Taylor Swift Confirms 12th Album The Life of a Showgirl

More than a year since the release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, and the end of her two-year long “Era’s Tour”, Taylor Swift is coming back to the pop music scene. 

In true Taylor Swift fashion, the 14-time Grammy award winner announced her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, with a series of easter eggs and clues. 

On August 10th, New Heights, the podcast hosted by the Kelce brothers posted a cryptic picture of their next guest. A blurred out photo that depicted Taylor Swift's silhouette started the first of many frenzies for Swift fans, with many being excited for her to finally be on her boyfriend's podcast, and to get to hear from Swift after almost a year of silence. 

Fans also expected that Swift would be the surprise guest on the podcast because the background of the teaser poster resembled the background from the letter that Taylor Swift released to her fans when she bought back her masters in May of this year. Fans were working overtime to find any clues that would lead them in the direction of an announcement from Ms. Swift herself. 

On August 11th, avid Swifties noticed that another new background had appeared on the official Taylor Swift website- a glittery orange screen that counted down to 12:12 a.m. EST on August 12th. Fans were sent into a frenzy with this revelation, hoping that this countdown would lead to the announcement of a new album from the artist. 

For hours, fans watched a clock count down to 12:12 a.m. EST, and finally a video was dropped on the New Heights social media pages that revealed that Taylor Swift would be the guest for the episode that was dropping on August 13th, Swift’s favorite number and a number that always leads back to her, which further amplified the anxious and excited feelings that fans had- it was officially official: Taylor Swift was doing something after a year of silence. 

12:12 a.m. came along on August 12th, and with it came a video of Taylor Swift announcing her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, but the album artwork was blurred out completely- all viewers could see was a glittery orange vinyl sleeve with a lock on it covering the artwork. Swift did not even include the release date in the video, but still the 20 second video reached millions of views in minutes and fans rushed to her website to order the album without knowing anything but the name and possibly the color scheme. 

Even with all the unknowns, there was an hour-long queue on her website just to buy the vinyl or cd packages. Queues for a pre-pre ordered album are not a common thing, but it's Taylor Swift, so it was expected. 

Wednesday, August 13th brought the New Heights podcast episode that featured Taylor Swift being interviewed by Jason Kelce, while her and Travis Kelce spoke about their relationship, the media & fans and her musical journey.

Taylor Swift announced that her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, will be released on October 12th and features 12 tracks and a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter on the title track, The Life of a Showgirl. The announcement came one hour and 26 minutes into the podcast episode, during the podcasts ‘New News’ segment where the Kelce brothers allow their guests to share exciting new news with their audiences. 

Swift shared that the album was actually written while she was on her 2-year long “Era’s Tour” from 2023-2024, and that she was “physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but [she] was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating” the album for herself and for fans to see a glimpse into her life as a showgirl.

Although the album announcement is the main thing that people took away from the podcast, Taylor Swift also opened up about her long 6-year fight for her ability to own her own music again via buying back her masters this year, along with how she has dealt with the pressure of being an incredibly famous superstar in the music scene who is dating a man who plays football- and how the intersection of their lives has brought her joy and a respect for athletes of all kinds. 

The 12th album is produced by Max Martin, who worked with Swift on her albums Red, 1989 and reputation, and Shellback who also worked with Max Martin on 1989 and reputation. The albums and songs that these producers have worked on for Taylor Swift are fan favorites and everyone is so happy that she will be writing with people they have deemed ‘pop geniuses’ because their songs always become huge hits. Swift herself is also a credited producer on this upcoming album like she has been for almost all of her other 11 albums. 

This album rollout has already proved to be filled with easter eggs and good music, and I personally cannot wait to listen to Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, on October 3rd!