The Life of a Showgirl: Is Taylor Swift’s ‘Ruin the Friendship’ about Blake Lively?

Taylor Swift’s latest release, The Life of a Showgirl, has finally arrived – and with it, the answers to months of speculation about the meaning behind some of its tracks, particularly Ruin the Friendship, which many believed to be about actress Blake Lively.

Is Ruin the Friendship really about Blake Lively?

In mid-August, Swift unveiled the 12-song tracklist for the album, immediately sparking theories that Ruin the Friendship might reference her friendship with Lively. The two were once frequently seen together, but after Swift’s name surfaced during legal troubles surrounding the It Ends with Us star, they were no longer spotted publicly.

After listening to the song, however, it’s clear it has nothing to do with Lively. The lyrics recount Swift’s high school self falling for a boy who already had a girlfriend – a crush she never pursued because she didn’t want to “ruin the friendship.” It remains unclear who inspired the story, but the song centers on a romance that never was.

The track closes with a telling refrain: “My advice is always ruin the friendship / Better that than regret it for all time / Should’ve kissed you anyway.”

While Ruin the Friendship doesn’t seem to target Lively, another track on the album may contain veiled references. On Cancelled, Swift reflects on a friend who was suddenly shunned: “You thought that it would be okay, at first / The situation could be saved, of course / But they’d already picked out your grave and hearse / Beware the wrath of masked crusaders.”

The chorus is just as biting: “Good thing I like my friends cancelled / I like ’em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal / Like my whiskey sour / And poison thorny flowers / Welcome to my underworld / Where it gets quite dark / At least you know exactly who your friends are / They’re the ones with matching scars.”

What The Life of a Showgirl is really about

The record spans 12 tracks, with only one collaboration – featuring Sabrina Carpenter. Thematically, The Life of a Showgirl pulls back the curtain on Swift’s “behind the scenes” experiences during the Eras Tour, hailed as the most successful tour of all time.

This marks Swift’s 12th studio album, following Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022), The Tortured Poets Department (2024) and now The Life of a Showgirl (2025).

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