Taylor Swift’s mysterious countdown timer has come to an end, with the pop icon sharing the announcement of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
Speculation of a new era from Swift began on Monday (Aug. 11) when rumors of her 12th studio album were stoked thanks to the appearance of a countdown clock on her official website.
The countdown officially ended at 12:12 a.m. ET, on Aug. 12, with Swift’s store going live with pre-orders for a new project titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Currently, specifics of the forthcoming album are sparse. The webstore offers pre-orders for vinyl, CD and cassette editions, while noting that its official release date is still to be announced, with physical items set to ship ahead of Oct. 13.
Additionally, the artwork utilized in the online mock-ups (a mint green background with a glittery, burnt-orange padlock) is described as being “a blurred digital rendering for pre-order purposes only,” with full artwork and specifications to be announced later.
On Monday morning, New Heights — the podcast hosted by Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother, fellow NFL star Jason Kelce — teased “a VERY special guest” for their new episode on Wednesday, with a social teaser suggesting that Swift would be making an appearance on the show.
Swift’s upcoming presence was later confirmed, with her cameo on New Heights set to premiere at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday (Aug. 13).
In a clip shared to both Swift and New Heights‘ Instagram accounts alongside the announcement, the pop icon gives fans confirmation that the new project is indeed the #TS12 news they’ve been waiting for.
“So I wanted to show you something,” Swift says, before presenting a blurred-out copy of her new record. “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.” The album’s full artwork is expected to arrive during the New Heights podcast on Wednesday.
Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released last year and scored the biggest Billboard 200 debut of her career, along with another album of the year Grammy nod.
The superstar has been relatively quiet since her record-breaking Eras tour wrapped up last December, although the May news that she successfully bought back the master recordings of her first six studio albums did prompt a streaming resurgence for those projects, as well as her entire catalog.
