The Swiftie and The Scholar - BONUS: The Release Party of A Showgirl Recap

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

The Swiftie and The Scholar took a field trip to the movie theater this weekend to hang out with Taylor and the Swifties! This was Uncle Jerry's first in-person swiftie experience, and he gives us his thoughts, along with his first impressions of a few of the new tracks. Angela gives her first impressions on the album and discusses which songs the podcast will cover first.Follow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

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Start your period of Prueva per year for a euro at month in Shopify.es bar records. Welcome to the Swiftie and the Scholar. where we examine the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. I'm Angela McDowell the Swifty. And I am Dr. Cherry Coats, the Scholar. Oh, he got his first friendship bracelet. I did.

Angela gave me one that says Scholar. And I have a matching one that says Swifty, and it has our podcast colors. Oh, okay, cool. How are you doing? I'm well. We've had a weekend. We did. Um, okay, so the album came out Friday or Thursday night, if you're me.

And, um, when did you, I feel like you were reading lyrics on Friday. I was reading lyrics on Friday. I instantly got on and started reading Ophelia and I thought, ooh, lots to talk about. And, um, I went on and I did read, uh, Elizabeth Taylor. And, uh, I thought, okay. I mean, I'm, she's amazing. I mean, Elizabeth Taylor's amazing. I, I have liked her in so many movies, you know.

I mean, from she's in Jane Eyre, she plays a little child who dies, but she's so pretty when she's little. You know, and she's in, I don't know, black beauty and, and then all kinds of modern movies with Richard Burton, her husband, and then divorcee and then husband. Yeah, I know the Rocky lover relationship. I get that. Taylor Swift must identify with it. We'll talk about it later. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I mean, I must have read lyrics to three or four of them.

And I thought, I got to stop. I just got up being compulsive here. Yeah, so we will get into thoughts probably. But I just mostly want to talk about the release party of a showgirl that we went to last night. We did. There were seven of us, which was really fun. Uncle Jerry got his first bracelets. He got to see the friendship bracelet trading.

I did. That was cool. I mean, I really did like it. It was sweet. Yeah. You know, so, yes, I didn't know it was a thing until Angela told me a few weeks ago. And then I got to see it, you know? I mean, these girls came up to Angela and said, will you like to trade?

And so, of course, we all got our phones out and took pictures, and then another girl came up. But it's really, it's a community builder. It's a cool thing. Yeah, and that's what she said on the Kelsey Brothers podcast that she liked how much of like an event the Aeros Tour became, that we all made it with our costumes and our bracelets and all of the things. And then she said she wanted to keep figuring out ways to do that.

And I think that's exactly what she did with this. movie. I didn't know what exactly to expect. I mean, we knew it was going to be all the songs. It was really fun to hear her talk about all the songs. But let's get into your thoughts. I had a lot of fun. I loved it. I love her the making of the videos and stuff. I think when we talk about the fate of Ophelia, maybe we'll go into the music video too, because I feel like there was quite a bit in there to talk about her as well. Yes, there were things in the music video that were very, very interesting. I think we went to to dinner afterwards.

Yeah. And I mentioned the, the red-haired woman and the referentiality to pre-Raphaelite painters and in particular, the model that they used and that kind of thing.

So, yeah, I was really interested in it. I was interested in it because I was a huge fan of pre-Raphaelite paintings. So I have several books up there on pre-Raphaelites. And I am a huge fan of Christina Rosetti's poetry. And I like Dante Gabriel Rosetti's poetry.

her brother. So all pre-refile lights. But, okay, but I do want to talk about the people who were there. That was fun. I just, I like seeing the people in colorful outfits. Lots of orange. Lots of orange and pink. And I liked the party atmosphere before there was a big poster of her outside and people were taking pictures at the poster. So of course, we had our picture at the poster. We'll put that on the screen. It was fun. You know, and then, I mean, there was one mom, daughter, granddaughter trio, and they were all dressed in, like, pink. Sparkles.

Yeah, sparkles. And they all had really short skirts. And I kind of looked at the grandma and I thought, ooh, age appropriate. And, I mean, you know, but it's so funny how you quickly turn that off. You know, you just go, you know what? The heck with that. It's a party. Yeah.

That's like where your brain first goes and then you're like, no, no, wait. Right, exactly. Yeah. I mean, if she had warned that to the movie, I would think, oh, honey. Uh-oh, I used the word honey. Oh, no. Easter egg. You just use that in the way that Taylor talks about it being used at her.

