August 13, 2025- Taylor Swift has officially announced the release date for her highly anticipated 12th album, THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL.
Swifties have been “clowning” harder than ever in recent weeks, fueled by Taylor Nation’s unusually frequent references to “August.” While it’s not uncommon for them to nod to the folklore track around this time of year, fans noticed the mentions seemed more frequent than usual, sparking speculation that something big could be coming. That theory gained momentum on August 11, when Taylor Nation posted an Instagram carousel of 12 photos, all featuring Taylor Swift in shades of orange, captioned, “thinking about when she said ‘see you next era…’” The post sent the fandom into a frenzy. For years, fans have linked the color orange to Swift’s elusive 12th album, and the carousel felt like a near-confirmation that TS12’s announcement was imminent. Adding fuel to the fire, the 12th and final photo in the set featured Sabrina Carpenter—prompting theories that a collaboration between the two might also be on the horizon.
Around the same time Taylor Nation posted the carousel, the “New Heights” podcast—hosted by Swift’s significant other, Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason Kelce—announced an early return for a special episode with a mystery guest. The announcement included a photo featuring a sparkly orange background and a silhouetted figure who looked suspiciously like Taylor Swift, with the episode set to stream on 8/13 at 7 PM ET. Later that day, “New Heights” confirmed Swift as the guest, sharing a short clip of her sitting beside Travis and exclaiming, “We’re about to do a f*cking podcast!” Swifties, of course, missed nothing: sharp-eyed sleuths quickly spotted four strategically placed objects on the shelf behind them—colored red, orange, white, and blue, each marked with “T.S.”—fueling even more speculation of what was to come.
A countdown appeared on Swift’s website, set to expire on 8/12 at 12:12 AM ET. When the clock struck zero—and after briefly breaking the internet—TS12 was officially revealed. An orange, sparkling page appeared, announcing THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL, along with merch available for pre-order. The album cover remained hidden, shielded with a lock icon, but vinyl, CD, and cassette formats were all listed for purchase. No release date was revealed, though it was noted orders would ship before October 13th. Simultaneously, “New Heights” dropped another podcast clip, this time showing Swift opening a briefcase, pulling out a blurred vinyl, and saying, “This is my brand new album, THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL.”
On August 13th, Swift’s website switched to a new countdown, this time featuring an orange door. Throughout the day, four locked squares appeared at the bottom of the screen, each in the same colors as the objects seen on the shelves behind Swift in the “New Heights” clip. The countdown was set to expire at the exact time the “New Heights” podcast would go live.
At 7:00 PM ET, when the clock hit zero, the website revealed the album artwork—Swift submerged in a bathtub, wearing a sparkling dress. In addition to the three formats previously available for pre-order, four new limited release deluxe CD variants were now offered: THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL: SWEAT AND VANILLA PERFUME EDITION (orange), IT’S FRIGHTENING EDITION (red), IT’S RAPTUROUS EDITION (blue), and IT’S BEAUTIFUL EDITION (silver). Each comes with collectible front and back cover art, one disc with exclusive disc artwork, a collectible 8-page booklet with never-before-seen photos and song lyrics, three double-sided photo cards on high-gloss cardstock with a unique envelope, a glitter jewelry box (matching those seen on the “New Heights” shelves), and a unique jewelry item or keychain/bag charm. These editions are available for just 72 hours while supplies last. Their cover art initially remained hidden, slowly revealed throughout the night by Taylor Nation as each variant was unveiled on the site.
The “New Heights” podcast, running just two hours in length and featuring Taylor Swift, went live in a surprise pre-season episode. Typically hosted by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, the podcast wasn’t slated to return until August 27th—but came back early to help Swift make a very special announcement. Marking her first-ever podcast appearance, the episode gave fans a rare, candid glimpse into her two-year relationship with Travis, a romance both have kept relatively private despite their massive fame. Jason set the tone right away with a spirited, sports-announcer-style introduction, passionately rattling off Swift’s accolades as if introducing an MVP athlete. Early in the conversation, Swift shared a lighthearted memory from their first date, admitting she knew absolutely nothing about sports at the time. Since then, she’s thrown herself into learning everything she can, developing a genuine love and excitement for the game of football and its culture. Throughout the episode, subtle moments of affection and easy chemistry between her and Travis made it clear how happy they are together.
