While it hasn’t exactly been a while since The Tortured Poets Department, it has been an eternity in Taylor Swift years since the last project. That album came out to mixed reviews early last year, and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind for the Grammy-winning artist since then. Now, she’s officially confirmed her 12th studio album is on the way, and it’s coming out this year.
Taylor Swift Confirms The Life of a Showgirl
Yesterday, Taylor Swift posted a mysterious countdown on her website, which fans believed could only mean one thing. They were right, as it turned out, because at 12:12 on the 12th day, Swift confirmed that The Life of a Showgirl is coming out in 2025, doing so on the New Heights podcast alongside her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce.
Swift said to Kelce and his brother, Jason, “So I wanted to show you something… This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.” Understandably, Jason Kelce screamed in delight. The cover of the album was blurred in the initial post. Fans can pre-order the album on vinyl or CD on Swift’s website now.
This announcement came after a series of teases on Swift’s Taylor Nation social media page. It also came not long after Kelce confirmed that Swift would be on the popular NFL podcast. All of this happened in the last couple of days. Billboards have also popped up with codes for Spotify playlists with Swift songs in them, undoubtedly hiding a message within the tracks. We currently do not know the tracklist.
This comes after a major win for Swift in her career. She had been re-recording all of her old albums, with only two left to record, following The Tortured Poets Department. She was expected to release Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) and Reputation (Taylor’s Version) at some point.
However, that wasn’t necessary, since she then bought back all of her masters, so she now owns every bit of her music after Scooter Braun infamously sold her songs but not to the artist. Now, that issue has been remedied, which meant she didn’t need to rerecord the two final albums. She could instead focus solely on a new project, which it seems she has.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she said at the time via Variety. “All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. … My first tattoo just might be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
She had also admitted that the rerecordings, particularly for Reputation had been very challenging. Just before the purchase, she said, “What about Rep TV? Full transparency. I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
The website listing indicates that the product will ship before October 13. It specified that that is not the release date, but the release date then has to be before that date, which is about two months from now. For now, the album artwork is hidden, but the vinyl is glitter orange. It’s available for $29.99, and the CD version is $12.99. A casette version is available for $19.99. You can buy four to prevent limited supplies.
Final Track
The Tortured Poets Department was received well by some but not by others. Plenty hailed it as a true masterpiece and genuine work of art. Others disagreed, saying it was sloppy, poorly produced, and just a weak outing for Taylor Swift. This time, she’s aiming to follow up 2024’s most popular album, and we’re hoping she does at least refine some of the lyricism and writing that her previous album included.
