Taylor Swift’s new era is almost upon us…
The pop superstar announced her 12th album two days ago but everything apart from the title, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, remained a secret – the cover of the album, the track titles, the release date… Everything. Until now.
Swift appeared on her partner’s podcast last night, “New Heights” hosted by Travis Kelce and his brother Jason, to discuss the album at length.
The episode was particularly revealing and more than 1.3m viewers tuned in to watch the YouTube version of the podcast, which ran for almost two hours.
If you don’t have that kind of time to spare, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s everything you need to know about the episode and the key revelations regarding Swift’s new album.
What’s in a name?
Swift revealed she worked on her 12th album in Europe while she was on the record-breaking Eras Tour – flying between dates to record, and therefore truly embodying the album’s title, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’.
When is it out?
3 October. That’s precisely 50 days from today. Or if you’re a diehard Swiftie: 72000 minutes.
What’s the cover about?
The album cover is themed after “the end of my day,” said Swift. “My day ends with me in a bathtub.” It also highlights what the album is about: “Everything that was going on behind the curtain.”
“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,” she said. “It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life. That effervescence has come through on this record.”
Why the orange colour palette?
Orange was chosen because it’s a colour she feels energised by. Fair enough.
What’s going to be on it?
In a word: “bangers”.
“This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time,” said Swift. “Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, you know? You couldn’t take one out and it be the same album. You couldn’t add one and it be the same album. It’s just right.”
Travis called the album “upbeat”, noting its difference in tone to her 2024 offering.
“Life is more upbeat,” Swift responded, smiling at him.
Cute.
The track list for ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is:
01. ‘The Fate of Ophelia’
02. ‘Elizabeth Taylor’
03. ‘Opalite’
04. ‘Father Figure’
05. ‘Eldest Daughter’
06. ‘Ruin the Friendship’
07. ‘Actually Romantic’
08. ‘Wi$h Li$t’
09. ‘Wood’
10. ‘Cancelled!’
11. ‘Honey’
12. ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ featuring Sabrina Carpenter
Who’s behind the album?
‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is produced by Swift with Max Martin and Shellback, with whom she has previously collaborated on albums including 2012’s ‘Red’, 2014’s ‘1989‘ and 2017’s ‘Reputation’.
During the podcast, Swift described Martin as her “mentor” and noted how he and Shellback had helped craft some of her biggest hits – ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’, ‘Shake It Off’, ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Delicate’, to name but a few.
Are we going to get another set of songs straight after the release like last year?
“There aren’t other ones coming,” confirmed Swift – referring to the surprise double album in 2024.
This year’s album will stand alone, with no bonus tracks.
“It’s not like The Tortured Poets Department where I was like: ‘Here’s a data dump of everything I thought or felt in two or three years. Here’s 31 songs.’ This is 12,” she said. “There’s not a 13th, there’s not a 14th, there’s not other ones coming.”
Swift did unveil four limited-edition deluxe variations of ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ on CD – all of which contain special artwork, booklets, photocards and more. However, the tracklisting remains unchanged at only 12 songs.
Thank the stars for that, because last year was… well, exhausting. In April 2024, Swift released ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ as a 16-track record, only to surprise-release an extended version just hours after the original album dropped.
Swift received some criticism for the lengthy tracklist of the “anthology” edition of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which ran for 35 songs. And nothing needs to be that long. Not even a new TayTay record.
Still, she’s learned her “kill your darlings” lesson, as less is definitely more.
As a reminder, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ smashed two streaming records on Spotify, achieving 300 million plays in one day and one billion over five days. It also made Swift the first artist in history to secure the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following last year’s release, Swift holds the record for most No 1 albums in the US by a female artist in history, and is also the first artist to have ever won the Grammy for Album of the Year four times.
Will there be a tour to promote the new album?
Swift has not yet mentioned whether she plans to tour ‘The Life of a Showgirl’.
She ended her globe-hopping Etas Tour in December, a tour which sold tickets worth an estimated $2.2 billion (£1.6bn) in its nearly two-year run – making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.
After that epic stretch, we’d be very surprised if she decides to get back on the road so quickly. But then again, when it comes to her work ethic, Swift is unparalleled. A modern day pop Stakhanovite.
What’s with Swift’s hidden ‘Easter eggs’?
Swift spoke about the ways she uses Easter eggs (secret messages to fans) to tease her music.
“I’m never going to plant an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life. It’s always going to go back to my music,” she said, joking that some fans are so spot-on when it comes to decoding her clues that it’s almost gotten a bit “zodiac killer”.
She said her favourite example was a speech she gave when she received an honorary doctorate.
“I put so many lyrical Easter eggs in that speech that when the Midnights album came out, after that, the fans were like, ‘The whole speech was an Easter egg!'”
What else did we learn?
Swift shared some of her hobbies during the podcast, which include baking.
She and Travis spoke about their love of making sourdough bread together – specifically blueberry lemon, cinnamon swirl and Funfetti variations.
Swift joked that her partner’s dough winds up with chest hair in it, while hers has extra cat hair. She even offered a few bread-related puns referencing her discography.
The standouts? We can’t decide the winner between “Are you bread-y for it?” and “It’s a loaf story, baby just say yeast.”
Taylor and Travis are very fond of each other, aren’t they?
While Swift has been more reserved about discussing her relationship in public, last night’s podcast saw the two lovebirds in full swooning mode.
“I had never experienced something so mesmerising on stage, and then so real and beautiful in person,” said Travis gushed about Taylor.
His brother and co-host said at one point that maybe he should leave the recording to give them some privacy.
“Yeah I think so, honestly,” Swift responded. “At this point, I think everyone should leave.”
If you can find yourself someone who looks at you the way those two were gazing at each other, a happy person you shall be.
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is out on 3 October 2025.
