Taylor Swift announces new album on Travis Kelce’s podcast. Everything we know about TS12 so far
Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album at 12:12 on 12 August, titled The Life of a Showgirl, officially adding a new era to her extensive back catalogue.
The singer had a mysterious countdown on her website and then teased the news on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights. A clip was posted to Instagram showing Swift sitting next to Kelce as she opens a mint green case with her initials ‘TS’ on the front in orange lettering. With a Swift smirk, she tells podcast co-host Jason Kelce, “I wanted to show you something.”
She takes an album out of the briefcase with the cover blurred out and says: “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”
View this post on Instagram
Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’
While the cover of Swift’s new album is blurred on the social media clip, it is seemingly set to be revealed during the full podcast episode, which is out on Wednesday 13 August at 7pm Eastern Time (midnight for those in the UK).
The podcast will hopefully also reveal the release date of the album. So far, the Swift website has three items available for pre-order: a vinyl, a cassette, and a CD and poster combo. The product descriptions confirm that the items will be shipped before 13 October 2025, but note that this is not the official release date.
TS12 rumours started hours before the New Heights announcement. There was a countdown on Swift’s website featuring the same sparkly orange background and an Instagram post from Taylor Nation with the caption “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’” and 12 pictures from the Eras Tour of Swift in orange outfits.
There was also a post on the podcast’s Instagram announcing a special guest for this week’s show. But fans had an idea of what was coming. One commenter wrote: “If not Taylor, why Taylor shaped???” With another saying how we “know this silhouette All Too Well.”
View this post on Instagram
Taylor Swift fans in a frenzy after 12th studio album announcement
As expected, Swifties everywhere are losing it over the TS12 announcement. The last time fans were surprised like this, Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department live on stage while accepting the award for best pop vocal album at the Grammy Awards.
The frenzy on social media is well and truly winding. One user on X said: “Almost forgot the entire point of being alive is getting to experience a new Taylor Swift album.”
almost forgot the entire point of being alive is getting to experience a new taylor swift album pic.twitter.com/yWABMGesna
— maya 🪩 (@allmychampagne) August 12, 2025
Another user said: “Haven’t felt this alive since The Eras Tour.”
haven’t felt this alive since the eras tour
— liz ♛ (@solongliz) August 12, 2025
All the Easter eggs for TS12 ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ so far
Going back to the Taylor Nation Instagram post, included in the carousel round-up, is a picture of Swift and Sabrina Carpenter. And fans are thinking this means there is going to be a collab of some sort on The Life of a Showgirl.
A Swift fan account on X wrote: “Sabrina Carpenter is rumoured to be featured on TS12, as she recently posted ‘Go put on some clothes!’—the same phrase Taylor used when she called Sabrina to perform with her at The Eras Tour last year.”
View this post on Instagram
New Spotify billboards have also popped up in New York City and Nashville, leading to a new playlist by Swift. All the songs on the playlist are Max Martin and/or Shellback-produced songs, with the last time they worked together being on reputation in 2017. Fans are also linking the colour orange to be a subtle callback to reputation, too. “The full circleness of it all,” one user says.
the color orange being a subtle callback to rep too…the full circleness of it all 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ybPs4w94w0
— irene anna❤️🔥 (@enerianna) August 11, 2025
And any Swifties watching The Summer I Turned Pretty will know about creator Jenny Han’s use of Swift songs throughout the series to show how character Belly is feeling. User @lackingallgrace has put two and two together after noticing that no Swift songs have been featured yet in season three of TSITP.
She says that maybe Han “knows something,” hinting at the potential connection to the TS12 announcement. Adding that The Life of a Showgirl will likely be a love album, the TikTok video goes on to guess that the last episode of TSITP might feature a new Swift song.
@lackingallgrace my credentials are that I manifested cherry in the last episode 😇🤡 #ts12 #tsitp #thesummeriturnedpretty #taylorswiftannouncement #taylorswift
♬ original sound - grace! ✰
Swift is a self-confirmed ‘mastermind,’ so there will definitely be more Easter eggs to come. Here’s to a new Era.
