Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album 'The Life of a Showgirl' in teaser with Kelce brothers

By: Shawn
‎Taylor Swift is officially stepping into a new musical era. The global pop icon announced her upcoming album The Life of a Showgirl during a teaser for a forthcoming episode of New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce.
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Taylor Swift reveals her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, during a teaser for the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast. Details remain limited.
‎Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
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‎The album marks Swift’s 12th studio release since her debut in 2006 and follows her previous project, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released in April 2024. That album has already been certified six-times-platinum by the RIAA and earned a nomination for Album of the Year at the 67th Grammy Awards.
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‎Earlier in the day, fans noticed a countdown on Swift’s official website, set to expire at exactly 12:12 p.m. ET. When the clock hit zero, a teaser clip from the New Heights episode appeared on Swift’s Instagram, providing the long-anticipated announcement.
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‎The clip features Swift seated beside her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Turning to his brother, Jason, she says, “So I wanted to show you something,” before revealing a mint green briefcase marked with her initials in orange. Opening it, she declares, “This is my brand-new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”
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‎The moment was met with enthusiastic reactions, with Jason shouting in surprise and Travis exclaiming, “TS12.” No release date was shared, and the album’s cover art remained intentionally blurred in the teaser, maintaining an air of mystery around the project.
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‎A caption accompanying the Instagram post read, “Posted at 12:12 on the 12th. Tay’s 12th album is called………… pre pre-order now at TaylorSwift.com.”
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‎Speculation had been swirling earlier in the day after New Heights teased a surprise guest, posting an anonymous silhouette and confirming that a special guest would appear in the Wednesday episode. That silhouette was later confirmed to be Swift.
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‎Compared to her highly visible past years, Swift has maintained a lower profile throughout 2025 following the conclusion of her record-breaking Eras Tour at the end of 2024. However, she made headlines in May after announcing she had officially acquired the rights to her early master recordings.
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‎The long-standing industry battle began in 2019 when music executive Scooter Braun acquired Swift’s first five album masters through the purchase of her former label, Big Machine. Braun later sold those masters to Shamrock Capital in 2020. Swift finalized a deal with Shamrock earlier this year.
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‎Reflecting on the deal, Swift said, “This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what was to me: my memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams.”
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‎Amid the legal and financial tensions of the master recordings dispute, Swift leveraged the moment by re-recording her earlier albums, releasing them as “Taylor’s Versions.” These re-recordings often outperformed the originals and contributed significantly to the expansion of her already massive fan base.
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‎Based on the trajectory of her previous releases, The Life of a Showgirl is expected to continue Swift’s dominance on the charts. Few artists today command the ability to move a million album units in a single week, but Swift has done so repeatedly. Her 2022 album Midnights sold over 1.5 million units in its debut week, and The Tortured Poets Department launched with a staggering 2.6 million units sold.

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