Wi$h Li$t

The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

“Wi$h Li$t” is the eighth track on Taylor’s twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). Co-written and produced by Taylor, Max Martin and Shellback, the song was released on October 3, 2025, and explores Taylor’s personal vision of happiness, contrasting the extravagant ambitions of others with her own wish for love, family, home and privacy. It became one of her personal favorite songs from the album.

“Wi$h Li$t” stands out as one of the most personal songs on The Life of a Showgirl, offering a glimpse into the private future Taylor imagines beyond her public life. Its focus on love, family, home and privacy contrasts with the glamour and spectacle of the “showgirl” persona, tying the song to the album’s broader exploration of life both on and beyond the stage. As the final song written for the album, it also holds a unique place in its creative history, becoming the song that ultimately completed Showgirl.

Background and Release

In March 2023, Taylor launched “The Eras Tour,” a career-spanning project that would continue for almost two years and become the highest-grossing concert tour in history. During the European leg in 2024, the tour also coincided with a period of significant personal and creative change: after reconnecting with Swedish producer Max Martin during the Stockholm shows in May, Taylor began developing what would become The Life of a Showgirl. She had entered a new chapter in her personal life after meeting Travis Kelce in July 2023, a relationship that would later become a defining part of the period surrounding the album. She reunited with Martin and Shellback, who had previously worked with her on RED (2012), 1989 (2014) and reputation (2017), and travelled to Sweden between European tour dates to record the album:

«It was just a different type of muscle I was exercising. At that point in the tour, I was in the European leg of it, which was a lot more shows than I had done on the American leg of it. So, it was more shows, less days off. The phsysical exhaustion and soreness was at an all time high at the same time as I was starting to get to do that show with muscle memory. It took a while for that to happen because it's a three and a half hour show, but I was starting to be able to feel like, 'Okay, my body is getting more tired, and my mind is more able to do this on autopilot. And I never want to do this show on autopilot, so I need to do something to flex these creative muscles, and go in there and really exercise that other part of my brain.' And what it ended up doing was reinvigorating every aspect of my life, including the tour, which made me just able to recommit myself to the show even more.»

Taylor Swift

“Wi$h Li$t” was written in October 2024 and became the last song written and recorded for the album. Taylor later described it as the moment she realized Showgirl was complete, calling the song its “final piece” and explaining that its emotional and romantic perspective felt particularly representative of where she was in her life at the time.

Taylor announced The Life of a Showgirl on August 13, 2025, during her appearance on Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, revealing its October 3 release date and 12-song tracklist. “Wi$h Li$t” was revealed as the album’s eighth track. Taylor subsequently identified it as her favourite song on the album, describing it as “dreamy” and “romantic” and explaining that its verses explore the different lives and aspirations people wish for themselves before turning to what she personally wants.

Artist	Taylor Swift
Released	October 3, 2025
Written	October 2024
Studios	MXM (Stockholm)
Genre	Pop
Length	3:27
Label	Republic Records
Songwriters	Taylor Swift Max Martin Shellback
Producers	Max Martin Shellback Taylor Swift

Song Artwork

Lyrical Theme

The central theme of “Wi$h Li$t” is the contrast between the lives people aspire to and the life Taylor personally wants. The verses run through an extravagant catalogue of other people’s ambitions—wealth, fame, awards, beauty, artistic recognition, freedom and luxury—before Taylor turns inward and reveals that her own wishes are much more intimate. Her “wish list” centres on a loving partner, children, a home and the freedom to enjoy that life away from public scrutiny. Taylor explained that the song explores the different things people aspire to have and the idea that everyone is entitled to their own set of wishes, rather than there being one universal definition of success:

«It is one of my favorite songs on the album by far, it’s so romantic. It’s got such great imagery in the verses about just what kinds of lives people want. And just kind of living in this state of acceptance of whatever way anybody wants to live in the world, as like as long as you get to live the way you want to live. [... ] It was that one that as soon as we finished it, I was like, 'We’re done. Call it, take it to the morgue, toe tag, it’s done.'»

Taylor Swift

At the heart of the song is therefore the desire to build a life with someone and make that life feel like home. Taylor has described the chorus as an expression of wanting a future with her partner, explaining to Jimmy Fallon, “You’re saying to your person that you wanna build a life with them and you want it to feel like home. Like, I learned about sports for this man.” That gives the otherwise idealized vision a distinctly personal and playful detail, referencing the effort of learning about football for Travis Kelce. The song’s domestic imagery, including children, a house and a basketball hoop, consequently becomes less about a conventional fantasy of settling down and more about creating a shared world with someone whose interests and life she has chosen to embrace.

The song also reflects a shift in Taylor’s understanding of what she wants from a relationship. Its bridge acknowledges that she has previously believed she had found the right person, only to discover that she was mistaken, making the wishes in the chorus feel like the result of experience rather than a naïve romantic fantasy. “Wi$h Li$t” ultimately presents happiness as something deeply personal: after years of extraordinary professional achievement and public attention, Taylor’s most meaningful aspirations are portrayed not as more fame or success, but as love, family, stability, belonging and a private life shared with the person she has chosen. In that sense, the song turns the idea of a “wish list” away from material acquisition and towards the life she hopes to build.