I know, I did. I'm sorry, Taylor. I'm sorry. I learned the lesson, though. I'm sorry. The last time. But, yeah, I mean, if I'd seen her at a movie dressed like that, I would have thought, wow, that is just not appropriate for your age. You know, I don't, I don't mean to put people in boxes.

I'm conscious of it myself. Yeah, yeah. I am of an age. You know, I'm not going to wear short shorts and a wife beating t-shirt, you know. You know, but, but yeah, it was a party. It was fun. Yeah. It was cool.

I love the audience reaction to things. Yeah, the audience was funny. Yeah. When she's introing wood was hilarious. Oh, my gosh. Which we don't need to talk about right now. But the way that she just was like, this is just about superstitions. And then she was like, that's all.

And it was the shortest one that she talked about. I know. She didn't have anything else to say. And she just kind of cuts it off and looks off. And then the audience went, uh-huh. I do actually think that song, I think people are getting lost in the double entendres. But I do think it actually is like a fun song. Like she's like, I used to be so superstitious.

like praying that things wouldn't end and I know I don't have to do that now. And then there's some other stuff too. Yeah, no, it was fun. It's a fun song. When they got to that line, shall we mention the line about opening her skies? Well, that's not what I read because I read that one online and I thought, oh, wow, that's kind of explicit. Yeah. And when she says skies instead of thighs, the whole audience went,

wha-whi-whi-g-g-g-g- Yeah, that one was the most like where people got the most rowdy, I think, in our theater. Well, and then some people laughed. It was like, what? That's all. And thank you, Taylor, for doing that because one of our party was my 13-year-old granddaughter. Yes, I was very grateful for all of the clean versions in the movie. Yes. Because those words were really big on the screen.

Yes, they were. And sitting next to a 13-year-old, I was like, but it was fine. Yes. Our granddaughter, by the way, loves Angela and in the car ride over. Do you think I can sit by Angela? Oh, gosh. I just love her so much. I know.

She is a sweetheart. Yeah. So, yeah, she loves you. Okay, let's, okay, first, two things. First, I think we were about at the Elizabeth Taylor moment in the movie when you leaned over from a few seats over and said, this is so cool. Yeah. So I just want to tell people that. And also, you were taking notes.

Oh, yes, I was. So do you want to tell us the things that you wanted to talk about from your notes? Sure, I can do that. From your notes. I'll just, yeah, I opened up and started making notes. Okay, half-grilled chicken with mac and cheese. half grilled chicken brock no i'm sorry that's wait is that for panera that is a panera yeah well i do love a panera but i opened up my phone with the uh light turned all the way down

oh so you couldn't see yeah because i didn't want to disturb people and so i opened up a notes panel and it was the panera order i didn't realize it so i tacked all my notes on a panera order Yeah I don't know So stupid Come on it I was working Okay

Notes that I took Okay First of all One thing that really hit me And it hit me during the Elizabeth Taylor song Really Is the amount of

The allusiveness Of her poetry You know We haven't talked a lot about allusion, I think I've mentioned it once or twice. Yeah, a couple times. Yeah, so allusion is a reference to a person, place, thing, or idea in previous literature or history or theology. So if someone says, oh, you're as smart as Einstein, you know, that's a simile, but you're also comparing them to Einstein, who is a very famous smart guy. And so you're using an allusion to Einstein.

And obviously the first song about Ophelia is replete with allusions. And then you get to the second one. And it was the line, white diamonds, that really got me. Yeah. You know, and I thought, white diamonds, well, that was her perfume line. Yeah. I actually meant to look this up. Do you, were there like commercials for white diamonds perfume?

Oh, thank you for pointing me out as the old person. Sorry. And yes. Yes, I did. I had a vivid memory. of, you know, Elizabeth Taylor going on screen for white diamonds and, you know, saying, I love my diamonds. And, of course, she's got a huge diamond ring on. And every time she got married, or I'm sorry, when she was married, she got a huge diamond ring.

And, of course, it was in Life magazine. So, yeah, in the commercial, she said, I love my diamonds. And, you know, she wears her white diamonds. So, yes. Did she, was there like, did she ever say, like, white diamonds are forever, like how they say diamonds are forever? You know, I don't remember.

I'm sure one of you knows. Yeah. Or we'll look up the commercial and see. By the time we talk about that song. Yeah, yeah, we don't need to get into that song, but it's specifics of the songs, I guess. But, like, I really like how she said, white diamonds and my lovers are forever.

