What happens to Ophelia in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"? Taylor Swift seemingly credits Travis Kelce for saving her from drowning "in the melancholy"

Taylor Swift recently released The Life of a Showgirl and the opening track The Fate of Ophelia witnessed her seemingly crediting fiancé Travis Kelce. In the track, the pop singer reportedly gave due credits to Kelce and considered him to be the one to save her from drowning "in the melancholy."

In the opening track, the 35-year-old could be heard singing,

"And if you'd never come for me / I might've drowned in the melancholy / I swore my loyalty to me, myself and I / Right before you lit my sky."

For the unversed, Ophelia is a character from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The noblewoman from Denmark was always impacted by men controlling her choices, finally leading her to drown in a spiral of madness. She was the potential wife of Prince Hamlet but the relationship did not work out and the latter even ended up killing Ophelia's father Polonius.

As mentioned in the Act IV, Scene VII, Ophelia died after she fell from a willow tree into a brook and drowned. It is, however, unclear if it was an accident or intentional in nature. It is to be noted that Taylor Swift has drawn many parallels between the actual story of Ophelia and references made in her new album.

Exploring more about the parallel references drawn by Taylor Swift between Ophelia's story and the studio album

Pop singer Taylor Swift crediting Travis Kelce in the opening song of the recently released album was not the only time that she made such a reference. Previously, in the year 2021, Taylor released a song titled Willow from her studio album Evermore.

She penned down the song with her then-partner Joe Alwyn under the allias "Wiliam Bowery." The former couple, however, did not last long thereafter and ended up parting their ways. According to reports by USA Today, it could be argued that like Ophelia, Taylor too fell from the willow tree due to the heartbreak.

Another significance between Ophelia's story and Taylor's recent project is the latter's cover story. Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais painted the character in a popular oil-based painting. The pop singer recreated a similar image of herself submerged in a bathtub for the cover photo of the recent album.

During an August episode of The New Heights Podcast, Taylor Swift revealed that Hamlet acted as an inspiration for her to navigate through her new era. She even spoke of Kelce and said that he might not have read Hamlet, so she explained it to him.

Talking further about the studio album, Taylor Swift told Jason Kelce,

"My day ends with me in a bathtub, not usually in a bedazzled dress... I wanted to glamorize all the different aspects of how (the Eras Tour) felt."

Meanwhile, netizens were excited with the release of the latest album. They have flooded social media platforms with their reactions and opinions on the same. The singer is further set to drop a movie titled The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.