Taylor Swift Teases Surprise Album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’

Taylor Swift dropped her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl without warning on a podcast Tuesday, a welcome surprise to fans that's likely to help revive flagging sales at Universal Music Group.

The US pop star talked about the new album during a cameo on the New Heights podcast hosted by boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother, which was uploaded on Instagram just after midnight New York time. While an official release date hasn't been revealed, the full podcast episode should get uploaded on Wednesday 7pm E.T.

“So I wanted to show you something,” she said, pulling a vinyl from a briefcase. “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”

Posted at 12:12 on the 12th. ❤️‍🔥 Tay's 12th album is called…………

pre pre-order now at https://t.co/oGYV230otf pic.twitter.com/gUAIEEDZmm

August 12, 2025

Swift has been a rare appearance on the New Heights podcast, but her relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs football star has helped drive traffic to what was already a hit podcast. The show was the tenth most popular podcast in the US in the second quarter, according to Edison Research. 

The release comes more than a year after her 11th album, which topped global charts and is expected to drive revenue for Republic Records, one of Universal's key labels. The world's largest music company is counting on blockbuster artists to offset recent headwinds, after second-quarter earnings fell short of estimates as merchandise revenue came under pressure.

Swift ended a long dispute against former record label Big Machine Label Group in May by re-acquiring the rights to her first six albums. Her campaign to regain control of music rights took years, during which re-recordings dubbed Taylor's Version drew massive support from fans and reinforced her leverage within the industry.

Republic Records is also a distributor of Netflix's hit animation film Kpop Demon Hunters, which was produced by Sony Pictures Animation. The title song Golden topped Billboard Hot 100 this week

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