‘The Life of a Showgirl’ era is upon us, and it has once again revealed to what extent Taylor Swift is a modern day pop Stakhanovite.
After all, who can deny that she’s the hardest-working star in the business, with her upcoming album being her ninth of the 2020s (when you count the re-recorded albums)?
The announcement of her newest record, which hits shelves on 3 October, also shows that she continues to be a marketing genius.
The carefully orchestrated rollout for the pop superstar’s 12th album started on Tuesday, at precisely 12:12am ET.
It was teased with a trailer for her partner’s podcast, with only the title of the new opus offered up. The album image was blurred, and all fans could see was a mint-green briefcase labelled “T.S.”.
It was clear from the get-go that the colours orange and green were dominant, but beyond that and a few teaser images with a glittery orange padlock, nothing.
Then came the release of the full “New Heights” podcast episode, and all the questions were answered: what the cover looked like, when it was coming out, the reasoning behind the colour palette, what sort of sourdough Taylor prefers… Everything.
Fans went into full meltdown mode, dissecting all the Easter eggs and clues regarding the release, prepping their outfits for a potential Showgirl tour, and even scrapbooking.
The cultural earthquake had well and truly hit, and even the Empire State Building joined in, glowing in the upcoming album’s signature orange tint.
But because this isn’t just show business – it’s fully business – this week has seen countless major companies going into marketing overdrive following the announcement of ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, predominantly because of Swift’s ability to generate buzz.
Oh, and dollars. Them too.
It has been well documented that Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour was a real economic event. The tour became the first to cross the billion-dollar mark and cities (and their surrounding areas) registered sizeable economic boosts after Swift stopped by.
It’s a gravitational pull that companies can no longer afford to ignore, and the way many have sought to capitalize on this year’s orange-themed album rollout has been out in full force.
Memes and posts from big brands, corportations and even tourism boards began exploding almost immediately.
Everyone got in on it, from United Airlines to ALDI, via Netflix, Starbucks, McDonalds, Duolingo, Walmart, FedEx, NHL teams…
Honestly, there are too many to mention at this point – trust us, they ALL started riding the TayTay wave.
Even Google and X got in on the action, with the search engine showering those who type “Taylor Swift” with digital orange confetti, an orange heart and the phrase “And baby, that’s show business for you”, while Elon Musk’s platform declared that it had a new profile pic…
Views and likes on some of these posts skyrocketed, with some going to 6 million and upwards.
So, what are the lessons to be learned from this global phenomenon?
A) Even a simple colour palette can spark a global marketing trend / branding tidal wave.
B) Cynical though it undeniably is, there’s strategic commercial value in being reactive and tying your brand to Swift. Swifties aren’t just music fans – they’re potential customers, ones that are only too happy to see their favourite star’s branding popping up everywhere.
C) Taylor Swift isn’t just a musician who writes great pop songs, performs like no one else and controls her narrative via carefully crafted cryptic marketing and fan-pleasing breadcrumb trails – she’s a full-blown entrepreneur. Whether you like her music or not, she’s a cultural trendsetter who can dominate fashion trends, tourism economies and even political discourse.
To underestimate her influence or reach is to be very foolish indeed. And regardless of the quality of her new album – some of us have our doubts – there’s no doubt about it: You don’t have to wait until the beginning of October to be in Taylor’s new era. It’s already begun. We are all just living in it.