Because, like, diamonds are forever. Diamonds are forever. And then she's talking about people won't forget, like, her past relationships. See, I love that because she's got, like, layered el illusions, so she's got an allusion to, and we should talk about this in the song. Never mind. Yeah, yeah.

I have no idea what that song is. Yeah, but I mean, you know, white diamonds and diamonds are forever, of course, the James Vaughn. And so she's like stacking illusions and kind of mixing them up, which is a very cool writing technique, right? Yeah, that's fun. One of the reasons why I've been enjoying reading the lyrics. Yeah. Let's see, other, I mean, there were a bunch of illusions that I think we'll probably talk about when we get into the different songs.

Oh, I liked it when she mentioned Real Madrid. Yes, yeah. And you told me a story about that. So I'm a big soccer fan. I'm a big football fan. I love La Liga, the Spanish soccer league. I'm a huge British premier fan. I was watching them this morning.

So, yeah, I love several teams. I've been to Newcastle. I've been to Newcastle Stadium. I've been to Barcelona and visited FC. Barcelona, went to the fan shop, you know, bought my scarf. Yeah. Yeah. So Real Madrid.

Oh, we hate Real Madrid. But they're a great team. Yeah, but that was a fun little mention. And I did. I wondered why she specifically called them out. And then I saw somebody talking about. And then it kind of clicked that I remembered that for the Ares Tour in Spain, there was, I guess there was going to be a game on like a Sunday.

But they needed to start setting up for the Ares Tour. for the next weekend because that stage took like several days to build and they were like asked to move the game like Real Madrid was asking to move the game because they wanted her to be in that stadium it was something along those lines so I think she was giving them a little shout out for

yeah that's cool and I didn't know that yeah obviously I knew Real Madrid but I didn't know the story which we were talking about at dinner and Angela came up with a story I thought wow that is I mean, when you start pushing around a soccer team like that, I mean, Real Madrid, I mean, those people are absolutely crazy. Yeah, that's a big time one. That's like saying, we're going to postpone a cowboy game.

Right, exactly. We're going to kick the Kansas City Chiefs out of the stadium for a day. Yeah, just for like whoever, some singer coming in. It is. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, lots of illusions. Obviously, like I said, we'll get to them.

Oh, one of the ones I particularly liked, when I saw the, I liked her visual allusions. Yeah. You know, so there are different types of allusions, obviously verbal, but they're also visual illusions where you're, you know, you take a famous picture and then you replicate the picture in some other scene. So I love the Busby Berkeley thing. You know, when we were watching Ophelia and they come out onto that big 1930s style set. So I'm a huge Busby Berkeley fan. I mean, I love Babes on Broadway.

I love Gold Diggers of 1933, Gold Diggers of 1934. One of my favorite Busby Berkeley is The Gangsall Here. So if you've never seen The Gangsaw Here, it's a terrible movie. But it's got some amazing, weird dance scenes. Busby Berkeley was a huge fan of Luis Bunoz, Salvador Dahl. Salvador Dali and so he's a fan of people

who bend reality and the dance scenes definitely bend reality yeah so when I saw the dancers especially with the life preservers that was so because they talked about that and they're behind the scenes that she's they wanted

the life preservers because Ophelia drowned right it's like nope we're saving her this time I did love that scene though with all them in their little like swimsuits and Taylor coming down the stairs. That was very fun. Well, and, you know, I mean, I saw it, and I immediately thought Busby Berkeley, right? And, you know, I don't know, I was thinking, I wonder if she understands exactly how far she's pushing that illusion.

And then in the talkback, she mentions Buzzbee Berkeley. And I thought, oh, lady, you are just so self-aware. She knows stuff. I know. She does. She knows stuff. I do think that people want to hear what you have to say about her being like, I love Shakespeare and then like rolling her eyes at her side. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think that that was really funny. I have lived that moment. Yeah. You know, yeah, she said near the end, she said, well, I love Shakespeare. And then she goes, oh, yeah, that's a silly thing. And everybody loves Shakespeare. It's a goofy thing to say. And, yeah, I've had that moment where people ask me, you know, who's your favorite writer?

and I think, well, you know, who's on my top 100. And then secondly, you've got to say I love Shakespeare. But then it feels dumb because, you know, he's one of the greatest playwrights in the world. Yeah. Ever. Ever. All time. Yes.

