Last week, Taylor Swift released her new album.
Despite a great deal of hype, the Life of a Showgirl has drawn mixed reviews.
From arguable bops like “Opalite” and “The Fate of Ophelia” to more divisive songs like “Father Figure” and “Actually Romantic,” there’s a lot to digest.
For example, “CANCELLED!” Is this song about Brittany Mahomes? Is it about Blake Lively?
Is Taylor Swift singing about Brittany Mahomes?
“CANCELLED!” is the tenth track on Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
(Interestingly, she used the British spelling of “canceled,” even though the US fought two wars to ensure that we didn’t have to do things the British way)
“Good thing I like my friends canceled / I like them cloaked in Gucci and scandal,” Taylor sings.
Notably, Brittany wore a $6,000 outfit while attending Wimbledown last summer.
And Brittany is arguably Taylor’s most controversial friend — and with good reason.
Patrick Mahomes is a sports player on the same team as Travis Kelce.
As a result, Taylor and Brittany frequently appear side-by-side, cheering on their respective men as they play their game.
Patrick has at times thrown up what many perceive to be red flags about his political leanings.
In 2024, he declined to endorse a presidential candidate, which is neutral at best.
Worse, he outrageously said that it was “cool” when Donald Trump attended the 2025 Super Bowl.
Is Brittany Mahomes that controversial?
Patrick Mahomes isn’t “besties” with the singer and sounds, at worse, irresponsible in his discussions of America’s mad king.
But Brittany Mahomes seems to be more of a fan of the man who proclaimed last year that he “hates” Taylor Swift.
In 2022, Trump posted to Instagram about the GOP’s abhorrent plans for America.
Brittany dropped a “like” on the post, which elicited disappointment and condemnation.
A “like” is not necessarily an endorsement. But Trump himself clearly seems to believe that she is his fan.
Obviously, Taylor’s association with Brittany and Patrick has been controversial.
Do people think that she herself is a Trump supporter? No, certainly not.
But it is not unreasonable to expect a certain level of moral hygiene from someone who has essentially infinite wealth. It’s not like she has to play nice.
Taylor, of all people, can choose her friends. She is friends with Brittany because she chooses to be.
For Taylor’s fans who are targets of Trump’s ire and his malicious policies, that is difficult to understand.
Taylor herself has explained what ‘CANCELLED!’ means
Social media users have openly speculated that Taylor Swift is singing about Brittany Mahomes in “CANCELLED!”
If so, the title is overly dramatic.
How exactly is Brittany “canceled,” no matter how many extra Ls one includes, if her claim to fame is that she’s an athlete’s wife?
Some have suggested that Taylor could be singing about legally embattled friend Blake Lively, though the status of their friendship remains in question.
Blake was the target of a smear campaign about one year ago. Her image has suffered as a result.
Taylor explained the meaning of “CANCELLED!” while speaking to Apple Music.
She reflected upon “having had my own experiences with mass judgment and being at the center of many dramatic, kind of scandalous moments in my career.”
Taylor added that these were times “where people were all weighing in at once, or at least it felt like that.”
She added that the lyrics of “CANCELLED!” are about “when other people go through” that same sort of experience.
Taylor concluded: “You kind of find yourself thinking about how they’re probably gonna get smarter because of it.”