In ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, the new album of Taylor Swift, the singer becomes Ophelia, a character from William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, recreating on the cover the tragic scene of her death, dedicating one of the songs to her and delving into her enigmatic creative link with the English playwright.
The reference is no coincidence, since the first song of this twelfth album is titled, precisely, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ (‘El destino de Ofelia’), as revealed this week Swift herself on the podcast ‘New Heights’, presented by her partner, the soccer player Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce.
Ofelia on new album of Taylor
“Do you want to talk about ‘Hamlet’ (…) Maybe he (Travis) hasn’t read it, but I’ve explained it to him, so he knows what’s going on,” the singer commented on the show, hinting at her preference for Shakespeare’s plays.
In the 1603 play, Ophelia, in love with Hamlet, is driven mad by the death of her father and, after falling while picking flowers, ends up drowned in a stream and humming melodies until her last breath.
Life behind the scenes
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This tragic scene – at the end of the fourth act – is the one Swift emulates on the cover of ‘The Life of A Showgirl’, which is released on October 3, and which, as she detailed on the Kelce Brothers podcast, talks about her life behind the scenes.
“This is the end of my night. When I’m on gigs, every day is the same, just in a different city. And my day always ends with me in the bathtub,” Swift described.
In the image, the American artist appears wearing a beaded dress and submerged in water, except for her wrists and her face, which faces the camera, in a modern reinterpretation of the painting ‘Ophelia’ (1851-52), by the British painter John Everett Millais, exhibited at the Tate Britain in London.
The Pre-Raphaelite work, also inspired by Hamlet, is one of the great attractions of the London gallery and its beauty captures the attention of visitors who stroll through the room, where the ‘Taylor effect’ seems not to have arrived (yet).
In front of the painting, art guide Helena Shore explains to EFE that ‘Ophelia’ and all the symbolism it contains is the result of how Millais imagined the scene, since in Shakespeare’s play it is told in an indirect way, which allows for numerous artistic interpretations.
“People will inevitably bring their own vision, as (Taylor) Swift has done, to the story of Ophelia (…) and there will be many more images that are copied and redefined over time,” Shore assures.
Tate Britain herself prompted this week’s comparison of Millais’ painting and Swift’s cover on her social media in which she encouraged her followers to “discover Ophelia’s destiny” before the album’s release, which drew criticism and praise alike in the comments on the post.
In Shore’s view, there is nothing negative about attracting new audiences to a gallery: “They may come in their heads because of what they saw of (Taylor) Swift, but inevitably they will come across many other works of art. And I think there’s something very valuable in that,” comments the guide.
Ophelia inspires Taylor Swift
Beyond the cover, the 12 song titles and the bright orange color of the record, hardly any details are known about this new album, but clues such as Ophelia seem to indicate that Swift will continue to explore her literary link to the Bard of Avon in this new ‘era’.
“I love Shakespeare as much as anyone,” Swift said in an interview with ‘Elle’ in 2009, and it is not the first time that the artist is inspired by the works of the English playwright to compose her songs, as in ‘Love Story’ (2008) she transformed the romantic tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ into a happy ending for young lovers.
The relationship between the pop star and the Bard of Avon has also become the subject of academic study, with some such as Professor Liam Semler of the University of Sydney advocating teaching Swift’s album songs such as ‘Midnights’ (2022) in parallel with Shakespearean sonnets.
“Sometimes it is impossible to distinguish one from the other,” Semler notes in a university article, for in his view both the American artist’s themes and the playwright’s poems “are meditations on deeply personal aspects of their narrators’ experiences” with common themes such as love or questions of power.
In fact, for years there has been a kind of satirical fashion on social networks that compares both authors and, taking phrases from their works, tests people to try to guess who wrote them, Shakespeare or Taylor Swift.
