Hi! Well, today was an... exciting day to say the least. In yesterday's post, I talked about Taylor Nation's suspicious "see you next era" post with 12 images of Taylor's orange outfits on the Eras Tour, followed by a 12:12 AM August 12th countdown over an orange background. Well, as expected, I did what all the Swifties did and waited until 12:12 in hopes of an announcement.
And, well, also as expected, I didn't actually see any announcement until about 12:15 since the Taylor Swift website crashed with all the people looking at it waiting for the announcement.
But then, taylorswift.com finally began to load, and this is what I saw:
Disclaimers: THIS IS NOT HFE94'S VERSION. As of today, "The Life Of A Showgirl" has been officially announced as Taylor Swift's 12th studio album. I know, I can't believe it either.
Also, this post does not contain leaked content. I have avoided leaks as much as possible. Everything you're about to read is either officially announced under Taylor's approval, or my theories/predictions.
Release
Confirmed information - The Life Of A Showgirl will be released on vinyl, cassette, and as a CD paired with a poster, and is already available to "pre-pre-order". The release date has not been announced, but the website says that it will be shipped before October 13th, which means it should release within the next two months. There will likely be multiple vinyl variants - more details about that later.
Theories - There are theories for 8/22 because of the number 22 appearing a lot in promotional content for the album, and I think a lead single on 8/22 is much more likely than a whole album, since Laufey is releasing an album on the 22nd, and Sabrina is releasing an album just a week after. 9/12 is also a common theory since the Taylor Nation post was at 9:12 AM. I'm willing to believe that it's neither of these since release theories are almost never correct.
Visuals
Confirmed information - The color theme of the era is sparkling orange and mint green. Taylor's entire website has been redesigned to match this aesthetic, and all of Taylor's online profile pictures have been changed from the TTPD photo to the picture of a sparkling orange lock over a mint green blurred album cover. The official album cover has not been revealed, but Taylor has been confirmed as the special guest on the Kelce brothers' podcast, New Heights, and a 13-second clip showed her with a mint briefcase with "TS" written in sparkling orange lettering containing the blurred album cover inside. The album cover will be revealed unblurred tomorrow on New Heights.
Theories - The same preview clip from New Heights contained four TS boxes in the background - a red one, an orange one, a purple one, and a white one. These might be vinyl variants exploring different aspects of a performer's life, and could all be symbolic colors in this era. Based on the blurred outline we have of the album cover, it looks to me like a Speak Now-like photo of Taylor spinning around in a green and orange outfit, but obviously we can't tell for certain.
Music
Confirmed information - Well, beyond the release info and general aesthetic, not much else has been "confirmed" about TLOAS yet. (I might make yet another post tomorrow if Taylor makes more notable announcements on New Heights.) However, I think it's important to mention that Taylor has posted a playlist under her official Spotify profile that seems to suggest the general sound of the album will be pop (possibly with some rock influence), as every song in the playlist is either from Red, 1989, or Reputation. As much as I loved the stripped-down indie vibes of Taylor's last four albums, I agree with the fans' general opinion that she's been overdue for a change in direction.
Here is the official 22-song playlist, titled "and baby, that's show business for you", listed using the eras color code and with my 12 personal favorites underlined:
22 - All You Had To Do Was Stay - Bad Blood - Blank Space - Dancing With Our Hands Tied - Delicate - Don't Blame Me - End Game - Gorgeous - How You Get The Girl - I Did Something Bad - I Knew You Were Trouble - King Of My Heart - Message In A Bottle - New Romantics - ...Ready For It? - Shake It Off - So It Goes... - Style - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Wildest Dreams - Wonderland
Theories: Many of these were likely not included in the playlist for a specific reason I'll go into more detail about later, but I compiled a list of 12 other songs (since we're just obsessed with that number lately) that I associate with TLOAS based on what we know, also using the eras color code:
A Place In This World - Long Live - The Lucky One - False God - Beautiful Ghosts - The Last Great American Dynasty - Antihero - Bejeweled - Karma - I Can Do It With A Broken Heart - Clara Bow - So High School
Collaborators
As far as collabs go nothing is truly confirmed, but the official playlist is noticeably comprised entirely of songs produced by Max Martin and Shellback. This has led to speculation that this is Taylor hinting at her split from her usual cowriters Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, and that she will be bringing back Max Martin and Shellback, the Swedish songwriting duo who produced many of the iconic songs on Red, 1989, and Reputation, to collaborate with her on TLOAS. Additionally, a Sabrina Carpenter collab is highly anticipated, seeing as the final photo in the Taylor Nation post contains Sabrina in it, and Taylor & Sabrina now have album rollouts around the same time. It is also thought that Taylor could collaborate again with artists who toured with her, such as Gracie Abrams, Phoebe Bridgers, and Haim.
Lyrics
Again, nothing has been officially confirmed for lyrics or even track titles (which may change soon with the New Heights announcement). However, it's likely that this album will explore many aspects of being a performer. Now, I am far from the type of person who wishes any artist would "start making happier music", especially in times when the artist is clearly not happy. (In fact, I'm generally upset by those kinds of comments, as they... well, quite literally contradict the entire point of music as an art form.) However, I will say I genuinely predict this will be a more upbeat, sparkly, glitter gel pen album since this actually seems to be a happy time in Taylor's life in general. Most likely, there will be Travis Kelce love songs, a celebratory song about buying her masters back, a Long Live-type song commemorating the Eras Tour, and maybe some more songs like The Lucky One about the darker side of fame. I know The Last Great American Dynasty is not about a performer, but I would LOVE to have another song with a similar structure, about a historical showgirl who has a connection or impact on Taylor in some way.
Well, we don't know much, but all I can say is... I think it's gonna be great. That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!
