No one does Easter eggs quite like Taylor Swift.
The singer’s back catalogue is peppered with subtle(ish) nods to her lovers and friends – past and present – much to the delight of sleuthing fans who spend hours deciphering the meanings behind lyrics.
So it will no doubt be a relief to learn that Swift isn’t planning to break from tradition when it comes to her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
After all, how could she?
In the months since releasing her last record, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) – in April 2024 – her romance with Travis Kelce has been heating up; she has weathered claims that their union is nothing more than a PR stunt; she was accused of dropping music at the same time as her contemporaries to maintain her place at the top of the charts; she has been targeted by Donald Trump for endorsing Kamala Harris; and she suffered a cataclysmic fall out with her now-former best friend Blake Lively.
‘Taylor is in such a good space right now but there was an awareness that she couldn’t ignore all the drama,’ an insider tells the Daily Mail. ‘There are Easter eggs [in the new album] about how she overcame the drama with Blake. And she does in her own way address people who believed her relationship with Travis was a PR stunt.’
Amid her record-breaking Eras Tour last year, the Daily Mail previously reported that Swift was already writing new material barely two months after the release of TTPD.
Now, our insider tell us she had been working on as many as ‘three songs a days.’
Fast forward to Monday, and Swift shocked fans by announcing The Life of a Showgirl in a teaser for Kelce’s In the Heights podcast, which drops on Wednesday.
It came after her website featured a countdown over a glittering orange background and the text: ‘Expires August 12 at 12:12AM ET.’
‘So I wanted to show you something,’ she says in the podcast, before pulling out a case with ‘TS’ emblazoned on the side. ‘This is my brand-new album, The Life of a Showgirl.’
She held up the vinyl (which had been censored to obscure the cover art) as a proud Kelce shouted ‘TS 12’ (it will be her 12th album).
‘Some of the songs sound dramatic in terms of the instrumental, but the lyrical content on a few is romantic,’ our source reveals of the new music.
‘It is absolutely inspired by Travis. Being loved by him has really helped her overcome some dark chapters in her life.
‘He is proof that there are kind men out there with good hearts and fans will hear how happy she is in the songs.’
But the album, which does not yet have a release date, will also address the drama and the slew of accusations Swift has come up against in the last year.
When TTPD was released, it maintained the No.1 position on the Billboard 200 chart for 17 weeks. A double album edition titled The Anthology, with 15 bonus tracks, was surprise-released two hours after the first drop.
Multiple other ‘special’ editions with bonus tracks followed, prompting some critics to suggest Swift’s chart success was the result of periodic releases to keep sales and streaming figures high.
Dropping two of those ‘special’ editions the same day that Billie Eilish released her album Hit Me Hard and Soft was seen by some as a direct attack on the competition.
Things were also exacerbated when Swift dropped special UK-only editions just as it was announced that Charli XCX was expected to land a No.1 debut for her album Brat,
Some fans made a connection to The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, who Swift briefly dated before Kelce. Charli XCX is married to Healy’s bandmate, drummer George Daniel.
Months later, Swift found herself dragged into Blake Lively’s legal battle with actor Justin Baldoni, after he named the singer in legal documents and even temporarily subpoenaed her.
The Daily Mail has reported how Swift then cut Lively off, with the lawsuit drama ultimately severing their decade-long friendship.
Insiders say Swift felt ‘used’ and ‘exploited’ by Lively, who allegedly tried to leverage Swift’s more-famous name to bolster her case.
Around the same time, Swift was pulled into the race for the White House.
In September, she endorsed Kamala Harris, prompting Trump to hit back saying he ‘was not a Taylor fan’ and declaring ‘she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.’
Our insider says the new album ‘isn’t a political record’ but that Swift was ‘motivated by the excitement around Kamala last year which is when she recorded some of the songs.’
‘Taylor has a point to prove and is ready to silence people who said her career has “broke” because she went “woke”,’ they said.
When it comes to Lively, the insider added: ‘She did write about Blake last year but it’s no longer the focus of the album because she wanted it to be positive and feel-good.’
