How long can Swifties like me survive without their regular dose of Taylor Swift?
This is a question that will possibly never find an answer, as it appears there hasn’t been a single week without Swift-related news in the last decade or so.
The superstar took everybody by surprise three days ago when she announced the upcoming release of her 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl.’
The next day, she appeared on “New Heights”, the podcast hosted by her partner Travis Kelce and his brother Jason, to reveal the details of the album.
Upon first hearing the news on Tuesday, I admit my initial reaction was one of skepticism and perplexity.
I had barely had any time to recover from Swift’s last album, the gargantuan ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, and from the equally massive Eras Tour, and it was already time to dive into a new era? What if I wasn’t ready for it?
There hasn’t been a single year without a Taylor Swift album since the 2019 release of ‘Lover.’ Between original outputs and re-recordings, it seemed like my favourite popstar was engulfed in an ever-expanding spiral of musical delivery.
It was sometimes for the better. The 2021 release of ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version)’ – as part of the ‘Red’ album’s re-recording – thrilled fans beyond measure. I genuinely surprised myself when I sang the whole thing without missing a single beat during the Eras Tour’s first night in Paris.
On the other hand, there was ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, with its 140 minutes running-length and 35 songs, half of which have long disappeared from my brain. The album was akin to “a data dump of everything I thought or felt in two or three years”, the singer said on “New Heights”.
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Taylor Swift ended her record-breaking Eras Tour in December 2024 after 149 shows over nearly two years. If there was any moment for her to take a break, this seemed like the ideal time.
I naively thought she would perhaps focus on her feature film directorial debut, which was first announced in 2022.
I also hoped a pause would steer her away from some unpleasant habits. Taylor Swift has reached a point in her craftsmanship and stardom that has made some of her recent art feel a bit too comfortable…
Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour on 21 June 2024 in London – AP Photo
On ‘Midnights’ and ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, both largely produced with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, her sound sometimes lacked brilliance. And while she remains a lyrical prodigy, her tendency to rely on underdog and revenge narratives to constantly rewrite her own mythology felt self-indulgent.
Above all, after the Eras Tour, I wanted to be able to miss her and her music.
But this is obviously not who she is.
Taylor Swift is a hard worker if there ever there was one. She writes and produces her own songs, directs her music videos, and designs every aspect of her visual identity. She is a pop mastermind who drops Easter Eggs years in advance for her fans to dissect. Most importantly, she is a free artist – even more so since she recently acquired her long sought-after master recordings.
Basically, if she wanted to put out an album every six months, she would, and we would have to get on with it.
The most recent details revealed about ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ have reassured me somewhat.
The new album will contain only 12 songs without any bonus tracks, for once. Swift described it as “focused” and “just right”, which I truly hope it will be.
“I tend to love to write lots and lots of music, so it’s a temptation to release lots of music,” she said on “New Heights”. “I wanted to do an album that was so focused on quality and on the theme and everything fitting together like a perfect puzzle.”
Swift made the record during the Eras Tour and it is meant to capture the effervescence of her life at that moment. I am genuinely curious to discover how she tackled the tribulations of her stardom – a theme she masterly approached on the song ‘Clara Bow’, from ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.
Swift also said that ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ would incorporate ‘folklore’-style storytelling. With its vivid character-led verses, her surprise 2020 album – and its sister LP ‘evermore’ – remains a lyrical gem. If this spirit is infused in her next release, that can only be a good omen.
Like most Swifties, I will follow Taylor Swift wherever she goes musically. I am ready to hop over the stage and take a look behind the curtain. I just hope she takes us somewhere fun and unexpected, a place I couldn’t have imagined. Not even in my wildest dreams.
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is out on 3 October 2025.
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