After dropping a cryptic teaser on social media, Taylor Swift announced her twelfth studio album on her official website early Tuesday. The site listed pre-orders for The Life of a Showgirl but offered no further details. Her profile images across platforms also shifted to a mint green rectangle with an orange lock at its center — the same visual currently serving as the placeholder album cover online.

According to the pre-order page, shipments will go out before Oct. 13. However, the site made clear that date is “not a release date,” promising that the official launch date will be revealed later. A countdown appeared on Swift’s site three hours before the news broke, and fans — familiar with her love of strategic hints — were encouraged to stay up until 12:12 a.m. ET. Once the clock ran out, the site reportedly crashed for some users due to the surge in traffic.

The Build-Up to the Big Reveal

The Life of A Showgirl
Taylor Swift announcing her upcoming album in the New Heights podcast.

Earlier that day, Swift’s fanbase began speculating after the Instagram account for the podcast New Heights teased a high-profile guest for its next episode. The show is hosted by Swift’s boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his brother, retired NFL star Jason Kelce. In the teaser, Jason wore a shirt with Swift’s face, and the glittery orange background matched the countdown theme on her website. Fans even joked they could identify Swift’s silhouette without hesitation.

The mystery ended when the podcast’s social media page confirmed her appearance by posting a clip of Swift sitting alongside Travis Kelce during recording. “We’re about to do a f—— podcast,” she declared. At exactly 12:12 a.m., another clip surfaced showing Swift telling the Kelce brothers, “This is my new brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl,” prompting Jason Kelce to cheer wildly.

At the same time, the Taylor Nation account — an official social media extension of Swift’s team — posted a carousel of 12 images from the Eras Tour, featuring Swift in orange outfits. The caption read, “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’” Fans took the timing as another layer of the rollout, noting that the announcement fell on Aug. 12. As one fan joked on X, “the twelves are twelving.”

A Milestone in Swift’s Career

This twelfth album marks the first release since Swift regained ownership of her entire catalog earlier this year, capping off nearly two decades in the music industry. In May, she confirmed that she had purchased the masters of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital. The opportunity came years after she was unable to secure the rights when her former label, Big Machine Records, was sold in 2019 to a company partially owned by music manager Scooter Braun. After Braun sold the catalog to Shamrock, Swift publicly committed to re-recording all six albums to reclaim ownership. Four of these re-recorded albums have already reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The announcement follows the conclusion of her record-breaking Eras Tour in December 2024. Spanning nearly two years, the tour visited 50 cities across five continents with 149 shows, ultimately becoming the highest-grossing tour in history. Each three-hour set took fans through every era of her discography, with a complete setlist refresh after the release of her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department.