Taylor Swift fans take deep dive into The Albatross lyrics and compare it to backlash star received for attending Travis Kelce’s NFL games
Taylor Swift can turn just about any situation into a song, including one that portrays her as the bad guy.
The artist, 34, who fans think sang about her relationship with boyfriend Travis Kelce, 34, on her songs So High School and The Alchemy, thinks she may also be referencing the NFL star in The Albatross.
The lyrics “Cautions issued, he stood / Shooting the messengers / They tried to warn him about her” seems to reference some of the vitriol directed at the Grammy winner when she started attending Kansas City Chiefs games to support her husband.
Many diehard fans of the NFL were annoyed by all the cutaway camera footage of the hitmaker in her skybox and expressed their irritation online, often in memes mocking her.
“Cross your thoughtless heart / Only drink anoints you / She’s the albatross / She’s here to destroy you,” goes the chorus.
Some Taylor Swift fans believe The Albatross may have something to do with the backlash she received from some NFL fans who were upset about the media attention the singer received when she started attending games in support of boyfriend Travis Kelce (pictured in Baltimore, MD in January)
“Why isn’t anyone talking about The Albatross being a Travis song too? An TikTok user requested.
“Everyone told Travis, ‘Be careful, don’t go with her.’ She will ruin your career,” the fan continued.
‘Don’t go with her, she will ruin your career. Do you pay attention to football? Does she charge you? Is he no longer good because he’s dating Taylor Swift?’ she asked.
“That was the whole middle part of their relationship,” the poster claimed.
‘The first verse is about someone warning a suitor against going out with her. Love is fragile, don’t let the wind that comes with its fame drive it away,” another fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The second verse,” the poster continued, “is about how she is locked away for the good of her potential partners. She’s the bad seed and the temptress, so locking her away reduces the danger (less dagger to sharpen). But she still escapes from prison to visit her partner (who talked about the danger).”
Yet another lyricist claimed that the song is about “men are afraid to fall for her because she’s a ‘man eater’ and ‘serial dater,’ but then they DO fall for her.”
“Since everyone warned Trav that he was only distracted by her, the football boys made her feel like she was the albatross around his neck,” the author continued, adding that Kelce “never made her feel that way and threw off all the doomsayers . In fact, he played better when she was there.”
“Why isn’t anyone talking about The Albatross being a Travis song too? one TikTok user asked. “Everyone told Travis, ‘Be careful, don’t go with her.’ She will ruin your career,” the poster claimed (pictured in January)
Many diehard fans of the NFL were annoyed by all the cutaway camera footage of the hitmaker in her skybox and expressed their irritation online, often in memes mocking her. However, the league reported that regular season viewership was up 7 percent from the year before (pictured in Las Vegas in February)
The NFL reported that regular season viewership was up 7 percent from the year before.
The song appears to be a literary reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The albatross was considered lucky until a sailor killed it and had to wear the dead bird around its neck as punishment.
Towards the end of the song, Swift changes the chorus to the first person and sings “So I crossed my thoughtless heart / Spread my wings like a parachute / I am the albatross / I came to the rescue.”
By delving deeply into the lyrics, such as this one, The Tortured Poets Department has become immediately successful. It sold about 1.4 million copies on Friday and enjoyed more than 300 million streams on Spotify.