After Taylor Swift fans speculated that the pop star subtly dissed her fiancé Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole on her song “Opalite,” it seems that the influencer might have addressed the fray.
Nicole, 33, took to her Instagram Stories on Saturday, October 4, to share a throwback clip of Eva Marcille’s America’s Next Top Model audition from cycle 3 in 2004.
“How do you compare yourself to other girls out there?” host Tyra Banks asked Marcille, now 40, in the footage.
Marcille quickly responded, “I don’t compare myself to other girls. I’m Eva. I’m no comparison to anyone else.”
While Nicole didn’t offer any additional explanation as to why she shared the ANTM clip, it’s been theorized that her past with Kelce, 35, was a subject of Swift’s new song “Opalite.”
“You couldn’t understand it / Why you felt alone / You were in it for real / She was in her phone / You were just a pose,” Swift, 35, sings on the track. “And don’t we try to love love / And give it all we got / You finally left the table / And what a simple thought / You’re starving ’til you’re not.”
Kelce dated Nicole from 2017 to 2022, during which time the former Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test winner would frequently share social media videos of her then-boyfriend.
“Oh, my God. Get off your phone,” Kelce said in one recently resurfaced clip while at dinner with Nicole. “Get off your phone. … You’re not even drinking your wine anymore, can we go?”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce kiss after the 2024 Super Bowl. Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
“Opalite” is one of the 12 tracks from Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which dropped on Friday, October 3.
“‘Opalite’ is a song [where] that word is something I wrote down ‘cause I thought it was beautiful and came back to it when we were writing this really beautiful, infectious hook-y track,” Swift said during her “Release Party of a Showgirl” theatrical event about collaborating with Max Martin and Shellback. “Opalite is man-made opal. I’ve always loved opals [and] my mom has always loved opals. It’s kind of our thing — one of our many things.”
She added, “I loved the metaphor of a man-made opal and also you had to, like, make your own happiness in your life. You had to get yourself through some difficult times to get to the positive place you’re in now. I really loved the idea that the man-made gemstone jewel is also a metaphor for choosing your own path to happiness [and] making it yourself. It was man-made [and] it didn’t just happen to you.”
Swift wrote the entirety of The Life of a Showgirl during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour in 2024. In addition to performing impressive feats on stage every night, that era for Swift was also marked by her romance with Kelce. (Swift and Kelce started dating in summer 2023.)
“You were dancing through the lightning strikes / Sleepless in the onyx night / But now the sky is opalite,” Swift adds in the song’s chorus. “Never met no one likе you before / You had to make your own sunshinе / But now the sky is opalite.”
Kelce, who proclaimed that “Opalite” was his favorite Showgirl song ahead of release day, proposed to Swift in August. Their romance also seemingly inspired her songs “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Honey,” “Wish List” and “Wood.”
The Life of a Showgirl is out now.
