Taylor Swift announced Tuesday she’s dropping a new album: “The Life of a Showgirl.”
The surprise announcement of the Grammy-winner’s 12th original studio album came dramatically, as a countdown clock on her website ticked down to 12:12 a.m. Eastern.
In a video posted on Instagram, giving a sneak peek of Swift’s upcoming appearance on Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, co-hosted with his brother Jason Kelce, Swift pulled out a mint green briefcase with her initials “TS” written in orange, saying: “This is my brand new album.”
She did not say when the album would be released or any other information about it. Fans will have to wait a little longer to see and hear more when her much-awaited podcast appearance on “New Heights” releases Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
No stranger to including “Easter eggs” or hidden clues in the lead up to her releases, Swift set off a frenzy of speculation Monday after a carousel of 12 photos was posted on her Instagram. “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…,’” the caption said.
The surprise announcement coincided with a reveal Monday night that Swift would join Travis Kelce, her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs football player, and his brother for an episode of “New Heights” after teasing that a “VERY special” guest was joining Wednesday’s episode.
This is Swift’s first new album since concluding her record-breaking Eras Tour in December. It’s available for pre-order on Swift’s official website in physical vinyl, cassette, and CD format.
The most recent studio album Swift released was “The Tortured Poets Department,” a 31-song double album that she announced in 2024 amid the Eras Tour and revamped her set list midway through to add songs from.
“The Life of a Showgirl” will be her first release since becoming the proud owner of her entire catalog of music, roughly six years after she protested the sale of her master recordings by her former record label.
She purchased her music “outright with no strings attached, no partnership, full autonomy,” from Shamrock Capital, a private equity company that had acquired her master recordings.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote, adding that she was able to “buy back” her music from Shamrock following the success of the Eras Tour.
The sale of the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums to producer Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 was contentious, with Swift alleging she was blindsided and not allowed to buy her catalog at the time. Braun maintained her team was aware of a pending deal in advance.
It prompted the singer to take back ownership of her music in her way by pledging to re-record the albums.
She went on to release what she called “Taylor’s Version” albums for “Red,” “Speak Now,” “Fearless,” and “1989.” With each “Taylor’s Version” album, she’s included several previously unreleased songs she coined “from the vault.”
Travis Kelce Reacts to Taylor Swift Album Announcement
On early Tuesday at 12:12 a.m., Taylor Swift officially announced her 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’. And it sounds like her superstar boyfriend, Travis Kelce, is quite excited about his girlfriend’s latest release.
“Taylor’s about to do a [freaking] podcast! NEW EPISODE WEDS 7 PM ET,” the official New Heights account shared in an X post.
After Taylor announced her album, the ‘New Heights’ official account shared a teaser clip from the upcoming episode in which Taylor shared the new album cover with Jason.
“So, I wanted to show you something,” Taylor said in the video shared by the ‘New Heights’ social media account.
“Okay, what do we have?” Jason responded. “A briefcase? Mint green with ‘TS’ on it.”
“This is my brand new album,” Taylor said, holding up what appears to be a vinyl album cover that was blurred for the camera. “The Life of A Showgirl.“
Jason quickly expressed his excitement at the announcement, but he certainly wasn’t the only one. Travis also offered his reaction to the upcoming album with a pretty clear response of his own. “TS12!” Travis exclaimed in the video.
Since they began dating nearly two years ago, Travis has done nothing but support Taylor, graciously answering questions about her during interviews, speaking highly of her on his podcast, and even attending multiple concerts in support of her.
Given his extensive support of Taylor in previous months, it’s not exactly surprising that he is once again supporting her ahead of the release of her latest album.
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