#good read

There was a blind item last year on March 9th, 2024 saying that JA had asked her to promote a new album and she allegedly, "refused". There have been other blind items seeding a rift between them (one specifically saying she needed to drop him as a producer) and also comments about JA's wife's reaction to being questioned on TS12. Notably JA is not producing on it.

For the record, I think this is all part of the entertainment. The industry is run of these off-screen dramas. Taylor admitted as much during the podcast. She is constantly entertaining us. ALL of us. Certainly playing both sides, to a point, feeding all sides enough to maintain the illusion. This might be painfully obvious to some people but I think it bears reminding too.

But also, she said The Life of a Showgirl shows us behind the curtain of her life while on that tour.

I do think we're getting a documentary, maybe also entitled The Life of a Showgirl. These two mirrored showgirls, imo, are egging that.

Another lock appeared in the promo for TS12, and Taylor Nation Tweeted about the lock being lost in Vancouver...

Vancouver was the last stop of the Eras Tour.

Dec. 6 in Vancouver, Canada — “Haunted”/”Wonderland” and “Never Grow Up”/”The Best Day”

Dec. 7 in Vancouver, Canada — “I Love You, I’m Sorry”/”Last Kiss” with Gracie Abrams and “The Tortured Poets Department”/”Maroon”

Dec. 8 in Vancouver, Canada — “A Place in This World”/”New Romantics” and “Long Live”/”New Year’s Day”/”The Manuscript”

We're currently at the Showgirl part of the character arc, next we have Marie Antoinette, ghosting and finally the Princess with Her Castle, returning from behind the curtain.

There is also a whole lost of egging for her doing the Superbowl in 2026, which is taking place in Levi Stadium.

Taylor played Levi Stadium in July 2023. Her Surprise songs?

July 28 in Santa Clara, Calif. — “Right Where You Left Me” and “Castles Crumbling”

July 29 in Santa Clara, Calif. — “Stay Stay Stay” and “All of the Girls You Loved Before”

And, just to also mention the surprise songs in the stars leading up to this - and also a reminder that the whole Ratty thing was going on up to June 2023, allegedly.

May 28 in East Rutherford, N.J. — “Welcome to New York” and “Clean"

- I think this signalled the Action Phase of starting to seed 1989 TV sub-Era promo -

June 2 in Chicago, Ill. — “I Wish You Would” and “The Lakes”

June 3 in Chicago, Ill. — “You All Over Me” with Maren Morris and “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”

June 4 in Chicago, Ill. — “Hits Different” and “The Moment I Knew”

June 9 in Detroit, Mich. — “Haunted” and “I Almost Do”

June 10 in Detroit, Mich. — “All You Had to Do Was Stay” and “Breathe”

June 16 in Pittsburgh, Penn. — “Mr. Perfectly Fine” and “The Last Time”

June 17 in Pittsburgh, Penn. — “Seven” with Aaron Dessner and “The Story of Us”

June 23 in Minneapolis, Minn. — “Paper Rings” and “If This Was a Movie”

June 24 in Minneapolis, Minn. — “Dear John” and “Daylight”

June 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio — “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” and “Evermore”

July 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio — “Ivy” with Aaron Dessner, “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” with Gracie Abrams and “Call It What You Want”

- the heartbreak seeding in these above days, for the plot -

July 7 in Kansas City, Miss. — “Never Grow Up” and “When Emma Falls in Love”

July 8 in Kansas City, Miss. — “Last Kiss” and “Dorothea”

- the intricately planned fateful day TK was at the Eras and later used the podcast to "shout her out" after these dates -

July 22 in Seattle, Wash. — “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” and “Everything Has Changed”

July 23 in Seattle, Wash. — “Message in a Bottle” and “Tied Together With a Smile”

26th July, 2023: Kelce reveals on New Heights podcast that he tried and failed to meet her after the show. ‘I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,’ he said. ‘So I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.’

He then explains he’d made a special friendship bracelet – fans trade them at her shows, referencing a lyric from her track You're On Your Own Kid – with his number on it, but hadn’t been able to give it to her.

July 29 in Santa Clara, Calif. — “Stay Stay Stay” and “All of the Girls You Loved Before”

Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “I Can See You” and “Maroon”

Aug. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Our Song” and “You Are in Love”

Aug. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid”

Aug. 7 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Dress” and “Exile”

Aug. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “I Know Places” and “King of My Heart”

Aug. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “New Romantics” and “New Year’s Day”

The story is still playing out, and I think with TS12 more of it is being revealed. She very much emphasises the concept of having 12 exact tracks the meticulous way she wanted the album curated into 12 parts - like the 🎃 messages.

