Pop icon Taylor Swift is taking fans — and much of pop culture — by surprise with her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. The album debuted with an in-theater listening event, a cinematic music video for its opening track “The Fate of Ophelia,” and what many are calling “the most aggressively natalist pop song ever written.”
That song, “Wish List,” stands out for its unapologetic embrace of traditional family values — celebrating love, marriage, and children over fame, wealth, or independence.
“It’s not about forgoing yachts and Oscars to live simply,” one reviewer explained. “It mocks the influencer lifestyle and the childless elite who treat their dogs like kids. It’s about marriage, homeownership, and procreation. She puts down the glittering life and says: give me a basketball hoop in the driveway and a cul-de-sac dynasty.”
The lyrics make her intentions clear:
I just want you, huh (You, you, yeah)
Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us the f— alone, and they do (Oh), wow
Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop (Hoop)
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list
Swift’s new material represents a cultural shift — one that makes family life feel aspirational again. She’s re-romanticizing fertility and stability in a way that defies the childless-as-default mindset that dominates much of celebrity culture.
Far from her earlier association with progressive causes, Wish List trades self-empowerment anthems for domestic dreams. It’s a sharp turn from the “Shout Your Abortion” era of 2016 or the “childless cat lady” meme that once followed her.
No one expects Taylor Swift to become a conservative icon anytime soon, but Wish List signals something new — a nostalgic embrace of the American Dream. The song captures a longing for stability, privacy, and belonging that feels rare in modern pop music.
As one critic noted, “‘Wish List’ might be the first pop song in decades to make the idea of kids, privacy, and a backyard basketball hoop sound cool again. It’s radical in its normalcy.”
