If there's one thing we can count on Taylor Swift for, it's that we never know her next move. She's the mastermind behind several successful surprises, and most of those surprises happen to be the announcements of her albums. On Aug. 11, the Grammy winner stayed true to her element of surprise with the announcement of her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl.
Really teaching us fans the art of expecting the unexpected, Swift pivoted from her usual methods of announcing a new album era by using her Taylor Nation social media account to soft launch her new era and quickly following that up with an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce's New Heights podcast. In a preview clip released at 12:12 a.m. ET on Aug. 12, TS12 received an official title.
However, while Swift revealed the title of her new album and showed off its blurred cover, the pre pre-order on her website didn't provide any additional details. Ahead of her appearance on New Heights, which will premiere on Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. ET, Swift hasn't shared the album cover, the tracklisting, or — most importantly — the release date. It's a case for the Swifties!
Swifties might have figured out The Life of a Showgirl release date
The Life of a Showgirl vinyl, CD, and cassette listings on Swift's website all feature the same information. The products will ship before Oct. 13, 2025, but that is not the official release date of the album. According to the website, the official release date will be revealed at a later date, perhaps even during Swift's episode of New Heights. But theories are already running rampant.
Given Swift's affinity for numerology (us fans know her well enough know that numbers can be Easter eggs staring us in the face!), Sept. 12 has emerged as a leading theory for The Life of a Showgirl release date. First of all, it's a Friday, which is the date that new music is released, and it's also the 12th day of the month. The next Friday that falls on the 12th after September is December. While Dec. 12 is one day before her birthday, it's unlikely she'd keep us waiting that long.
Adding further fuel to the Sept. 12 release date theory, Taylor Nation shared the now infamous "Thinking about when she said 'See you next era...'" post at 9:12 a.m. Obviously, that could be a direct reference to a date, specifically Sept. 12. Seeing as her store confirms that the album will ship before Oct. 13, it's all but signed, sealed, and delivered that we're one month away from the release of a new Taylor Swift album. For Swifties, that's a feeling better than Christmas!
When it comes to Taylor Swift's movements, there are no accidents. Even though she's well known for leading with her lucky number 13, she has been very deliberately teasing her twelfth album with the number 12 any chance she's gotten. Whether it's including 12 I's in the word "this" in her masters reclamation letter or using 12 D's in "Oh my God" while celebrating best friend Selena Gomez's new album release earlier this year, the various twelves have been hiding in plain sight.
That's not even all of the twelves that have been Easter egging TS12, and they won't be the last. While we almost certainly believe we have decoded The Life of a Showgirl release date, this is Taylor Swift we're talking about. She definitely has plenty more tricks and surprise up her sleeve that we couldn't even possibly begin to predict. One thing's for sure, though. It's a great time to be a Swiftie.
Stay tuned for even more news and updates about the new album!