It does feel silly to be like, Shakespeare, he's all right. Yeah, he's good. Yeah. I've read some stuff. It's all right. He wrote some poems, too, pretty good stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, I don't know. It's like saying I like Dickens. You know, I mean, his work. have been translated into more languages than the Bible literally. And yeah, it's kind of silly, but, you know, there we are. Yeah, yeah, here we are.

I like the fact she uses Shakespeare, which is even better. Yeah, yeah, it's very fun to... Because you can enjoy what she's... You can enjoy the music without knowing what she's referencing. Right. But it just adds so many extra layers,

which is why we're here. To pick apart those layers. We add the layers. Do you have like a thought on the album as a whole after hearing it one time through? Well, okay. It's hard. I know that's hard because you've only heard it one time, but except for Ophia. Well, it is.

So I'm going to go back to that phrase I used a minute ago, self-aware. You know, she's very intentional. She's very self-aware. I had begun to understand that I really didn't know that until I started real. reading lyrics to the songs that you've been feeding me every week. But she mentioned during talkback, she talked about her use of metaphors, right? She talked about how much she likes alliteration. And it's so funny because I point out the alliteration and you can't do it all.

Like you can't sit here for an hour and take one of her songs and point every single instance of alliteration. But you guys could probably go through the pencil in market. I mean, I do. Like some highlighters. Right. You know, and I just, I do like it that that's a consistent attribute of her songwriting. And it was, it was evidence through the album.

Yeah. And I think it's some, it's some nice poetry. Yeah. Musically. Musically, what did you think? Yeah. So, um, my first listen Thursday night, I was, I don't know, I think it goes like this with every album cycle where you just don't know what to expect.

You know it's going to be different. My first instinct was that I have no idea what I'd just listen to, but I loved how it sounded. I love the production of all of it. It was much more stripped back and a little bit slower pace than I was expecting after hearing her talk about working with Max Martin and knowing the other Max Martin songs. And like I think you said, like the show. girl vibe. It just, it felt like it was going to be a lot like showier and it wasn't. And I also love that I feel like previously on the pop, the more pop songs, she sings higher. And in her like sadder anthems, their slower songs, she sings in that lower register more. And I love that lower register.

And a lot of these songs are down there, even though they're the pop songs. And that has been barely like I've just been loving listening to it. I will say I was, I'm not going to say disappointed, but I was like, I don't know that the lyrics are really here. Like, they don't feel the same as they have in the past like five or six years. But the more I've listened and watching the lyric videos last night and actually starting to like get them in my head, I'm like, oh, I actually think there is a lot here. She's just mixing it with more fun.

And so it doesn't, it doesn't hit you first like it does in like tortured poets, you know, because that's what you're hearing in tortured poets is just the lyrics. So it's really grown a lot for me over the weekend. I am having a really good time with it. I always want, like, more content, like the crowd was chanting more, as she says, like, that is me. Like, I'm like, give us more songs. Give us more stuff. And, but actually, like, the 12 songs, like, it's a nice little collection.

and it's fun to just listen to you over and over. I was listening on the way here and just, like, jamming. It's a fun car album. Like, it's a fun, like, drive in and screen singing, you know? Yeah, but my thoughts will evolve. Maybe I'll write them all down or something. But, yeah, I'm liking it so far. The backlash has been interesting.

Maybe, no, I think backlash is the correct word. It's been pretty strong on Twitter. But I think people just, you know, people did this. with 1989. They did it with reputation and they did it with Midnights and then those become like her most popular albums. So I think we just got to give it a little time. If you're not liking it, give it a little time. But yeah, I'm happy. I'm pleased. I've had a fun weekend. You know, I will say, yeah, you mentioned I kind of, I was thinking it was going to be showier. It was going to be glitzier, musically more complex. You know, I guess I was looking for a little

Lady Gaga vibe. Yeah. You know, some explosiveness. Yeah. But I did love the transition in the video to Ophelia, right, where she kind of goes through the 30s, 40s, and then she has that 50s look with a blonde hair, and then she has that 60s go-go girl look. Yeah, with the dark hair.

Right. Yes. I loved that transition of showgirls throughout time, and she's just in a line. Yeah, and then she ended, like, saying she's actually Taylor, like. Right. on the heiast were whatever. Yeah. I did think that was fun.

You know, and I don't know, having only heard it once. Yeah. I did read through lyrics and I thought some of the songs are a little bit light. Yeah. Although I think I like father figure very much. Yeah. You know, another one of those allusions where she clearly alludes to the George Michael song. And she talked about it, you know, she talked about getting the rights from the George Michael family.

