When Taylor Swift announced her new single “Patient Zero” earlier this week, no one really knew what was happening. Then, a day later, the superstar unveiled The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore and people were still confused. What happened to “12 songs” for her 12th album?
According to Swift, the four new songs were made during a celebratory trip to Sweden where she and Showgirl producers Max Martin and Shellback relished in the commercial success of the album. (It not only topped the Billboard 200 chart, but did so with a shocking 4 million sales).
Fans have been split over the bonus tracks, “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” Below, we break down the songs to try and get a better idea of why the show had to go on.
“Patient Zero”
Of the four tracks on The Encore, “Patient Zero” probably has the most compelling angle: What if an ex’s new girl calls you up for advice? Over the piercing melody of a mandolin and synth-pop beat that recalls “Anti-Hero,” Swift paints that picture “from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before,” as she told Capital FM. The singer compares being let down by a man to having a disease. The track’s spoken-word-y bridge will get most of the attention — and not because Swift is known for her expertly written bridges — but because of the clear-cut jabs at a narcissistic ex. “He’s bathing in your reflected light/On a free solo social climb,” Swift says, and some will undoubtedly connect the lyric to her former partner Joe Alwyn, whom she dated for six years. But the true cut-to-the-bone line here is “When the fever turns the dreamer into a pathetic ghost.” —Maya Georgi
“Cleveland”
Do you hear that? That’s all of Cleveland cheering for getting their very own Taylor Swift song. The charming Lake Erie city was once a bustling industrial hub — not to mention the birthplace of rock & roll, Superman, LeBron James, and the first portable vacuum cleaner — but it’s become an underdog in recent years. And while it’s been mentioned in past songs (the Band’s “Look Out Cleveland,” Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “Cleveland Is the City”), it’s never been blessed with a song by a pop superstar like Swift. We have her husband, Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and Cleveland native) Travis Kelce, to thank for that. The track opens with a sprinkle of piano before morphing into a jolly celebration that’s really going to hit this holiday season. Swift kicks it off in third person, playfully citing her haters’ grievances (“She was never a girl’s girl”), but shifts as she basks in her new marriage to Kelce, who already took her to his hometown. “The taste of me is acquired, but it’s his favorite dish,” Swift sings. —Angie Martoccio
“Pink Clouding”
Before her final bow, Swift can’t help but open the old wounds from 2017’s “Getaway Car,” long-rumored to be about Tom Hiddleston. Over swelling synths that sound more Midnights-coded than Showgirl-esque, she uses yet another medical term as a metaphor for her role in that cursed, shotgun in the dark romance. This time, it’s “pink clouding,” the term used to describe the superficial euphoria when someone is freshly sober from drugs to compare her fleeting feelings in that rebound relationship — and why she left her ex high and dry. It’s not something she’s proud of as she admits that, “Years later, I still wonder how to tell you sorry.” Despite the regretful lyrics, Martin and Shellback’s production evoke the image of Swift skipping along in a fuchsia sky without a care in the world.—M.G.
“Babylon”
Instead of a glitter-gel pen song full of big pop production, “Babylon” sounds more akin to a Folklore or Evermore cut. Swift even uses the same songwriting tactics from those albums, writing about fictional characters when she details the story about a man who just can’t appreciate what he has. Some online critics have noted that Swift’s “lyricism has gone down and it is quite obvious.” Still, there are whispers of greatness here with endearing Swiftian details like “a stranger’s make up on your tie” and a vignette of a family hanging up Christmas lights. But there is also an unshakeable feeling that the singer-songwriter has tread this melodic line on a pedal steel guitar before on songs like “I Almost Do,” “Renegade,” and “Right Where You Left Me.” —M.G.
