UPDATE 8/18/25 at 2:15 p.m. ET: The countdown revealed that The Life of a Showgirl: The Shiny Bug collection will be available until Wednesday, August 20. “The Life of a Showgirl: The Shiny Bug Vinyl Collection is available now on my site for 48 hours❤️🔥,” she captioned the Instagram post, which also featured a glimpse of the alternative album cover.
Original story below:
Days after announcing The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift is keeping fans fed with a new countdown.
The official website for Swift, 35, is promising news at 2:00 p.m. ET on Monday, August 18. While there are no other details, fans are searching for clues in the purple sparkly background and green font.
“Oh here we go again,” one fan wrote in the comments section of the official Taylor Nation X post on Monday, while another one added, “ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME AN HEART ATTACK LOL.” A third speculated, “Purple variant of the first drop.”
Swift broke the internet when she revealed on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast that her highly-anticipated 12th album would be released on October 3. In the “New Heights” episode, Swift brought out a brief case with her initials “TS” adorned on the front in orange font.
“So I wanted to show you something,” Swift told Travis, 35, and brother Jason Kelce on the Wednesday, August 13, episode, before taking out the record from the mystery box. “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”
Swift explained that she collaborated with her “mentor” Max Martin and Shellback for the album, which was created during her record-breaking Eras Tour. (The duo previously worked with Swift for songs on her Red, 1989 and Reputation albums.)
“I would do three shows in a row, [and then] I’d have three days off,” Swift said. “I’d fly to Sweden, [then] go back to the tour. I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating.”
She continued, “It meant the world to me to have this creative experience, where we knew that we had to bring the best ideas we’ve ever said. I also know the pressure I’m putting on this record by saying that, but I don’t care ’cause I love it that much, and I’m so proud of it. It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in my life. So, that effervescence has come through on this record.”
Swift explained that the lyricism in her Folklore and Evermore albums will still be present. Travis, for his part, called the album “all bangers.”
The Life of a Showgirl is available to preorder on Swift’s website. The album will be released on October 3, 2025.
