The wait is over! Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, is officially out now.
The pop superstar, 35, released her 12th studio record on streaming services and in stores on Friday, October 3. It is the follow-up to Swift’s double album The Tortured Poets Department, which she dropped in April 2024.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right,” Swift wrote via Instagram just after midnight alongside additional snaps from the album’s photo shoot. “A forever thank you goes out to my mentors and friends Max [Martin] and Shellback for helping me paint this self portrait. If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain … The Life of a Showgirl is out now.”
The Life of a Showgirl includes 12 new songs: “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Elizabeth Taylor,” “Opalite,” “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Ruin the Friendship,” “Actually Romantic,” “Wish List,” “Wood,” “Cancelled!,” “Honey” and “The Life of a Showgirl” featuring Sabrina Carpenter.
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Ahead of the release, Swift offered four vinyl variants — the original cover, known as Sweat and Vanilla Perfume; The Shiny Bug; Baby, That’s Show Business; and The Tiny Bubbles in Champagne — and three additional CD variants — It’s Beautiful; It’s Frightening; and It’s Rapturous — for a limited time on her website. She also teamed up with Target for a vinyl called The Crowd Is Your King, which is exclusive to the retailer.
From Friday through Sunday, October 5, Swift is celebrating The Life of a Showgirl with an official release party. Fans can see the “Fate of Ophelia” music video, lyric videos for the other 11 songs and behind-the-scenes album insights from Swift in movie theaters across the country.
Swift announced the impending arrival of her 12th album during her “New Heights” podcast debut in August, revealing the title, release date and tracklist at the time. She also shared her initial thought process for the project.
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“I essentially said to [producer Martin], ‘I want to be as proud of an album as I am of The Eras Tour and for the same reasons,’ and he was like, ‘Do you understand what kind of pressure that is?’” she recalled.
Swift subsequently began coproducing the album with Martin and Shellback — whom she previously worked with on Red, 1989 and Reputation — during the European leg of The Eras Tour in 2024.
“I’d do, like, three shows in a row, I’d have three days off, I’d fly to Sweden, [then] go back to the tour,” she explained. “Actually, working on this, I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating.”
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Swift then elaborated on how she achieved her lofty expectations for the album.
“We knew that we had to bring the best ideas we’ve ever had, and I also know the pressure I’m putting on this record by saying that, but I don’t care because I love it that much. I’m so proud of it,” she gushed. “It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life, and so that effervescence has come through on this record.”
Taylor added that The Life of a Showgirl is about “everything that was going on behind the curtain” in her personal life during The Eras Tour.
“This album isn’t really about what happened to me on stage. It’s about what I was going through off stage,” she clarified. “It’s the life beyond the show.”
