Hours into the official release of Taylor Swift’s 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” the superstar continues to toy with her devoted fans, slowly unraveling the mythology behind the lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” one snippet at a time.
Apparently, Elizabeth Taylor isn’t the only Old Hollywood muse influencing Swift’s showgirl era. In a recent clip shared by Taylor Nation on Instagram, the singer is seen wearing a sparkly red bodysuit, platinum blond bobbed wig and even a beauty mark drawn above her upper lip.
The resemblance to the iconic movie star Marilyn Monroe is uncanny.
Like Ophelia in “Hamlet,” Monroe herself was a tragic figure. Despite many high-profile romances and reaching the pinnacle of stardom, Monroe struggled with depression and substance abuse, leading to her death by drug overdose at age 36 in 1962.
Could Swift, who turns 36 in December, be evoking the lore around Monroe’s popularity and untimely demise as a celebrity version of Ophelia?
While red sparkles and glitter are featured in costumes throughout Swift’s showgirl-era album artwork, it’s the combination of the ruby-encrusted leotard and opera-length gloves paired with the wig (one of many worn over the course of the full-length music video) that makes this Marilyn homage anything but accidental.
Fortunately, in Taylor’s version of events, she credits her fiancé, Travis Kelce, with saving her from a similar fate. “And if you’d never come for me / I might’ve drowned in the melancholy,” she sings, evoking both the doomed Shakespearean character and the iconic Hollywood actress.
While fans are undoubtedly overjoyed that Ms. Swift has avoided the tragic ending alluded to in the song, Swifties around the world are still deciding the fate of this album.
Where will it fall amongst Taylor Swift’s individual eras? With mixed reviews following the complete “Life of a Showgirl” drop at midnight, it’s hard to say whether or not this album will live up to all of the razzle-dazzle.
This time, it will take more than Travis to lift this showgirl to new heights.
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