Production

“Wi$h Li$t” blends 1980s-inspired synth-pop and electropop with chiming synthesizers, programmed drums and pedal steel guitar, creating a dreamy, expansive sound. Taylor designed the chorus as the musical equivalent of her own “happy place,” inspired by the utopian escape in the film Happy Gilmore (1996) where its protagonist retreats when life becomes overwhelming. As she explained, “This is utopia for me, that’s where I go when I’m stressed out. It’s that fantasy.”

Critical Reception

Critics generally responded to “Wi$h Li$t” as one of the album’s more openly romantic and accessible songs, although opinions differed on how substantial its writing was. Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times described it as “dreamy,” while Jon Caramanica called it the album’s “poppiest track”; Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone praised it as a “beautifully candid love song,” particularly highlighting its humorous directness. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian, meanwhile, viewed its vision of domestic life as “suburban domestic contentment,” while Esquire’s Alan Light found the song pleasant but comparatively minor.

A recurring point of praise was the song’s ability to turn an extremely personal subject into something recognizable and relatively universal. Critics noted the contrast between the extravagant wishes listed in the verses and Taylor’s much simpler vision of love, family and home, with Los Angeles Times specifically highlighting the song’s bass line and describing it as a synthy power ballad. KQED similarly interpreted it as a celebration of the private world Taylor and Travis Kelce have created together, while Vanity Fair placed the song within the album’s broader shift away from the anxiety and uncertainty of Taylor’s earlier relationship writing towards a more hopeful, romantic perspective.

The song also attracted criticism, particularly around its depiction of domestic happiness and its close association with Kelce. Some commentary interpreted the desire for children, a house and a private suburban life through the lens of the “tradwife” debate. Other critics were less concerned with the subject matter itself and more with the album’s overall songwriting, with The Guardian praising the unexpected key changes in “Wi$h Li$t” while questioning whether the song ultimately delivered enough memorable material.

Music & More

Wi$h Li$t

4 Videos

3:32

3:28

3:31

Commercial Performance

“Wi$h Li$t” had a strong commercial debut despite being an album track rather than a single. In the US, it debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the highest-charting songs from The Life of a Showgirl and giving Taylor another Top 10 hit from the album; it remained on the Hot 100 for 13 weeks, with its final appearance at No. 92 in January 2026.

Internationally, the song also entered the charts strongly, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 9 on the Billboard Global Excl. US, where it remained for at least two weeks. It reached No. 9 in Australia, No. 11 in New Zealand, No. 13 in Sweden, No. 17 in Denmark, No. 18 in Norway and No. 26 in Spain, among other markets. In the UK, it peaked at No. 6 on the Official Singles Chart, while it also reached No. 9 on the UK Streaming Chart.

Streaming numbers underline the scale of its release-day performance: “Wi$h Li$t” accumulated 18.8 million Spotify streams globally on October 3, 2025, its first day of release. On Spotify’s global daily chart, it debuted at No. 9, while the song’s wider chart performance was achieved amid the extraordinary first-week presence of The Life of a Showgirl, which placed all 12 album tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
They want that yacht life
Under chopper blades
They want those bright lights and Balenci shades
And a fat ass with a baby face
They want it all
They want that complex female character
They want that critical smash Palme d’Or
And an Oscar on their bathroom floor
They want it all

[Pre-Chorus 1]
And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
Hope they get what they want

[Chorus 1]
I just want you
Have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us thе fuck alone…and they do
Wow
Got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list
I just want you

[Verse 2]
They want that freedom
Living off the grid
They want those three dogs that they call their kids
And that good surf, no hypocrites
They want it all
They want a contract with Real Madrid
They want that spring break that was fuckin lit—and then that video taken off the internet
They want it all

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
I hope they get what they want

[Chorus 2]
I just want you
Have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us thе fuck alone…and they do
Wow
Got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list

[Bridge]
I made wishes on all of the stars
Please, God bring me a best friend
Who I think is hot
I thought I had it right once, twice but I did not
You caught me off my guard
I hope get what I want
Cause I know what I want

[Final Chorus]
And we could have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us thе fuck alone…and they do
Wow
And now you got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list
I just want you

[Verse 1]
They want that yacht life
Under chopper blades
They want those bright lights and Balenci shades
And a fat stack with a baby face
They want it all
They want that complex female character
They want that critical smash Palme d’Or
And an Oscar on their bathroom floor
They want it all

[Pre-Chorus 1]
And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
Hope they get what they want

[Chorus 1]
I just want you
Have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world they gotta leave us alone…and they do
Wow
Got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list
I just want you

[Verse 2]
They want that freedom
Living off the grid
They want those three dogs that they call their kids
And that good surf, no hypocrites
They want it all
They want a contract with Real Madrid
They want that spring break where the clubs lit—and then that video taken off the internet
They want it all

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
I hope they get what they want

[Chorus 2]
I just want you
Have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world they gotta leave us alone…and they do
Wow
Got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list

[Final Chorus]
And we could have a couple kids
Got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world they gotta leave us alone…and they do
Wow
And now you got me drеaming ’bout a driveway
With a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down
Got a wish list
I just want you

Wi$h Li$t

The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

Background and Release

Song Artwork

Lyrical Theme

Production

Critical Reception

Music & More

Wi$h Li$t

Commercial Performance

Lyrics

Actually Romantic

Wood

Discography

Videography

Wiki

Wi$h Li$t

The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

Background and Release

Song Artwork

Lyrical Theme

Production

Critical Reception

Music & More

Wi$h Li$t

Lyric Video

Visualizer

Official Audio

Acoustic Version

Commercial Performance

Lyrics

Actually Romantic

Wood