The morning of August 11th was an unanticipated Christmas for Swifties when Taylor Nation, Taylor Swift’s social media team, posted an apparent hint at her anticipated 12th studio album. The announcement came only nine months after her record-breaking Eras Tour and twelve weeks (by no mistake) after she announced her ownership of her original six albums, which raised awareness in the music industry about artist rights and music acquisitions.
Since the Eras Tour, fans have watched Swift’s every move in hopes of her “easter-egging” her return, whether it be with sparkly orange outfits debuted on the Eras Tour or a strange trend of her wearing plaid at various outings (hint: National Plaid day takes place on the first Friday of October).
To announce the album’s arrival, Swift hopped on New Heights, the podcast hosted by her fiancé Travis Kelce, tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs, and retired Eagles center Jason Kelce. For two hours, fans got a rare glimpse of Swift talking about her upcoming album The Life of a Showgirl, which was one of Swift’s first filmed interviews in a few years.
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during [The Eras Tour]” Swift stated on the podcast, indicating an introspective view for fans on the highest grossing tour of all time, spanning 21 months and 149 shows. The album seems to represent a complete tonal shift from Swift’s last release, The Tortured Poets Department, which seemingly foreshadowed this succeeding era with the showgirl-esque I Can Do It With a Broken Heart performed on her recent tour. It promises feathers, jeweled headpieces, and a dramatized view of what it means to be a star.
Swift also signaled a diversion from the four album run of primary collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff, who had won the Grammy for Producer three years in a row, in addition to the more “folklorian” storytelling she explored with Antonoff and Big Red Machine’s Aaron Dessner.”
“It’s a record I made with my mentor, Max Martin, and Shellback,” Swift said on the podcast. “The three of us have made some of my favorite songs that I have ever done before. They were my main collaborators on the Red album, we did We Are Never Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble, 22, Shake It Off, Blank Space, Style, Wildest Dreams, …Ready For It?, Delicate…” Swift said, essentially suggesting to the Kelce brothers and fans that the dream team that helped propel Swift to superstardom has reunited after eight years since the release of their last collaborations on her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017), to craft twelve songs to compile her upcoming release.
Max Martin, a Swedish music producer, has been an influential force of the music industry helping create mega-hits (24 of his songs have charted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for measure) including songs like Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time, or Ariana Grande’s Yes, And? to name a few.
To accompany the release of the album, Swift recently announced a film hitting theaters for one weekend only titled The Official Release Party of a Showgirl. The film will premiere not only her music video for the album’s lead single, The Fate of Ophelia (which is referential to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where, spoiler alert, like on Swift’s album cover Ophelia drowns as the result of her madness) in addition to a behind the scenes look on the music video and the album.
Taylor Swift returns with The Life of a Showgirl which releases on Friday, October 3rd.
