The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift has been available for listening since Oct. 3rd, but what led to fans finally getting TS12 or Swift’s 12th studio album?
Rewinding to the very beginning of the new era, Swift’s fiance, Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason Kelce have a podcast called New Heights. Their podcast episodes air Wednesdays, and guests are announced a day or two beforehand. Swift was named the guest of the upcoming podcast episode that coming Wednesday. This made fans suspicious because she most likely wouldn’t go on a podcast or something of the sort if she wasn’t about to do something big. Fans were right.
A sparkly teal and orange countdown appeared on Swift’s website Aug. 12. When the countdown finally ended at 12:12 a.m. Eastern time, a clip from the podcast episode revealed that Swift was releasing a brand new album called The Life of a Showgirl. There were vinyls, cds and cassettes available for preorder on her website. This was the only information given out about the album until the full podcast episode aired the next day at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The new album cover was blurred and the clip cut off.
The podcast episode was almost 2 hours long, and the Kelce brothers and Swift talked about everything from football to Swift’s obsession with sourdough bread, the Eras Tour, Swift getting her masters back, and of course the new album. Swift revealed the 12 song track list, and a little glimpse into the process of making it. Travis Kelce shared his thoughts on the album since he was there while Swift was making it. After the podcast, a “release party” movie from the album was announced, and there were some pop-ups centered around The Life of a Showgirl for fans to go to. These pop-ups included a Spotify immersive experience in New York City that had tons of trinkets and decorations that either matched the aesthetic of the album, or alluded to a lyric or song from the album. In LA, there was a content creation set up, where fans could film videos and pictures in front of a few different The Life of a Showgirl themed backgrounds. In Nashville, I was lucky enough to go to the Starbucks by Vanderbilt University and experience the lots they had to offer fans. Inside and outside of Starbucks there was Taylor Swift music playing. Outside there was a huge The Life of a Showgirl vinyl backdrop for pictures, a friendship bracelet making area, a photobooth, a drink station where they made drinks and put orange sprinkles in them for the album, and a place to buy Swift’s vinyls.
In addition to all of this, Swift has released many vinyl and CD variants, some with voice memos from the making of songs and acoustic versions of the songs. She has also been on an entire mini press tour, done countless interviews, and 3 talk shows (Graham Norton, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers).
When I heard the beginning of the opening track, The Fate Of Ophelia, I knew I was going to love the album, and my prediction was accurate. For most of Swift’s albums, I’ve liked them on the first listen, but it took a couple days for me to really love them. I think that’s because I start to learn the lyrics and understand the meaning behind the songs. However, with this one, I was hooked immediately after my first listen. This album somehow sounds totally different from any of her other albums. It is pop at its core, but there are some experimental and classic elements to it too. My favorites on the album are The Fate of Ophelia, Father Figure and Elizabeth Taylor, but I think all of them are amazing. I feel like this album is an accurate representation of what was going on behind the curtain in Swift’s life toward the end of The Eras Tour. She was happy doing life with her then-boyfriend now fiancé, Travis Kelce, but still dealing with heavy things, and the physical and mental pressure that came with doing a 3 and a half hour show, 3 nights in a row on most weekends. Listeners have criticized the songwriting on this album, saying that it’s “cheap” and “lacks meaning,” but that isn’t true. The fun and carefree lyrics are perfectly in tune with how she feels in life. Travis Kelce makes her life uncomplicated and brighter, and that is shown in the lyrics. People are never going to be fully satisfied with what Swift puts out, but I’m going to go with it every time. The many records already broken by this album including Billboard’s biggest album debut, the largest streaming week for an album in 2025 and 4th of all time, and 10 songs from the album in the Billboard Hot 100, speak to how exceptional it is too.
The “release party” movie was in theaters from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5, so after the album was out into the world. It opened with the music video for The Fate of Ophelia and the behind-the-scenes/making of the music video. This is the only music video we’ve gotten for this album so far. She also went through each of the 12 songs on the album and explained their meaning and what inspired her to write them. I had a great time watching the movie because it’s always neat to see her brain at work and to better understand her songwriting and directing process. It allowed fans to get together in one space and listen to the album as a group.
The Life of a Showgirl is a lightheaded yet insightful look into what was going on in Swift’s life before the biggest tour of all time ended. The upbeat production and catchy lyrics have fans around the world dancing and singing along to the 12 tracks on the album.