Taylor Swift unveils release date of new album and more as she makes podcast debut
Taylor Swift's has unveiled new details about her upcoming album.
As she appeared on the "New Heights" podcast with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce, the 14-time Grammy winner dropped the cover of her 12th studio album on her official website.
She also shared the image on her official Instagram page with the caption, "And, baby, that's show business for you. New album The Life of a Showgirl. Out October 3."
During the podcast, Swift shared how meaningful the new album is for her.
"I care more about this record more than I can even overstate," she said, adding, "This is the record I've been wanting to make for a very long time."
The "Fortnight" singer revealed the name of her upcoming 12th studio album.
"So I wanted to show you something," Swift says in the video, which was shared at exactly 12:12 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 12. In the video, she holds a briefcase in her hand and unlocks it.
She then pulled out an album, the cover of which has been blurred, and says, "This is my brand new album. 'The Life of a Showgirl.'"
Since then, fans have been anxiously waiting to see what else Swift might reveal on the Kelce brothers' podcast.
What to know about 'The Life of a Showgirl'
"The Life of a Showgirl" will be Swift's 12th studio album.
It follows Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," which was released on April 19, 2024.
That album came with an extra surprise for fans when Swift dropped an additional 15 songs at 2 a.m. that same day.
"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album," she wrote on social media at the time. "I'd written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore it's all yours."
Along with the album cover art that Swift unveiled on Wednesday, fans got a glimpse of the track list on her website when they clicked on the CD, vinyl or cassette available for pre-sale.
What is the tracklist?
The album appears to feature 12 new songs, including a song called "The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)."
Here is what appears on the back of her CD and vinyl:
- The Fate of Ophelia
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Opalite
- Father Figure
- Eldest Daughter
- Ruin The Friendship
- Actually Romantic
- Wish Li$t
- Wood
- CANCELLED!
- Honey
- The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
What did Swift talk about in her podcast debut?
During her podcast debut, Swift opened up about many topics that have been on Swifties' minds, including what it was like the moment she found out she owned her Master's.
She also opened up about her re-recorded albums and her blockbuster Eras Tour.
What else did Swift say about the new album?
In the podcast, the singer said that "The Life of a Showgirl" was something she was working on while she was in Europe on the Eras Tour.
Travis Kelce commented and said, "How on Earth did she do this on the tour is still blowing my mind."
Swift replied and said, "I just love it, I love it a lot. I love music."
"I would be playing shows, like three shows in a row and have three days off," she explained. "I'd fly to Sweden, go back to the tour and actually like working on this. I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating. And this is"
"Literally living the life of a showgirl," Travis Kelce chimed in.
Swift exclaimed, "I was! Which is why I called it that. Nailed it."
The singer added, "It's a lot more upbeat, and it's a lot more like fun pop, like excitement. I think it's a complete 180 from a lot of the songs on 'Tortured Poets' for sure."
What is the significance of the color orange?
When Swift first revealed the news of her upcoming album, fans noticed an orange theme throughout the announcement rollout.
The singer addressed the color's significance when asked by Jason Kelce and said, "I just always liked it Jason."
"It really feels like, I don't know, it feels like kind of energetically how my life has felt," she added. "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."
She continued, "One of the things about this record is it's a record I made with my mentor Max Martin and Shellback and the three of us have made some of my favorite songs that I've ever done before."
Swift said she worked with Martin and Shellback on her "Red," "Reputation" and "1989" albums.
"It felt like catching lightning in a bottle," Swift added.
Swift also dished on the Easter Egg she left fans at the very end of her show for the Eras Tour finale. Eagle eyed fans noticed that she exited the show through an orange door.
"I was happy that they noticed that, I trained them well," Swift said.
"So I would leave the stage every night going down the elevator lift, that's how every single Eras Tour ended except for one for the last one where I exited through a door, an orange door to be specific, and that actually was an Easter Egg. The reason why I chose to exit that way was because I kind of wanted to give a subliminal hint to the fans that I may be leaving the eras tour era but I was also entering a new era."
