The Life of a Showgirl: Taylor Swift announces her 12th studio album and releases companion playlist

• Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl.
• The news was revealed as her website started taking pre-orders for the album, though no official release date has been set.
• Swift is set to join her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, on Wednesday’s episode of New Heights, with more details about the album expected to be revealed.

After much speculation, including studies on colour palettes being uploaded to social media and a countdown clock on her website, Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album.

The multi-platinum selling artist stoked speculation after the countdown timer reached 12:12am EST earlier today (August 12), with pre-orders for the album going live shortly afterwards on her online store, with those orders set to be completed by October 13, though no official release date has been set.

The big reveal also took place when Swift joined her boyfriend, Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason, on their New Heights podcast with the singer set to be a guest on their Wednesday episode (August 13), however, a clip shared from the episode revealed further details of the new album.

“So I wanted to show you something,” Swift says, before presenting a blurred-out copy of her new record. “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”

Currently, the specifics of the forthcoming album are sparse as the webstore offers pre-orders for vinyl, CD and cassette editions, and the album’s full artwork is expected to arrive during the New Heights podcast on Wednesday. But those of you who noticed a lot of orange in Taylor’s palette recently might have been onto something...

Some of the art used in the online mock-ups (a mint green background with a glittery, burnt-orange padlock) is described as being a “blurred digital rendering for pre-order purposes only,” with full artwork and specifications to be announced later.

Those wanting to have a listen to what the album ‘might’ sound like may also be interested to know that Swift has now curated a playlist on Spotify, ‘And, baby, that’s showbiz for you,’ which features 22 tracks that have been produced by iconic producers Max Martin and Shellback, indicating that the two might have produced the new album also.

Although some fans have noted a lack of tracks produced by long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, leading to further speculation that we might be in for a stylistic change compared to her previous studio albums, including her latest album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’

The new album comes after Swift recently bought back the masters of her first six studio albums, giving her ownership of her entire music catalogue for the first time in her career. It marked the end of a years-long dispute between Swift, Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records, leading to the singer to start recording ‘Taylor’s Version’ of her previous records under Shamrock Holdings’ control.

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