It's all very, very interesting. It's also frustrating at times, but we also must remember she is the Antihero. That's the role she has chosen at times. For now it's the Showgirl, fresh out of the Slammer of her Tortured Poet era.

This is merely the setting of the stage for the next scene. Grab the popcorn, and enjoy the show.

Laura Stacey’s journey to being one of the premier power forwards in women’s hockey has been filled with epic highs and lows. 

The highs feature winning an Olympic gold medal in 2022, three World Championship titles and being one of the first three players signed by Montreal when the Professional Women’s Hockey League was founded in 2023.

The lows include breaking both her wrists at the same time in her final NCAA game at Dartmouth and the disappointment of not getting a lot of playing time for Team Canada earlier in her national team career. 

Now 30, Stacey has blossomed into a top player in the PWHL with the Victoire, seeing top-line minutes alongside teammate and wife Marie-Philip Poulin, with who she tied the knot in September of 2024. 

In her second PWHL season, Stacey had 10 goals and 20 points in 24 games before heading to her seventh Women’s World Championship in Czechia. She credits the maturation process for her current success as a player.  

“Honestly, a lot of people tell me I’m a completely different player and I do believe that to some extent, but I don’t think it has anything to do with skill,” Stacey told TSN. “Of course I worked on a lot of things, of course I’ve spent way more hours on the ice and have got to play with and against some amazing people that have pushed me, but I would say I’m more a different player just because I’ve matured. I’ve grown up.”

Team Canada forwards Blayre Turnbull and Emma Maltais both play for the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres and have been on the opposing side several times the past two years with the task of trying to stop Stacey.  

“It's a challenge,” said Turnbull. “She's relentless with her work ethic and her commitment to winning battles and to getting the puck to the net. So, as someone who often has to try to shut that down, it can be very challenging at times. She's someone, as everyone knows, if you watch a PWHL game that she's in, her speed is incredible. So, trying to match her speed and her work ethic is definitely a challenge, but I always find it really fun.”

“I think also her ability to take control of a game, take the puck from end to end and maintain possession of it, is a really big quality,” said Maltais. “She's scary whenever she has the puck.” 

PWHL: Victoire 4, Frost 1

00:02 / 01:21

PWHL: Victoire 4, Frost 1Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey each scored two goals to help the Victoire secure the first PWHL playoff spot this season after a victory over the Frost. Montreal moved into sole possession of first place in the standings after its first regulation win in its last six road games.

Despite making seven straight Worlds rosters and the past two Olympic teams, Stacey admits she still gets nervous when a new Canadian roster is about to drop.

Stacey’s first few experiences playing at the Women’s Worlds did not go how she wanted. She debuted in 2017 and did not register a point in five games as Canada went home with silver. In 2019, she had three points in seven games, but Canada had a program-low result of bronze.  

Fast forward to 2021 when Canada rose up to win gold at the Worlds for the first time since 2012, Stacey was in the stands as a healthy scratch and appeared in just one game the entire tournament.  

“Making the senior team is quite the jump,” said Stacey. “I think  when you’re a young kid you just think, ‘Okay I’m going to make the U18 team, I’m going to make the development team and then I’m going to make the senior team’ and I think there was quite a bit of a news flash to me when that linear progression got halted quite a few times and you don’t know what the difference is. You don’t know what that next step looks like, but you see other people making it.”

Canadian national team head coach Troy Ryan remember having a lot of frank conversations with Stacey about where she belonged on the team.

“I give her a lot of credit for actually just taking the time to meet with me, to share some of her thoughts,” said Ryan. “And I know she went through a hard journey herself in trying to navigate where she fits on the national-team level.  

“I don't think, me as a coach, but her as an athlete, if we ever get to the point where we are today right now in our coach-athlete relationship, if Laura doesn't take the time to have those tough conversations and try to get an idea where I may be thinking or where our staff may be thinking and where she believes she could be as an athlete.” 

Stacey says it started by focusing on being the best forechecker on the team with eyes on eventually being the best penalty killer. She had her best World Championship outing offensively last year, with two goals and three assists in seven games as Canada won gold.

Maltais, who was also on that gold-medal winning roster in 2024, counts Stacey as one of her best friends and has matching tattoos with her and forward Jill Saulnier after the trio played together at the 2022 Olympics. As one of the younger players who made the senior team for the first time in 2021, she says Stacey is a role model.  

“Laura is one of the more resilient people that I've met,” said Maltais. “I think her experience – she's really had to battle back to become who she wants to be. And I think that's what makes her such an inspiring role model for a lot of us. I think the way she carries herself on a daily basis, she's not arrogant. She doesn't expect anything to come to her. She just does it. And I think those years of adversity for her definitely shaped her into who she was.” 

Despite all the trials and tribulations, Stacey doesn't take her success for granted and is not content to rest on her laurels.