The conversation turned to Swift’s hard-fought reclamation of her masters, a topic she had not publicly discussed since announcing that she now owns all of her music. Choked up with emotion, she recounted the years-long struggle: after her masters were sold the first time, she vowed to re-record her entire catalog for those albums she didn’t own, ultimately releasing Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) before finally acquiring the originals from Shamrock Capital. Not owning her masters, she admitted, had been a source of daily intrusive thoughts. Rather than sending in lawyers or management to negotiate, Swift took a personal approach, sending her mother and brother to meet with Shamrock’s team and explain what owning her music truly meant to her. Months later, her mother delivered the life-changing news: “You got your music.” Swift recalls dramatically collapsing to the floor, weeping uncontrollably, before telling Travis, who cried with her, sharing in her joy.
Swift acknowledged that when she began her re-recording project, many in the industry dismissed it as a waste of time, saying no one would care to hear the same albums twice. You should never doubt the Swifties and their fierce loyalty for the artist. Their “we ride at dawn” mentality turned the re-records into massive successes. She says she loves the re-recordings, even preferring her current voice on them, and is grateful for how the process brought the issue of master ownership into the spotlight. Her efforts have inspired other artists to consider this when signing contracts, giving them the knowledge they need to negotiate contracts that will eventually lead to them owning their own work.
Reflecting on the Eras Tour, Swift admitted, “I miss it, but it was perfect for what it was.” She described the tour as physically grueling, but she cherished the connection with her fans, calling it the most formative time of her life. Swift shared how she set ambitious goals for the 3.5-hour shows, emphasizing that the fan experience was always her top priority. She wove elements of musical theater, Broadway, ballet, and opera-inspired scenery into the performances, aiming to give fans something they had never seen before, all delivered with high intensity and rapid-fire pacing. “People were saying they had amnesia after concerts—I think we did it, nailed it,” she said, celebrating the immersive, unforgettable experience.
Now that she’s not touring, Swift shared that she is getting her hobbies back. She said the only things she had bandwidth for during the tour was arranging the song mashups she would perform each night and learning how to say “welcome to the Eras Tour” in the language of each country. She describes her hobbies as activities people might have enjoyed in the 1700s: sewing—specializing in exactly two items, children’s purses and baby blankets—painting, cooking, and diving into a new baking obsession every six months. Currently, she’s deep into sourdough, which has taken over her life and inspired playful song and lyric puns like “Are you Bready for it?” “It’s a loaf story, baby, just say yeast,” and “Loafing him was bread.”
Swift described her love for planting Easter eggs, joking that it’s “getting a little Zodiac Killer at this point.” She explained that she always has parameters: she will never plant an Easter egg tied to her personal life—only to her music, or a plan she has coming together. Her favorite example was her honorary doctorate commencement speech, which contained numerous lyrical references and served as an Easter egg for Midnights which had yet to be released. She loves numerology, math, and hidden dates, and designs Easter eggs so that if you experience her music normally, you won’t notice them, but for fans who want to dig deeper, they’re there.
Swift also shared about her parents’ health over the summer. Her father underwent a quintuple bypass surgery after a resting stress test revealed five blockages, despite having a perfect EKG every year. Her father is encouraging everyone to get checked early, noting that less invasive procedures like stents can often resolve these issues if caught in time. Taylor moved in with her dad for the summer to help him recover, assisting him with walking and spending long, meaningful hours together. She also celebrated her mother’s successful knee replacement, calling the season a “summer of parental upgrades” and joking about making sure they live to be 186. Taylor described it as one of the most special times of her life, full of long talks, and it was during this period that she learned to make sourdough.
