Taylor Swift Pulls Back the Curtain on the Exuberant, Electric, and Vibrant Life of a Showgirl

PopEntertainment
Aug 13
3 min read

Updated: Aug 21

Taylor Swift Pulls Back the Curtain on the Exuberant, Electric, and Vibrant Life of a Showgirl

As you may have heard, Taylor Swift will be releasing her 12th studio album titled The Life of a Showgirl on October 3, 2025. Swift officially began teasing the release via Taylor Nation, her fan engagement team, on social media on August 11. The post included 12 photos, all of the singer wearing orange, with the final photo showing Swift on stage with Sabrina Carpenter, and the caption “Thinking about when she said, “See you next era…” ❤️‍🔥.” Swifties, or should I say, FBI agents, began speculating that this was Taylor’s first wink at a new album. The internet was ablaze for the following hours, igniting even more when Jason and Travis Kelce announced that they’d be welcoming a VERY special guest to their New Heights podcast at 7 p.m. EST on August 12. Swift’s detectives wasted no time figuring out that she would be the special guest.

Later that day, a countdown clock appeared on Swift’s website, ticking down to August 12 at 12:12 a.m. EST. If the podcast was being released the following day, what could this be? Don’t worry, I (along with millions of others) stayed up to find out. When the clock struck 12:12, Taylor announced that her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, would be released at a later date to be announced, with a cover that would soon be revealed. This could only mean one thing: the album’s release date and cover would be officially publicized on the podcast.

The following day was New Heights day. Swifties around the world sprinted to the podcast’s YouTube channel when it hit 7 p.m. This was such a treat for fans, as it marked Taylor’s first-ever podcast appearance. After a bit of banter and the trio discussing Travis and Taylor’s relationship, the iconic, record-breaking Eras Tour, buying back her masters, and more, it was time for the big reveal. Swift picked up a vinyl record storage case marked with a “T” and an “S” and opened it to reveal the cover of The Life of a Showgirl, an ethereal-looking photo depicting her in a tub wearing a bedazzled showgirl outfit. I must say, I am loving the new visual artistic direction Swift is taking with this album artwork. Taylor then revealed the track list, which included 12 brand-new songs, the last one featuring Sabrina Carpenter, which quite literally broke the internet.

Swift shared that she created and worked on this album while on The Eras Tour in Europe, explaining, “I would be playing shows, I’d do, like, three shows in a row, I’d have three days off, I’d fly to Sweden, go back to the tour, and 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.”

Travis chimed in that she was “literally living the life of a showgirl,” to which Swift responded, “That’s why I called it that – nailed it!”

Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl — Taylor Swift - *The* *Life of a Showgirl*

Taylor related that the album is about what was going on behind the scenes in her life during the biggest tour of all time, which was so “exuberant, electric, and vibrant” coming from the most “infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic” place in her life.

While getting into the details of the conception of the record, Swift shared that she was a producer, along with her mentor Max Martin and Shellback. “The three of us have made some of my favorite songs that I’ve ever done before,” she explained. The trio of creatives collaborated on Taylor’s fourth, fifth, and sixth studio albums, Red, 1989, and reputation. These albums include well-known songs like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Blank Space,” “Delicate,” and so many more. When talking about making music with Martin and Shellback again, Swift described the feeling as “catching lightning in a bottle.” To put it simply, I could not be more excited to hear these new tracks.

Watch the newest episode of New Heights, featuring our showgirl, Taylor, here: