Surprise! Taylor Swift has revealed seven new songs, acoustic versions of seven of the 12 tracks from her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. "File this under 'save your best for the finale," she tweeted on Saturday, October 4, almost two days after the release of her 12th album. She went to share that her "favorite moments from the tour were the acoustic surprises," and so she "went back into the studio with Max and Shellback to record acoustic/unplugged versions of a few of the Showgirl songs with brand new vocals and production!"
Taylor then shared that fans can only access the songs, and one voice memo, if they purchase one of four different versions of a new CD. Each album is $7.99 and only available from her store. They are available for 24 hours until supplies last. Each CD includes two acoustic bonus tracks.
The songs are "Opalite" and "Ruin the Friendship," "Wi$h Li$t" and The Life of a Showgirl", "The Fate of Ophelia" and "Eldest Daughter," and "Elizabeth Taylor" and "Elizabeth Taylor (Original Songwriting Voice Memo)".
Taylor dropped her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl to mixed reviews. A relatively short album for Taylor, whose last album, The Tortured Poets Department, featured 31 songs, The Life of a Showgirl has only 12 songs and unlike her previous two albums, there was no extra album released hours later.
"Elizabeth Taylor" is the second song on the album, and was the first song Taylor wrote for the album. "Elizabeth Taylor / Do you think it's forever?" sings Taylor on the opening verse, singing to the iconic actress who died in 2011.
What the "it" is soon becomes clear, when Taylor sings "oftentimes it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me / All the right guys promised they'd stay," referencing former loves former loves Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, and the heartache she feels she is destined to suffer. Elizabeth herself had eight marriages to seven different men over her lifetime. She then goes on to sing: "Under bright lights, they withered away, but you bloom," referencing her fiance Travis Kelce.
Track four is "Father Figure," which includes an interpolation of George's 1987 hit song, also titled "Father Figure". The George Michael estate thanked the singer for incorporating the song into her work after the news emerged. "We were delighted when Taylor Swift and her team approached us earlier this year about incorporating an interpolation of George Michael’s classic song "Father Figure" into a brand new song of the same title to be featured on her forthcoming album," they said.
"When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same," the statement continued. "George Michael Entertainment wishes Taylor every success with The Life of a Showgirl and "Father Figure.'"