Taylor Swift is deeply in love and not afraid to sing about it on "The Life of a Showgirl," her 12th album out Oct. 3, 2025.

"The Life of a Showgirl," Taylor Swift's 12-track foray back into high-synth pop, has finally arrived.

After countdown followed by countdown, endless vinyl releases, and no doubt a great many missed Easter eggs, Swift dropped her orange-tinted album to eager listeners. Over the course of 42 minutes, she mines her romance with NFL star Travis Kelce, the public's ever-growing fascination with her life and the exhaustion of constant performance.

Smack-dab in the middle of the album, however, is "Ruin the Friendship," a slight detour, whose lyrics chronicle a high school romance that could have been, and the untimely death of her onetime love interest.

On it, Swift returns to the hallways that made her famous for tracks like "Fifteen" and "Teardrops on My Guitar," telling the story of an unrequited teen crush. Swift urges a past version of herself to kiss the boy anyway, only to discover later that he had died.

"And it was not convenient, no / But your girlfriend was away / Should've kissed you anyway," she croons, adding later, "And it was not convenient, no / Would've been the best mistake / Should've kissed you anyway."

Taylor Swift 'Ruin the Friendship' lyrics

She grows the mystique as the song goes on, describing specific moments when she should have leaned in, ignoring all their juvenile roadblocks and "ruin(ed) the friendship." As the track winds down, it takes a somber turn, revealing the object of her high school affections had later died.

"When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye / And we'll never know why," she sings. "It was not an invitation / But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say."

"It was not convenient, no," the lyrics continue, returning to the original refrain. "But I whispered at the grave / Should've kissed you anyway."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: On 'Ruin the Friendship,' Taylor Swift mourns a high school love

Reporting by Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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