| "Wood" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Taylor Swift | |
| from the album The Life of a Showgirl | |
| Released | October 3, 2025 | 
| Studio | 
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| Genre | |
| Length | 2:30 | 
| Label | Republic | 
| Songwriters | 
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| Producers | 
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| Lyric video | |
| "Wood" on YouTube | |
"Wood" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). A synth-pop, pop-funk, dance, and disco track, it features a guitar riff and a prominent horn arrangement. The lyrics contain sexual innuendos and references to superstition.
On August 13, 2025, Swift announced The Life of a Showgirl as her twelfth studio album during an episode of the podcast New Heights , hosted by NFL player and Swift's now-fiancé Travis Kelce and his brother Jason. [1] "Wood" was revealed on the same day as the album's ninth track. [2]
"Wood" is described as a synth-pop, [3] pop-funk, [4] dance, [5] and disco song. [6] The arrangement includes flugelhorn, cor anglais, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, cello, Clavinet, drums, electric guitar and flute. [7] Some critics compared the song's guitar riff to that of "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5. [8] [9]
The song is about Kelce's penis [10] and compares it to a magic wand and a hard rock. [6] [11] The line "new heights of manhood" references Kelce's podcast, New Heights. [12] The lyrics also reference Western cultural associations of luck, including the practice of "knocking on wood", a tradition to avert misfortune, and the superstition that seeing a black cat is an omen of bad luck. [11] [13] In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon , Swift stated that she had originally intended for the song to be a more "innocent", "throwback kind of timeless-sounding song" about superstitions, but acknowledged that the lyrics had become increasingly racier and more sexual during the songwriting process. [14]
The song was panned by critics, particularly for its lyrics. India Block of The London Standard felt that "Wood" could be confused for a track from "a parody album hallucinated by some porn-addled AI". [15] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said the song's "laid-back take on disco recalls not the sweaty hedonism of the dancefloor but the late 70s moment where four-to-floor rhythms and chicken-scratch guitar temporarily invaded the oeuvres of west coast singer-songwriters". [6] In Clash , Lauren Hague opined that, while the song fit "the Showgirl aesthetic" and Swift's vocal performance was "gutsy", the lyrics "border on the cringe". [16] Mary Kate Carr of The A.V. Club said the song "feels like an attempt to imitate [Swift's] friend and collaborator Sabrina Carpenter", highlighting how it "borrows heavily from Carpenter's cheeky-sexy shtick, laden with puns and innuendo spun out of superstitions", but felt it was "far less charming and convincing than Carpenter's work". [17] Pitchfork 's Anna Gaca felt the song had the "spiritual energy of bachelorette-party penis décor". [8]
Credits adapted from album liner notes. [18]
Studios
Personnel
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