Musicians have long since figured out how to turn their album announcements into online frenzies. But it takes a different kind of superstar, and fanbase, to turn a release into a mystery treasure hunt.
After a period of relative quiet, Taylor Swift appeared out of thin air to announce a new album, called “The Life of a Showgirl.” Or she announced an announcement — she’ll talk about the album first on her boyfriend’s podcast later this week. This announcement arrived at the same time as a GQ profile of that boyfriend, Travis Kelce, making fans feel for the first time that they were really hearing from and seeing the couple, as a couple, directly.
As a Swiftie, I can attest that we fans remain in a constant state of hunger for any dregs of connection, forced to search out breadcrumbs in her songs, music videos or even social posts that leave us spiraling (or “clowning” as we like to say). The singer rarely does interviews and when she does they’re in a much more formal setting — certainly more formal than on an often-meandering podcast with her boyfriend and his brother.
This time? “We’re about to do a f*cking podcast!” Swift exclaimed in a preview for the episode of “New Heights.”
That podcast is expected to be released on August 13 at 7 p.m. ET.
How excited are fans? One of my Swiftie friends even switched flights to ensure they’re not 30,000 feet in the air when the podcast is released.
The breadcrumbs of ‘TS12’
Unable to wait a day to hear the podcast, eager fans have spent the hours since the announcement reviewing the hints that Swift appeared to sprinkle throughout her work in the past few years, pointing toward the album that fans took to calling “TS12.”
For at least a year, theorizing has revolved around the number 12 and the color orange. As always, the Swifties were right. On Monday morning a carousel of 12 photos was posted to Taylor Nation’s Instagram with the caption, “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’” All those photos feature Swift in orange outfits that she wore while on The Eras Tour.
There was also the famous orange door of the Eras tour, featured on a screen on stage as she performed the last song of the show “Karma” which left many fans frantic and theorizing.
That same orange color was featured in the background of this weeks’ teaser for the “New Heights” episode. Prior to the announcement that Swift would be the special guest, many fans had already put the pieces together based on the background color, the silhouette and the fact it was posted along with Taylor Nation’s Instagram post.
And before all of that, there was the TikTok video that Swift shared in October before her show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. Swift is seen walking near section A12 — for fans, that signaled to August 12, the announcement day.
If you think that sounds conspiracy-minded, a countdown appeared on Swift’s website to 12:12am Eastern on August 12, which is when the name of her 12th studio album was released.
So if you have a Swiftie in your life, this is why they sound a little loopy, raving about random numbers and colors, as they put on every orange piece of clothing they could find. But tell us while you wait — what else have you noticed?
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