Did Taylor Swift Just Reveal 'Life Of A Showgirl' Lyrics? Why Fans Are Convinced

Elle

5 days ago

Leave it to Taylor Swift to have us all playing detective again. After casually announcing her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, during an episode of boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce's New Heights podcast, the world's favourite Easter egg-laying queen wasn't done with the surprises (it's Taylor Swift, what did we expect?).
Swift followed up the announcement by dropping a Spotify playlist titled And, baby, that's show business for you, which inevitably sent the Swifties into full conspiracy mode. Since that exact phrase doesn't appear in any of her previous songs, fans of the star appear convinced that the moniker of the playlist may well be a sneak peek at lyrics from her upcoming album. This is a woman, after all, whose motive behind every last move can be extrapolated and mined for deeper meaning.
'I can't wait to hear Taylor sing the line "and baby that's show business for you,"' one fan posted on X, perfectly capturing what Swift's legion of loyal fans have been hypothesising over.
But here's where it gets even more interesting – because with Swift, there's always more. Every single one of the 22 tracks on this playlist, including hits like 'Bad Blood', 'I Knew You Were Trouble', and 'Delicate', were produced by the powerhouse duo Max Martin and Shellback, which her fans have interpreted as a hint of the creative direction that her latest album has no doubt travelled in.
Swift's entire reveal happened during an episode of the Kelce's New Heights podcast, which will air in its entirety on Thursday, August 14. In a teaser clip of the episode shared to Instagram, Swift is shown pulling out a blurred vinyl from a mint green briefcase. 'So I wanted to show you something,' the 35-year-old said with that knowing smile. 'This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.'
While The Life of a Showgirl lacks an official release date, pre-orders indicate shipping by October 13, though Swift's team emphasises this isn't the actual release date.
What made this announcement extra special wasn't just the long-awaited new music – it's been over a year since The Tortured Poets Department blessed our playlists – but also the glimpse into her relationship with the NFL player.
'Such a nice colour on you,' Swift tells Kelce in the teaser, who was wearing a baby blue jumper. His response? 'Yes, I know. It's the colour of your eyes, sweetie.'
'It's why we match so well,' he added.
Then, because she's Taylor Swift and a performer through and through, she turned to the camera with pure excitement and declared, 'We're about to do a f--king podcast!'
And just like that, she had us all counting down the days until we can decode every single lyric of The Life of a Showgirl.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years' worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.