Wow. We are now at single-digit days until the release of The Life Of A Showgirl, which is insane. Today's song is another one I had a harder time coming up with predictions for, but here are a few theories about track four, Father Figure!
One common theory I've seen is that this song will be connected to George Michael's classic song of the same name. It would be really interesting if Taylor actually covered this song. Obviously Taylor has done live covers, and some official covers released separately from albums like September and all the Christmas songs, but somehow across her entire main 11-album discography so far, there's only been one cover - Untouchable (originally by Luna Halo). We know Taylor likes likes to make the songs her own - Untouchable is originally a rock song, and Taylor's cover is a more soft, country-folk ballad, and September is a similar case. So we shouldn't expect it to sound exactly like the original, but... if it is relatively close to the original, this could be an indicator of some of the type of music we're getting with this album. It probably won't be another album of folk ballads considering what Taylor has said about the album (and as much as I loved the folk sound, I'm glad we're seemingly getting the long-awaited change in direction now), so maybe there'll be some of this 80s-y synth-pop style to it?
Similarly, I've also seen a theory that this song will sample or interpolate George Michael's Father Figure. Like with covers, you don't see sampling/interpolation much in Taylor's discography. I may be forgetting something but as far as I can remember she's only done that one time, with Look What You Made Me Do crediting I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred as an interpolation, and for me that was hardly even noticeable. As for more specific lyrical content, I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term "father figure", referring to someone who has a fatherly role in a person's life and usually isn't referring to someone's actual father. George Michael's Father Figure is a song about wanting to be like a father figure to someone else in a relationship, keeping someone secure and protected, which could be applied to either Taylor or Travis. Taylor singing this song would be really interesting to hear, but I guess I could see how it would be controversial. It would also be cool if George Michael's voice was actually sampled and used to represent Travis taking on the father figure role, in a similar way to a song like Midnight Rain or even Exile where Taylor is having a conversation with another voice. Again, I'm not really sure.
Okay, I do not take any credit for the songwriting you're about to see. Even if the cover/sample/interpolation theory is incorrect, this is still my prediction. Enjoy the chorus of George Michael's Father Figure.
(I will also add Father Figure to the AllTheHits Nebula for the last ATH before Showgirl comes out.)
"I will be your father figure
Put your tiny hand in mine
I will be your preacher, teacher
Anything you have in mind
I will be your father figure
I have had enough of crime
I will be the one who loves you
Til the end of time"
- George Michael, not HFE94
That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!