The conversation returned to Swift’s signature Easter eggs, which were a highlight of the Eras Tour. Every night she had exited the stage via an elevator lift, but on the final show, she chose an orange door—a subtle hint that the Eras Tour era was ending and a new era was beginning. It was at that moment that she surprised Jason by pulling out a briefcase, revealing her brand-new album as confetti exploded. She shared that THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL was created while touring Europe, balancing three shows in a row with trips to Sweden to record. Physically exhausted but creatively exhilarated, Swift described the experience as literally living the life of a showgirl. The album features 12 tracks for her 12th studio album, with a sparkling orange vinyl; Swift explained the significance of the color, saying, “I’ve just always liked it, it feels energetically how my life has felt, and this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant.”
The album was made entirely with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, who had produced many of her biggest hits—including “I Knew You Were Trouble.,” “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Style,” “Wildest Dreams,” “...Ready for It?,” and “Delicate.” Although the trio had not worked together for 7–8 years, this was their first album made solely as a team. Taylor stated, “We knew we had to bring the best Ideas we’ve ever had, and I know the pressure I’m putting on this record by saying that, but I don’t care because I love it that much. I’m so proud of it and it just comes from the most infectiously, joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in my life and so that effervesce has come through on this album.” Despite fan speculation that the album might contain 22 songs after she released a 22-song playlist beginning with “22,” Swift confirmed that the project is complete with just 12 tracks: “like with The Tortured Poets Department, I was like ‘here’s a data dump of everything I’ve thought, felt, experienced in two or three years… here’s 31 songs’- this one is 12, there’s not a 13th, there’s not other ones coming, this is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time.”
THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL is set to release on October 3 (10 + 3 = 13, a number Swift always finds ways to include), and it will include a poem and additional photography by Mert and Marcus, the photographers behind reputation’s artwork. Travis Kelce described the record as “so much fun… 12 bangers, more upbeat and fun pop excitement, a complete 180 from a lot of the songs on The Tortured Poets Department,” reflecting a more upbeat phase of Swift’s personal life. The album’s theme centers on everything happening “behind the curtain,” capturing the off-stage moments and inner life during the Eras Tour. Swift’s main goals were to craft melodies so infectious they provoke a visceral reaction, paired with lyrics that are vivid, crisp, and intentionally precise. Working with Max Martin and Shellback, the trio found a natural, creative flow, blending this energetic pop sensibility with the storytelling Swift developed on albums like folklore. Despite the high stakes and long-awaited reunion, ideas came together organically, with minimal overthinking. Swift emphasized, “Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, and you couldn’t take one out and it be the same album… it’s just right,” highlighting the careful balance between infectious melodies and intentional, vivid lyrics while preserving her love of narrative songwriting.
From reclaiming her masters to reimagining her classic albums, rediscovering hobbies, and unveiling her newest work, Taylor Swift’s conversation on the “New Heights” podcast offered an intimate look at the artist behind the headlines. The full podcast is now available for streaming wherever you get your podcasts, as well as on Youtube.
In less than 24 hours, the “New Heights” episode racked up more than 11 million views on YouTube alone, making it the most-streamed “New Heights” podcast to date. Swifties wasted no time hopping into their metaphorical clown cars, diving deep into every detail to decipher what may or may not be an Easter egg—from props in the room and Taylor’s exact phrasing, to her body language and even the time on her watch. Social media quickly lit up with theories: some believe she’s set to perform at the next Super Bowl Halftime Show, pointing to her mention of the number 47 twice (47 + 13 = 60, the upcoming 60th Super Bowl). Others are convinced there are more than 12 songs on the new album—despite Swift explicitly saying otherwise—because she held up the number 3 and said “pre-order” twice. Fans also spotted a “13” hidden on the deluxe CD artwork and noticed that three of the four special edition variants list a track in the merch description, while the fourth includes “Violet,” which isn’t a song on the official tracklist. Only time will tell which, if any, of these theories hit the mark.
Pre-order THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL here.
THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL tracklist
- The Fate of Ophelia
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Opalite
- Father Figure
- Eldest Daughter
- Ruin The Friendship
- Actually Romantic
- Wi$h Li$t
- Wood
- CANCELLED!
- Honey
- The Life of a Showgirl (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
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