ minds that Swift is reviving all that drama once more with The Life of a Showgirl.
Of course, the theory hasn’t been officially confirmed, but we do know that The Life of a Showgirl will arrive in October, is produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and already has unveiled its 12-song tracklist.
Until it arrives, we won’t know if there’s any jabs directed West’s way, but it’s fun to theorise that Taylor Swift is up to some messy antics in the meantime.
Lead images: Taylor Swift/ Instagram and Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS
