US popstar Taylor Swift announced her 12th album, titled The Life of a Showgirl, for “pre pre-order” just after midnight Tuesday in posts on her website.
Her official website displayed blurred images of a record, CD and cassette tape overlaid with a glittery orange lock, explaining the album artwork would be “revealed at a later date”.
A disclaimer also notes that the release date has not yet been announced, and the album will ship before Oct 13.
“So I wanted to show you something,“ the singer says in a video clip posted to her Instagram as she holds up a vinyl album, its cover completely blurred.
“This is my brand new album The Life of a Show Girl,“ she says in the clip from the New Heights podcast, hosted by her boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce, and his brother, ex-NFL player Jason Kelce.
The Life of a Showgirl is the follow-up to Swift’s last studio album The Tortured Poets Department, which was released last year and sold 1.4 million copies the first day.
Since 2021, she has been making good on her vow to re-record her first six studio records in a bid to own the rights to them. This move has actively devalued her album masters as Swifties (Swift’s fandom name) only streamed and bought Taylor Versions – thus increasing value of the re-recorded albums.
Then in May this year, the 14-time Grammy Award winner, who was locked in a feud with record executives since 2019 over the ownership of her music, shared she had bought back the rights to her entire back catalog for an undisclosed sum.
The 35-year-old songwriting sensation has also shattered records with her nearly two-year-long Eras tour that ended last year.
It raked in $2 billion over 149 shows around the world, making it the most lucrative tour in music history.
Tickets for the tour sold for sometimes exorbitant prices, and it drew millions of fans. – AFP