Fans Think Taylor Swift's "Opalite" Lyric References Travis Kelce’s Ex

Most of The Life of a Showgirl is a glitter gel pen album — but fans have picked up on a few lyrics that are not quite as lovey-dovey. In “Opalite,” Swift sings about her romance with Travis Kelce — but Swifties picked up on one line that seemingly references the tight end’s ex, Kayla Nicole.

In one verse, Swift seemingly sings directly to Kelce about feeling lost in one of his previous relationships: “You couldn't understand it, why you felt alone / You were in it for real / She was in her phone, and you were just a pose.”

Shortly after the album came out on Oct. 3, fans on X (formerly called Twitter) and TikTok began speculating that the lyric is Swift’s way of defending Kelce and throwing some “shade” Nicole’s way. As one listener put it, “she fr wrote travs tolerate it she told his side of the story for him.” (In Swift’s song “Tolerate It,” she describes feeling undervalued in a relationship.)

Swift also gave a nod to her exes in the track. “I had a bad habit of missing lovers past / My brother used to call it, ‘Eating out of the trash,’” she sings in the first verse.

She didn’t harp on the past too much though. The rest of the song focused on the optimism of falling for someone new and loving each other the right way. “This is just a storm inside a teacup / But shelter here with me, my love ... Failure brings you freedom / And I can bring you love, love, love, love, love.”

It only makes sense that “Opalite” is Kelce’s favorite song on the record. “He loves that one,” she told Capital UK about the track. Apparently, it has a layered meaning, too. According to Swift, opalite is actually the term for a man-made opal. Plus, opal happens to be Kelce’s birthstone. “I’ve always fixated on that. I’ve always loved that stone,” she explained “And I thought it was kind of a cool metaphor that it’s a man-made opal and happiness can be also man-made too.”