Taylor Swift announces new album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ on Travis Kelce’s podcast — what we know

It’s been a long time coming … and now we have a title for Taylor Swift’s 12th album. The new work, The Life of a Showgirl, was announced via a video clip from the Wednesday, Aug. 13, episode of Travis and Jason Kelce’s podcast, New Heights. It was shared on Instagram at 12:12 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 12, as a nod to Swift’s 12th album.

In the clip, Swift shows the brothers a briefcase, which is mint green with the initials T.S. on it.

“This is my brand-new album, The Life of a Showgirl,” the singer declared.

The album cover has not yet been revealed, and Swift’s website shows only a blurred orange and green image with a lock on the cover. However, fans can already preorder the vinyl, cassette and CD editions.

The Empire State Building in New York City was lit up in orange in celebration.

Thus far there is no track list for the album, so fans will have to stay tuned. There is also no release date: Though the website states preorders will ship on Oct. 13, it also said that an official date will be announced at a later time.

Eagle-eyed Swifties first noticed something was in the works with the Eras Tour icon on Aug. 11, when Taylor Nation — the official platform for all things Swift — took to social media to share a post featuring 12 photos of Swift, all in the same shade of orange. The caption of the post was “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era …’” along with a red heart surrounded by orange flames.

Meanwhile, Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, announced that Swift would be the surprise guest on his and his brother Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast episode dropping on Wednesday. The brothers initially hinted that Swift could be joining them in a post Monday afternoon that featured Travis in Swift merch with a sparkly orange background, which fans caught on to immediately.

The 12th album marks Swift’s first new music release since she announced that she officially owns her first six albums after a lengthy battle over her master recordings. The artist began a rerecording project after she learned in 2019 that her masters were sold to Scooter Braun against her will. Swift went on to release enormously successful “Taylor’s Versions” of her 2008 album, Fearless; her 2010 album, Speak Now; her 2012 album, Red; and her 2014 album, 1989, and now owns the original works as well.

“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote in a letter to fans posted on her website when she purchased her masters. “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.”

While fans were initially anticipating rerecordings of her 2006 self-titled album and her 2017 album, Reputation, to be among her next releases, Swift instead appears to be focusing on making new music.