Taylor Swift might have dropped The Life of a Showgirl on midnight Friday, October 3, but every NFL girl knowns that football season is its own show.
Here’s how each of Swift’s new tracks compare to the official soundtrack of Sunday football.
The Fate of Ophelia
This song clearly parallels when a star player comes into a city and brings the city out of despair. NFL fans know the moment your franchise player arrives and creates the momentum to drive the city to a championship.
Elizabeth Taylor
This song parallels the relentless pressure NFL players are under. Players don’t just have to be great on Sundays, they have to deliver almost every single day. One slip up and the media will eat you alive. Fans and players see through the money and crave refuge in something much deeper – a sole love of the game.
Opalite
This song can best represent when a team or player overcomes something that knocked them down and now they know how to deal with it. Football is going to present mental, physical and career-led issues, so resilience and adaptability are important.
Father Figure
Personally, I think NFL girls can relate to this song. Women in football face countless issues when they just want to be involved in the game in media or as a fan. It’s not shocking that women in sports face situations they fall into because they were too innocent, and now they’re taking the power back. Clearly, it’s for the better.
Eldest Daughter
An ode to quarterbacks everywhere. The one that has to lead the team, who is the face of the team and who represents the team on any given Sunday. They’re drafted or come to a team and are immediately branded as “saviors” but sometimes the organization they’re in takes advantage of that.
Ruin the Friendship
The NFL is full of “what ifs” and “almosts.” What if Nick Foles cut his career before his Super Bowl win? What if the Falcons never let go of a 25-point lead? This track shows how haunting regret could be in football.
Actually Romantic
This song is specifically for all of the key rivalries in the NFL – Eagles vs Cowboys, Bears vs Packers and Steelers vs Ravens. The way fans of rivalries will battle against each other every day even when their teams compete against each other once or twice a year is almost romantic. Even when the rivalry is messy, we can’t look away.
Wi$h Li$t
Probably the only song to have a direct correlation to what Taylor was singing about. Normal, everyday people and young athletes want the NFL life – lots of money and fame. Obviously for a lot of NFL athletes, they’ve had experiences (good and bad) that they didn’t even know existed.
Another way you could take this song is that a lot of players are in the game for a check, but others are in it for championships and to just have a great career.
Wood
I cannot actually compare this song to anything in the NFL. Take a listen.
CANCELLED!
Fans and media are so quick to have good or bad opinions about a player and they often change up quickly. Players often have to do what they can and will do what they want to protect peace in their life. This song screams “tune out the noise and stay locked in.”
Honey
This could be a love song to any particular player or players in a city. Jason Kelce with Philly. Lamar Jackson with Baltimore. These aren’t just “athletes” that play in their city, they’re essentially adopted family.
The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
Another song that is pretty straightforward with what Taylor sings. The average person is not going to know what it’s like to be an NFL player. Fans see a $200M contract, not the issues underneath or behind the scenes. This track serves as the ultimate reminder that both football and fame are carefully staged illusions.
Subscribe to First & Jenn or else you’ll have seven years of bad luck.
First & Jenn 
Leave a comment