Taylor Swift has a new EP, and it arrives as a four-track addendum to her recent album The Life of a Showgirl. The set, titled The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, is available now, and it splits its focus between two sides of her current life: the bitter exes she still hasn’t forgiven, and the husband she can’t stop smiling about.
Patient Zero and the Pandemic Ex
The EP opens with “Patient Zero,” a metaphor that lands somewhere between illness and betrayal. Swift sings about a former partner in terms of hospitals and pandemics, which suggests the same guy who inspired her to write about dying emotionally in “You’re Losing Me,” the post-Midnights bonus track about her longest-term relationship hitting its last throes.
But the song isn’t mournful. It’s cheerful, a warning to the ex’s new flame that his good-guy act won’t last. Swift remembers the experience only to caution others, not to wallow in it.
The production shifts too. The dry drum sound from Showgirl gives way to electronic percussion, and the key instrument is a violin or something built to mimic one. That sound is so different from anything on the album that it suggests these tracks were recorded after Showgirl was released, and very long after it was recorded.
Someone Who Had Him and Walked Away
Fans will point to a line where Swift tells the ex’s current partner to take sisterly advice “from someone who had him and walked away.” That narrows the list of candidates considerably, though Variety‘s review stops short of naming a specific person. The song’s cheerful tone raises the question: why is she married and still not over it?
The answer, the review suggests, is that she has moved on — but she’s keeping the memory mill alive. “Plus, we love a T-Swift who forgives — maybe — but never, ever forgets,” the review writes.
Cleveland! Is the Goofiest Track Yet
“Cleveland!” is the goofiest track on the EP, and that’s the point. It sits somewhere between the cheeky self-celebration of “Me!” and the cheerleading of “So High School” and “Wood.” Not everyone loves Swift being a love-besotted goofball, but the review offers a solution: modern technology makes it pretty easy to skip directly from track 1 to track 3.
On first listen, the review admits uncertainty about whether the song will grow on them or gnaw at them in the future. But the review argues that every singer who finds love, especially later in life, deserves a honeymoon song or ten. And some of us, the review says, are patient zero for succumbing to the song’s infectious energy.
The track also touches on Swift’s image problem. She quotes internet comments about being the world’s clumsiest dancer, and she protests that the internet holds against her things she’s not perfect at. But she’s been to Cleveland Heights now, where there are also some non-ballerinas, and she’s made herself at home.
Pink Clouding Closes the EP
The final track, “Pink Clouding,” closes the EP with lush, overdubbed vocals that herald the dawning of the track. The review calls it the finest of the four on first bite, though it admits the final two are pretty close.
A New EP Between Albums
This is Swift’s first formal EP since 2008’s Beautiful Eyes, and it arrives as something fast and easily digestible between her full-length pop opuses. The review frames it as a welcome detour rather than a burden.
The EP reunites the same trio of collaborators: Max Martin, Shellback and Swift herself. That familiarity means the tracks don’t feel like a bolt-on addition to Showgirl.
The Review’s Verdict on Each Track
The review describes how each track lands on first bite:
- “Pink Clouding” — the finest of the four on first bite, though the final two are pretty close.
- “Cleveland!” — a charmer that rewards buying into Swift’s underdog narrative.
- “Patient Zero” — a bittersweet, mid-tempo return to a sound not heard in a fortnight.
What the Encore Actually Adds
| Track | Production Notes |
|---|---|
| “Patient Zero” | Electronic percussion, violin-like sound, recorded after Showgirl |
| “Cleveland!” | Live drum rolls, synth-pop keyboard line |
| “Pink Clouding” | Lush, overdubbed vocals |
The EP is a small package, but it packs a lot of personality. Swift is doing exactly what fans feared she wouldn’t: writing about the bums that got away, even as she moons over her groom.
That refusal to let go is the whole point. The review reads the EP as a reminder that Swift is still a tortured poet, even when she’s happiest. And that tension — between the bitterness of old wounds and the joy of a new marriage — is what makes the EP worth hearing.
The review ends with a question about a potential “Florida!!!”/”Cleveland!” mashup on the next tour. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the EP itself is already doing its job.
Source material: “Taylor Swift Still Has Unfinished Business With Her Exes — Thank God! — While Also Mooning Over Her Groom in ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’: New Tracks Review,” Variety.
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