5 things to know about Taylor Swift’s upcoming album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Taylor Swift all but broke the internet with the announcement of her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, releasing on October 3, 2025. With her previous announcements at the 2022 VMAs (Midnights) and 2024 Grammys (The Tortured Poets Department), fans expected the 2025 Grammys to be the next stage. However, she went on her fiancé Travis Kelce's podcast, New Heights.

"So, I wanted to show you something... This is my brand new album, The Life of a Show Girl!"- Taylor Swift revealing a blurred album cover on the podcast via Instagram (@newheightsshow) on August 12, 2025.

The clip has close to 6 million likes on Instagram, so clearly, fans are more excited than ever for this new era. This is her first album after regaining ownership of all her original music, and she is celebrating with exclusive merch and 12 new songs with multiple album variants. From the significance of the title and the cover design to the behind-the-scenes, here's the downlow for new and seasoned Swifties.

Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong solely to the writer.

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Taylor Swift and The Life of a Showgirl: Here is the news so far

1) The title and color scheme

Orange is the main color of 'The Life of a Showgirl' (Image via Instagram/@TaylorNation)

So for starters, what's the album going to be about? From Taylor Swift's chat on the New Heights podcast, it is clear that the tracks will immortalize her life on the road during the Eras Tour. With the highest-grossing tour of all time spanning 149 shows, 21 countries, and 20 months, the singer-songwriter must have plenty to say about life behind all the grandeur, sparkling outfits, and dance routines.

The Life of a Showgirl is sparkly orange and mint green. From the moment Taylor Nation posted 12 images of the artist in various orange stage outfits hours before the album announcement, fans knew that the color would be significant. Swift also cleverly planted an Easter egg during the Eras Tour by adding orange hues to her stage design, including exiting into an orange light behind a door.

"I've just always liked it [orange]. It feels energetically how my life has felt, and this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during the [Eras Tour]."- Taylor Swift on the podcast.

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2) Bringing back past collaborators

Sabrina Carpenter with Taylor (Image via Instagram/@TaylorNation)

In anticipation of The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift dropped a playlist on Spotify, titled And, baby, that's show business for you. Fans were quick to deduce the connection between all 22 songs on the list, which included past smash hits like Blank Space, Shake It Off, and Style. All the songs were produced in collaboration with producers Max Martin and Shellback. She later confirmed this on Instagram.

For close to a decade, Swift has worked with producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner exclusively, so collaborating with the 1989, Red, and Reputation producers is an exciting change. Further, after being the opening act for 25 shows worldwide during the Eras Tour, The Life of a Showgirl also features Sabrina Carpenter on the titular track.

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3) The meaning behind the cover image

Taylor recreates a famous 19th-century painting (Image via Instagram/@taylorswift)

While Taylor Swift has since released plenty of cover image variations for The Life of a Showgirl, the main cover art is her body submerged in water, with her face on the surface. She is wearing a showgirl-type outfit studded with stones, and the image appears like a broken mirror, cracked and a little disjointed.

The meaning of this image became clearer after the tracklist was announced. With The Fate of Ophelia as the first track and the one getting a music video, fans connected it to Sir John Everett Millais' painting, Ophelia, the tortured and complex character from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, who drowns herself in the river, driven by her madness, all while singing songs.

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4) Hints from Reputation and more

Taylor Swift during her Reputation Stadium Tour (Image via Getty)

It is not a Taylor Swift album release without a myriad of Easter eggs left intentionally for fans to deduce. The most recent ones come from the Spotify pop-up event in New York City for The Life of a Showgirl, where the mirrors and walls had the line 'Oftentimes, it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me.' But further Easter eggs can be found in the lyrics section of Reputation on Apple Music.

Odd letters in the song Are You Ready For It? have been capitalized, making up the line 'They don't make loyalty like they used to'. Further, the cover image of the upcoming album has a cracked and sparkly purple animation in Apple Music, resembling the Reputation stage in the Eras Tour. These hints have created great excitement for the release.

Other potential lyric reveals include:

• 'Keep it 100'
• 'I heard you calling'
• 'Everyone's unbothered 'till they're not'

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5) George Michael's Father Figure and genres to expect

Swift and Kelce revealed details about the album (Image via YouTube/New Heights)

The original song, Father Figure, is by one of the biggest acts in pop history, the late George Michael. It was a song on his 1987 debut album, Faith. After speculation that Taylor Swift might sample the song in her version of the same name, it was revealed that she will be interpolating it, which means re-recording a portion of the song with modified lyrics.

The original is a dreamy R&B-esque pop ballad, which has fans guessing what the album's genre would be. Travis Kelce, who has already listened to the album, got into it on his podcast:

"It's a lot more upbeat, and it's a lot more fun, like, fun pop excitement. I think it's a complete 180 from a lot of songs on Tortured Poets for sure."

He also called all 12 songs 'bangers', claiming that he has been dancing around the house.

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The 12 tracks on The Life of a Showgirl:

• The Fate of Ophelia
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Opalite
• Father Figure
• Eldest Daughter
• Ruin the Friendship
• Actually Romantic
• Wi$h Li$t
• Wood
• CANCELLED!
• Honey
• The Life of a Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)

Catch the official release party of Taylor Swift's album in theatres from October 3 to October 5, 2025.