Eldest Daughter

Last updated

"Eldest Daughter"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Life of a Showgirl
ReleasedOctober 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Studio
  • MXM
  • Shellback (Stockholm)
Genre Soft rock
Length4:06
Label Republic
Songwriters
Producers
  • Taylor Swift
  • Max Martin
  • Shellback
Official visualizer
"Eldest Daughter" on YouTube

"Eldest Daughter" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). Written and produced by Swift, Max Martin and Shellback, "Eldest Daughter" is a soft, melancholic soft rock piano ballad that revolves around the pressure and pain of being an eldest daughter, with familial expectations to be perfect. The song generally received mixed reviews from music critics.

Contents

Background and release

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl on August 13, 2025, during an episode of the weekly podcast New Heights – hosted by her fiancé, NFL player Travis Kelce with his brother Jason. "Eldest Daughter" was revealed on the same day as the album's fifth track. [1]

"Eldest Daughter" was released on October 3, 2025 along with album, through Republic Records. [2] Less than 24 hours of the album's release, an acoustic version subtitled, "Now You're Home" appeared as part of the tracklist of one of the album's deluxe CD editions, available for 24 hours on October 4, 2025, on Swift's webstore. [3] A separate original songwriting voice memo of the track was released on October 9, 2025 for digital download, subtitled "So Punk on the Internet". [4] On November 7, an Acoustic Collection edition of the album was released, featuring both the original and acoustic versions – including "Eldest Daughter". [5]

Composition

"Eldest Daughter" is a soft and melancholic, minor-key soft rock [6] piano ballad [7] in a moderately-slow tempo of 77 BPM. As described by Swift in the Track by Track Version of The Life of a Showgirl (2025), the track is a "love song about personal roles in life". [8] The song reflects the effect of public and media criticism in Swift's life. [9] A subtle nod to the "eldest daughter syndrome", [10] [11] it also revolves around the pressure and struggle to become a perfect individual before finally ending up with a happy relationship. [12] [13] [9]

Music critics associated "Eldest Daughter" to Swift's previous songs such as "The Archer" (2019) and "Mirrorball" (2020), respectively from her albums, Lover and Folklore having recurring themes of perseverance, desperation and perfectionism. [14] In contrary to the song being about Swift, Alyssa Bailey of ELLE pointed out that it's a vow her fiancé, NFL player Travis Kelce. Bailey cited certain lyrics of the song as Swift's early lessons of "cautious discretion" (When your first crush crushes something kind / When I said I didn't believe in marriage / That was a lie / Every eldest daughter / Was the first lamb to the slaughter / So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire) before finally moving on to the bridge in which she described the part where "Kelce made her believe in love once again" (Ferris wheel, kisses, and lilacs / And things I said were dumb / 'Cause I never thought I'd find that beautiful, beautiful life that shimmers the innocent light back / Like when we were young / Every youngest child felt / They were raised up in the wild but now you're home). [15]

Charts

Chart performance for "Eldest Daughter"
Chart (2025)Peak
position
Latvia Streaming (LaIPA) [16] 12
United Arab Emirates (IFPI) [17] 11

References

  1. ↑ Horowitz, Steven (August 11, 2025). "Taylor Swift Announces New Album 'The Life of a Showgirl'". Variety . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  2. ↑ Chau, Nicole (October 3, 2025). "Taylor Swift releases "The Life of a Showgirl" to much fanfare". CBS . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  3. ↑ Willman, Chris (October 4, 2025). "Taylor Swift Announces Eight Acoustic Recordings as Bonus Tracks for Four New 'Life of a Showgirl' CD Editions". Variety . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  4. ↑ "The Life of a Showgirl (Deluxe So Punk on the Internet Version)". Taylor Swift Official Store. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
  5. ↑ "The Life of a Showgirl + Acoustic Collection". Apple Music . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  6. ↑ Lamm, Olivier (October 3, 2025). "The Life of a Showgirl: Taylor Swift joue avec les tubes à excès" [The Life of a Showgirl: Taylor Swift Plays with Excessive Hits]. Libération (in French). Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  7. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (October 6, 2025). "'Eldest Daughter' (2025)". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  8. ↑ Olson, Samantha (October 27, 2025). "A Definitive Ranking of Taylor Swift's Track 5 Songs, From Debut to 'The Life of a Showgirl'". Cosmopolitan . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  9. 1 2 Withington, Katie (October 5, 2025). "How Taylor Swift Perfectly Captures The Pressures And Expectations Of Being The 'Eldest Daughter'". Elle . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  10. ↑ McClusky, Megan (October 3, 2025). "Making Sense of 'Eldest Daughter,' Taylor Swift's Emotional The Life of a Showgirl Track 5". Time . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  11. ↑ Tempera, Jacqueline; Luppino, Olivia (October 3, 2025). "Eldest Daughter Syndrome: What It Is And 12 Signs To Look For, According To Experts". Women's Health . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  12. ↑ Hodgkinson, Will (October 3, 2025). "The story behind every song on Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl". The Times . Archived from the original on October 3, 2025. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  13. ↑ Breihan, Tom (October 3, 2025). "Premature Evaluation: Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl". Stereogum . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  14. ↑ Mitchell, Madeline (October 3, 2025). "I thought Taylor Swift's 'Eldest Daughter' track would wreck me. It healed me instead". USA Today . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  15. ↑ Bailey, Alyssa (October 4, 2025). "Taylor Swift's 'Eldest Daughter' Lyrics Contain a Vow to Fiancé Travis Kelce". ELLE . Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Teilore Svifta plūc mūzikas topu uzvaras laurus arī Latvijā" [Taylor Swift also tops the music charts in Latvia] (in Latvian). TV Net  [ lv ]. October 14, 2025. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Official MENA Chart | Weekly Chart – Week 41, 2025 – 03/10 to 09/10/2025". The Official MENA Chart (Select year 2025, week 41 and UAE chart to view peak.). Retrieved October 16, 2025.
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