Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl'
NEW YORK — Look what you made her do — Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, 'The Life of a Showgirl.'
Swift announced the album on her website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 a.m. Tuesday. No release date was announced, but her site said vinyl editions of the album would ship before Oct. 13.
Fans have long theorized that Swift's 12th album would soon arrive. On Monday, Taylor Nation — an official branch of the pop superstar's marketing team — posted a TikTok slide show of 12 images with the caption 'Thinking about when she said 'See you next era…'' Swift is seen wearing orange in every image.
A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in 'Portofino orange glitter,' according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.
Sensing a pattern, eagle-eyed fans noticed that 12 minutes earlier, the popular 'New Heights' podcast posted a tease for Wednesday. The show, hosted by Swift's boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce alongside his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, posted an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, many believing to be Swift.
The podcast announced early early Tuesday that Swift would would appear on 'New Heights' and a teaser video posted about her appearance showed her pulling the album from a briefcase. The actual album artwork, just as it is on her website, is blurred.
'The Life of a Showgirl' follows last year's 'The Tortured Poets Department,' announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her record-breaking tour, which raked in over $2.2 billion across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.
The album is also her first release since Swift regained control over her entire body of work. In May, that pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.
In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The project was instigated by Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun's purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift's effort to control her own songs and how they're used. Previous 'Taylor's Version' releases have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new 'from the vault' music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.
So far, there have been four rerecorded albums, beginning with 'Fearless (Taylor's Version)' and 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Swift's last rerecording, '1989 (Taylor's Version),' arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version).' That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history.
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
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Global News
22 minutes ago
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CTV News
22 minutes ago
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Taylor Swift's economic pull makes orange the new green for big brands
Taylor Swift performs at the Paris Le Defense Arena as a part of her Eras Tour concert in Paris, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File) Taylor Swift's upcoming album release and her love of all things orange isn't lost on her fans - or brands that are seeking a ride on what has become an enormous economic tailwind. On Wednesday after Swift went on the 'New Heights' podcast co-hosted by her boyfriend and NFL football star Travis Kelce to announce the imminent release of her 12th studio album 'The Life of a Showgirl,' major companies went into marketing overdrive. The reason? Swift's ability to generate buzz and draw dollars. Swift's tour appearances have become economic events. The singer's Eras Tour two years ago was the first such tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar's 2023 year-end charts. Cities and their surrounding areas registered a sizeable economic boost after Swift appeared, with thousands of fans making the pilgrimage and spending money at hotels, restaurants and elsewhere. Companies are no longer waiting to capitalize on Swift's gravitational pull and orange-themed memes from big brands began rolling out almost immediately. That is because Swift appeared onstage wearing orange numerous times towards the end of her Eras Tour and she discussed her feelings about the color on the Wednesday podcast. Numerous corporations, from United Airlines to Olive Garden, began posting orange hued memes on their own social media accounts soon after the new album was announced. Shake Shack, FedEx, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cinnabon, Walmart and Netflix did, too. Even X got in on the action, declaring that it had a new profile pic: a glittery orange X. The post hsa garnered 5.5 million views so far. Google is using its search engine to celebrate the October release of Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl.' Users search for 'Taylor Swift,' are greeted with a stream of orange digital confetti, along with a flaming orange heart and the phrase, 'And, baby, that's show business for you.' Many, it seemed, saw value in tying their brand to Swift. Swift mentioned during the Wednesday podcast that she had Lasik eye surgery. The X account for wasted no time promoting the fortuitous namedrop. 'i got LASIK, i have incredible vision,' they posted, accompanied by a video of Swift giving a shout out to the procedure on the 'New Heights' podcast. 'TAYLOR SWIFT EVERYONE (red heart emoji). WE'VE PEEKED!!!!!!!!' The post currently has more than 389,000 views and 15,000 likes. Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press
