I already loved The Life of a Showgirl, but these four new songs??? Taylor, what the fuck. Patient Zero hooked me immediately. It’s catchy as hell, the lyrics hit, and the violins remind me SO much of “Wait for Me” from Hadestown that I was basically doomed from the start. Cleveland! is Taylor basically saying, “You can find me insufferable. That’s fine. I found someone who loves me.” And I LOVE that energy. I want that confidence. 😂 Pink Clouding is where I started going HOW DOES HER BRAIN WORK??? The way she uses pink clouding and grey rocking as metaphors is SO GOOD. Taylor Swift, please let me observe your songwriting process. And Babylon feels like early Taylor country vibes with current Taylor songwriting. Nostalgic, introspective, beautiful, and absolutely going on my future travel posts. 😂 BUT HERE’S THE THING THAT BROKE MY BRAIN: I listened to “The Life of a Showgirl” and let it transition directly into “Patient Zero” because I wanted to see whether these songs actually felt like an encore. THEY DO. The end of “The Life of a Showgirl” already feels like the end of the show. Goodnight, everyone! Curtain closed! It’s over! And then the violins of Patient Zero start. Oh. IT ISN’T OVER. THAT’S THE ENCORE. It doesn’t feel like four bonus tracks randomly added onto an album. It genuinely feels like the show ended and then the music started again. I’m obsessed. I called Grace immediately because I needed another person to experience this with me, and now we’re both in awe. Taylor Alison Swift, I need to inspect your brain.