Draft:Cleveland!

• Comment: Background and release section needs inline citations. Beta Beta Beta - talk 20:08, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

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"Cleveland!"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore
Released	September 25, 2026 (2026-09-25)
Genre	Pop piano rock
Length	3:26
Label	Republic
Songwriters	Taylor Swift Max Martin Shellback
Producers	Taylor Swift Max Martin Shellback

"Cleveland" (stylized as Cleveland!) is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore (2026), the deluxe edition of her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). Swift wrote and produced the track with Max Martin and Shellback. "Cleveland!" was released on September 25, 2026, by Republic Records, along with the deluxe album.

The song is a lighthearted tribute to Swift's husband, the American football player Travis Kelce, and his hometown Cleveland Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. In the lyrics, Swift addresses the negative remarks she has received about her appearance, relationships, and personality, contrasting them with Kelce's love. Musically, "Cleveland!" is a theatrical pop and rock song, supported by a jaunty piano line, snare drums, jingle bells, and xylophone.

Upon release, "Cleveland!" received mixed reviews from music critics; some praised its audacious and frivolous quality while others considered it a subpar track in Swift's discography. In honor of the song, Destination Cleveland added exclamation marks to its signs across the city.

Background and release

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl's deluxe edition The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore on September 23, 2026; "Cleveland!" was one of four additional tracks. She said that she wrote these additional songs with Martin and Shellback in their studio when she took a trip to Sweden to celebrate the album's record-breaking success. In honor of the song, Destination Cleveland added exclamation points to its script signs across Cleveland at Euclid Beach Park, Edgewater Park, Tremont, North Coast Harbor and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. On their podcast New Heights, her husband Travis Kelce and his brother Jason expressed their admiration for the song; Travis Kelce thanked Swift for making the song and giving the city "a little more life".

Composition

"Cleveland!" is a lively pop song with a theatrical production driven by a jaunty piano line, "snappy" marching quarter-note snare drums, "Christmassy" bells, and xylophone. Therefore, it has also been described as a piano rock song. The song references all types of criticism and internet trolling Swift has received over the years, including remarks about appearance, personality, dancing, dressing, and romantic life, contrasting those with Kelce's love and acceptance of who she is. The song is a straightforward declaration of love for Kelce, as well as his hometown Cleveland Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. The bridge incorporates a spoken-word monologue, announcing that Kelce is her "the one".

Reception

Upon release, the song faced ridicule online but charted at No. 3 on the UK singles chart. Critics commented on "Cleveland!" in their reviews of The Encore. Chris Willman of Variety wrote that Swift is a "love-besotted goofball" in the song, which he considered a 1980s synthpop-inspired fusion of her audacious, celebratory songs like "Me!" (2019), "So High School" (2024), and "Wood" (2026). He also compared Swift in 2026 to Paul McCartney in 1971, saying "Cleveland!" is Swift's "Silly Love Songs" (1976), a song McCartney wrote with his wife Linda in response to criticism towards his songs about "matrimony and domestic bliss". Will Hodgkinson of The Sunday Times and Melissa Ruggieri of USA Today both thought the song is the "catchiest" amongst the four additional songs, showcasing the best aspect of Swift's relatable writing about the intersection of self-awareness and romantic love. Ruggieri praised the music's "jangly gallop" in the verses and the chorus for evoking 1980s television themes. Aisling Murphy of The Globe and Mail harkened the song to "a postcard from a honeymoon", complimenting its liked unapologetic lyrics and "schmaltzy" bridge.

Craig Jenkins of Vulture described "Cleveland!" as a honest and realistic albeit odd song about "the power couple's media ever-presence, which draws as much excited attention as eye-rolling". Michael Savio of Slant claimed "Cleveland!" is the "most egregious blunder" on the deluxe, taking issue with its "tepid" self-deprecation and Swift's talk-singing cadence in the verses. He dmissed "Cancelled!" as just "another screed against her critics" in line with other The Life of a Showgirl tracks "Cancelled!" and "Actually Romantic". Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph felt underwhelmed by the song's lyrics, dubbing the Reputation (2017) tracks "King of My Heart", "Call It What You Want" and "New Year's Day" as better love songs than "Cleveland!". Callie Ahgrim of Business Insider claimed that "Cleveland" will go down as one of Swift's worst songs; Ahlgrim said that while she is a fan of Swift confronting her critics, "Cleveland!" does that with neither the finesse nor the appeal of "Mean" (2011), "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space" (2014).

The Independent writer Roisin O'Connor negatively compared it to "The Last Great American Dynasty" (2020), commenting that Swift has written better songs about tackling criticism than "Cleveland!" Exclaim!'s Alex Hudson compared the song's music to Los Campesinos! and dubbed the lyrics "vapidly juvenile". Laura Snapes of The Guardian said the song was "dogshit" "sung with such oozing self-satisfaction it’s like being repeatedly poked and asked if it hurts", and described the song as "a cut-and-shut of two of her worst songs ever", "Me!" and "Honey".