I thought that was kind of an interesting song So I'll be anxious to talk about it Did you have thoughts on seeing like director Taylor for the music video? You know she she was director Taylor But she also had a really talented co-director or assistant director Yeah Everyone does by the way that's not that's not unique You know even the greatest directors even Martin Scorsese

Has his second unit director No Your one set of eyeballs And even then you've got a cinematographer you know what I I love the shout out to the choreographer she's great so she she's worked with Taylor for a while Mandy Moore is her name um I can't remember when they started working together but she choreographed all of the eras tour as well so it's fun that she was there again and then all the airs tour dance I know you didn't know this but like all the or she did say it I guess but

her band was in the music video all of her backup singers all of the aero's tour dancers were all the people in the video so it's just really fun like to see all those people again and have everybody together after they, you know, works together for two years of their lives around the world. You know, I was also interested in her specificity of her own performance. You know, I love that moment when she looks at a second take and says, I want to do it again. And you could see the dancers go, huh. Yeah, and she was like, it was perfect, but I'm going to do better.

Yeah, she said, I can do better. And I, you know, she owns things. Well, that's very cool, you know, when you get someone who says something like that. Yeah. Or when she's going through the party in the hotel room and she says, you know, that we want to change the lighting. Yeah, the lighting needs to be more dem or something. So, yeah, I found that interesting. Those are great moments to show us, to show us that she's very, again, intentional about her direction.

Yeah, we'll watch more of those. There's some more fun behind the scenes of her being, acting as director on her videos. That's cool. some of those. Yeah, any more thoughts? You know, I don't think so. I guess I look forward to hearing it musically more. Yeah, so I think the two things, the two songs that people most want us to cover first,

I thought it was going to be The Fate of Ophelia, and I think we will do that one first, because I think that's just really fun. But father figure is the one that a lot of people have been asking for. Oh, that'll be fun, yeah, because I like that one. Yeah, so I think those will be the first two. we'll cover in the next few weeks or so, but I want to have a little more time with them. Because I bring my expertise, and if I don't have these for enough time, then I don't have anything to say.

Exactly. Well, and I was, you know, I was reluctant to say anything about the album musically until I heard you talk at dinner and I'm hearing you now. Yeah. Because I have so little ref or something. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've literally only heard the songs you've played. Like 10 of them or something.

That's right. Yeah. Outside the one other song I knew. Yeah, so my, my Taylor expertise is literally maybe in cumulative one album. Yeah, yeah. And I've only heard them when you played them for me. So, yeah, I'll listen to this a little more and try to get an idea. Okay, she has said, she did a bunch of interviews this week, and she said that she's not touring this album because she's tired.

Oh, okay. But when the next tour comes around, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad do you want to go? Okay, let me just say that Lady Gaga is coming to town. Oh, like soon? Yeah, fairly soon. And I really want to go. Do you have tickets? No, I don't, but I'm checking into it today.

Yeah, you've got to get those. And because I am a Gaga fan. You've seen her live before, yes. I have. Yeah. And her vocals are just amazing. For sure. So, yeah, when Taylor Swift comes to town, I think I really want to go.

I think the people might riot if we didn't go. Is that right? You've got to stop listening entirely. He dissed her when she came to town. Yeah. No, I'd like to see the show. The show looks very, you know, very fun and, you know, very cinematic, very theatrical. Yeah.

Yeah. Very theatrical. She's just a theater. kid. So I'll be there. Okay. Is that all your thoughts? That's it.

Okay. That's our thoughts for now on the life of a show girl release weekend. Go see the movie. Have some fun. Yeah. It was really fun. Take a friend, trade. Yeah.

Get your bracelets. Get your bracelets ready. I did make bracelets that said Swifty and Scholar Pod. So I could be like, I have a podcast. This is where you can find us on social. Go. And a couple people were like, wait, what? So maybe we got a couple of new listeners.

I don't know. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, we will, this I think will just be a bonus episode. So we'll see you later this week. And, yeah, let us know your thoughts on the album. I'm interested. I'm loving the comments.

So keep them coming. And make sure to follow along. I've been posting a lot more on Instagram at Swiftian ScholarPod. TikTok is the same. You can follow me at Angela Wyatt McDow on Instagram as well. and you can find Uncle Jerry here reading some poems. Okay, we'll see you later. Thank you guys.