In just a matter of weeks, there will be a new Taylor Swift album out in the world. A part of me still can’t process that fact, as the month since The Life of a Showgirl was announced has felt like a whirlwind. (Mentally, I still haven’t moved on from Swift announcing earlier this year that she bought back the masters of her first six albums.)
Outside of the tracklist and a string of variant covers, there’s still a lot we don’t know about The Life of a Showgirl. There’s no indication that we’ll get a pre-release single (something Swift hasn’t done since the Lover era), and the album’s aesthetic and timing have provoked a mountain of theories thus far. But thanks to a few stray posts from Swift’s official street team, Taylor Nation, fans have one very specific hunch.
Earlier this week, when driving fans to pre-order The Life of a Showgirl on iTunes, Taylor Nation ended their post with the phrase “we know you want to peak.” It was used across multiple platforms in posts that are still up, indicating that it most likely wasn’t an accidental misspelling of “peek.” This, combined with Swift’s history of teasing lyrics in (in hindsight) the most obvious of places, has left an ever-growing number of Swifties convinced that we’ll hear her sing “we know you want to peak” somewhere on The Life of a Showgirl.
A Sneak… Peak?
The question is… where? The pun could be a reference to an album literally peaking at the top of the music charts, or the act of chasing fame itself to get to that “peak.” That could potentially fit the titular “The Life of a Showgirl” track, or a number of songs on the album… outside of, most likely, “Eldest Daughter.”
But there’s also another specific possibility: that it could have a home on the album’s ninth track, “Wood.” More than any other song on The Life of a Showgirl, that title has inspired some wild theories. Is it about the life (and tragic death) of actress Natalie Wood, which would fit the album’s theme of celebrity culture? Is it a lyrical return to the literal woodsy setting of her folklore and evermore eras? Or is “Wood” a euphemism for something more physical? If the latter ends up being true (which is my prevailing theory, at this point), then “we know you want to peak” could easily work as a double-entendre. After all, this is the woman who gave us the chorus of “Guilty as Sin?” just last year.
Here are some other things we saw on the Internet today:
- So long, Lisa from Temecula: Ego Nwodim is leaving Saturday Night Live after seven seasons (Pajiba)
- Kirsten Dunst has the best reaction to the idea of another Bring It On movie (Entertainment Tonight)
- A new aviation bill might have just proved Nathan Fielder right… (X)
- Deborah Ann Woll just revealed a secret (and heartbreaking) Daredevil storyline we all missed (PopVerse)
- It’s Spider-Man vs. Zombie Thanos in a new Marvel Zombies trailer!
Was there anything you saw? Let us know in the comments!
(featured image: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
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