What we know on Taylor Swift’s new album release date, cover, songs, merch and more
“And actually, like, working on this, I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating.”
How many tracks on the album?
Swift revealed there will be 12 tracks on the album, going through them one by one on the podcast.
In order, the tracks are: “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Elizabeth Taylor,” “Opalite,” “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Ruin the Friendship,” “Actually Romantic,” “Wi$h Li$t,” “Wood,” “CANCELED!,” “Honey,” and “The Life Of A Showgirl (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter.”
Travis Kelce, who was thrilled he knew so much about the album, described “CANCELED!” as a “banger.”
Fans do their best Sherlock impressions
With so little — but so much — to go on, fans were in a tizzy trying to decipher what clues Swift may have dropped about the new album.
Her website updated Wednesday with a countdown four and half hours before 7 p.m. ET, the podcast release time. The screen showed a door in the spotlight slowly lowering to a small glitter orange square with a lock on it.
It was the same orange lock seen over the album cover on the pre-order. The door is also the same one seen in visuals during The Eras Tour at the end of the show when Swift performed “Karma.”
The padlock appears to have an imprint of a key in the same shape as The Eras Tour stage. Then a red lock appeared, followed by a blue lock and finally a silver lock.
Swifties, the self-proclaimed name for the singer’s fanbase, rightly guessed that the locks were symbolizing four album variants.
Many also believe the singer might announce a tour documentary alongside the album’s release. Cameras were seen following Swift around during multiple dates of The Eras Tour.
“The lock being the eras tour stage has me 1000% convinced that the eras documentary is also called the life of a showgirl bc it goes behind the scenes of her life as a showgirl ??!!,” one X user posted.
Swift’s profile on Spotify uploaded a new playlist, titled “And, baby, that’s show business for you,” around the time of the album name reveal Tuesday.
The playlist featured all the songs Swift made with producers Max Martin and Shellback in alphabetical order. Swifties believed this could be the sign she’s diverging from her good friend Jack Antonoff, who has been the producer on her most recent albums, for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
This fan theory was confirmed during Swift’s podcast interview, where she said she reunited with the two Swedish producers. Swift credited them with having worked on some of her favorite songs.
She added that the three have never made an album with just the three of them. She told Martin during her show in Stockholm that she felt they could “knock it out of the park.”
“It felt like catching lightning in a bottle, honestly,” Swift said. “We hadn’t worked together in like seven or eight years … there’s something about these guys. They’re just geniuses in different avenues, in different ways.”
The phrase “And, baby, that’s show business for you” also appeared when you googled Swift’s name on Tuesday. Some suspect that will be a lyric on the album.
Fans have already reflected on the most obvious Easter eggs she left behind. The singer’s tour performance of “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” had a showgirl theme.
There were also many instances where she wore orange throughout The Eras Tour. Fans also pointed out that the last show of the tour was Dec. 8, or 12/8, and that the album was announced Aug. 12, or 8/12.
Eagle-eyed sleuths guessed that either the album or a lead single will release Sept. 12, because the Taylor Nation carousel was posted at 9:12 a.m. on Monday.
