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On August 11, Taylor Swift’s official team account, Taylor Nation, posted 12 photos from The Eras Tour on their Instagram, featuring Taylor in orange outfits, with the caption “see you in the next era”, hinting at her 12th album.
This was confirmed on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast on August 13, where Taylor announced her brand new album The Life of a Showgirl. Here’s everything we know about it and its easter eggs.
How it all started
During several shows of The Eras Tour, fans already sensed that something was coming. In October 2023, during the performance of the song “Karma”, an orange door appeared on the screen, and many started to believe that a new era was about to begin.
In February 2024, the new album The Tortured Poets Department was announced, but it still didn’t seem to be the “door album”, especially since TTPD theme’s color is white.
Now, looking back, we know that this door was indeed a hint for her new album, as the countdown on the singer’s official website began on August 11, 2025 – and there it was again.
Another thing that left Swifties intrigued was Taylor’s very first post of 2025 on Instagram: a story promoting Selena Gomez’s new album. In the caption, she wrote “oh my God” with twelve letter D’s – and yes, Selena’s album color theme is orange.
Then, on May 30, when Taylor announced that she had regained the masters of her first six albums, she posted a letter on her website and, in the phrase “this close”, she typed the “i” twelve times.
The cover
On August 13, the cover was finally revealed, featuring Taylor wearing a top and silver bracelets, partially submerged in water, surrounded by shades of green and orange. Right after its release, fans noticed similarities between the cover art and the painting Ophelia by English painter John Everett Millais.
However, on the podcast, Taylor explained what the cover really stands for:
“This represents the end of my night. So, when I’m on tour, I have the same day every single day… And my day ends with me in a bathtub, not usually in a bedazzled dress.”
She continued,
“The reason I wanted to have sort of like an offstage moment as the main album cover is because this album isn’t really about what happened to me on stage. It’s about what I was going through offstage. So, I didn’t want to have like the lights are bright, I’m on the stage as the main album cover. It’s just this. This, to me, tells more of what the actual content, lyrically, of the album is.”
After her podcast appearance, Swift also shared a trio of alternate covers for the limited release deluxe CD, which was available on her webstore for 72 hours only. She is also releasing special vinyl editions as part of this exclusive drop.
So far, she has released the “It’s Beautiful”, “It’s Rapturous” and “It’s Frightening” for her CDs collections, and “The Shiny Bug” (a general fan favorite cover so far) and “Baby, That’s Showbusiness” vinyl editions for fellow collectors!
Inside the album
There will be 12 songs, which Taylor revealed on her Instagram. On the podcast, she confirmed there are no additional tracks beyond these.
Track 5 – typically Taylor’s most personal songs – is called “Eldest Daughter,” which has drawn a lot of attention and curiosity from fans.
Her final song “The Life of a Showgirl” – also the album’s title – will feature singer Sabrina Carpenter. There is a lot of anticipation for this collaboration, as Sabrina opened for Taylor’s The Eras Tour in the Latin America, Australia and Asia dates back in 2023.
Sabrina has never hidden the fact that she has been a swiftie since her childhood, with a video of her as a kid singing “Picture to Burn” going viral. This collaboration also comes at a strategic time, since Carpenter’s album Man’s Best Friend will be released on August 29th.
The Life of a Showgirl took shape while Swift was on The Eras Tour in Europe, which took place in the spring and summer of 2024, as she revealed on New Heights.
I would do like three shows in a row. I would have three days off. I would fly to Sweden, come back on tour, and I would just enjoy working on it. I was physically exhausted at that point on tour, but I was mentally stimulated and so excited to create.
The interview shows how the artist balanced the physical demands of one of the most ambitious tours in history with the creativity she experienced behind the scenes. For Taylor, tour breaks were not just moments of rest, but opportunities to explore ideas, compose and reconnect with her inner songwriter.
We are very excited for this album, which will be released on October 3rd, and we hope it meets all expectations.
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The article above was edited by Luna Bahdur.
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