Taylor Swift reveals 12th studio album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ with pre-orders live now

Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. The announcement was made on August 12 through her official website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 am. Pre-orders for the album are now available, with special vinyl editions, including a limited “Portofino orange glitter” version, scheduled to ship before October 13. A cassette edition is also available for pre-order. The official release date of the album has not yet been disclosed.

The announcement coincided with Swift’s scheduled appearance on the New Heights podcast, hosted by her partner, NFL player Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason Kelce. On Tuesday, the podcast teased Swift’s guest appearance with an orange silhouette image and later confirmed her participation. A teaser video showed Swift pulling the album from a briefcase, although the album artwork remains blurred on her website. The episode featuring Swift is set to release on Wednesday at 7 pm ET.

Promotional efforts for the album include Spotify billboards in New York City and Nashville featuring a code linked to a playlist titled “And, baby, that's show business for you.” All tracks on the playlist were produced by Max Martin and Shellback, two longtime collaborators of Swift. This suggests their involvement in the production of The Life of a Showgirl. Fans noticed that promotional images posted by Taylor Nation featured Swift in orange attire, reinforcing the theme associated with the new album.

The Life of a Showgirl follows Swift’s previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released in April 2024 and later expanded into a double album called The Anthology. The Tortured Poets Department became the best-selling album of the year and broke Spotify’s record for most streams in a day. Swift's 2024 Eras Tour, which ran across 149 shows in 53 cities over two years, grossed over $2.2 billion, making it the highest-grossing tour in history.

This is Swift’s first album since she regained full ownership of her back catalogue. In May, she announced that she had purchased the rights to her recordings originally released through Big Machine Records from Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that acquired the catalogue. Swift has been re-recording her early albums as part of a larger effort to control her music. This new release is expected to continue her successful trajectory as a leading artist in the industry.