It’s been a week of enchanting surprises for Taylor Swift fans, including Ed Kelce.
After the Grammy winner announced her 12th album The Life of a Showgirl—in a teaser for her upcoming appearance on Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast—Ed reacted to the milestone, admitting he was mostly out of the loop.
“I knew nothing about this announcement,” Travis and Jason’s dad told Australia’s Today Aug. 13. “I knew at some point the boys wanted to get her on the podcast, but I didn’t know when it was coming up.”
One detail Ed does know for sure? That the Grammy winner has been booked and busy since December.
“I know Taylor’s been working pretty hard since she stopped the tour,” he explained, referring to her 21-month-long Eras Tour. “She’s taken some breaks to watch some football games, but she’s been out in LA working on this album.
“My guess is that, although I haven’t heard anything,” he added of the album, “it’s going to be like everything else she does, it’s going to be beautiful.”
As for how Taylor announced her long-awaited album over a year after she released The Tortured Poets Department? Well, she made the big announcement by pulling a blurred-out vinyl from a mint green briefcase during a preview clip of the Aug.13 episode of New Heights.
“So, I wanted to show you something,” she said in the teaser shared to Instagram at 12:12 a.m. ET on Aug. 12. “This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.”
Though she didn’t mention when fans could expect new music, her site says the products—available for pre-order—will ship before Oct. 13, adding a disclaimer: “THIS IS NOT A RELEASE DATE, OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED.”
And while Swifties were overjoyed by her guest appearance on the podcast, not all of Travis and Jason’ usual listeners felt the same way.
However, in a following New Heights teaser shared to social media, Taylor made it clear that she doesn’t care if her presence evokes magic, madness, heaven or sin.
“Thanks for having me on my favorite podcast,” she said in the Aug. 13 clip. “As we all know, you know, you guys have a lot of male sports fans that listen to your podcast.”
“And I think we all know,” she added, “if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me.”
To see all the Easter eggs Taylor has dropped about her new era, keep reading…
Taylor Swift Put Up a Countdown Clock
Taylor Swift wouldn’t have had a countdown clock on her website ticking down to “12 AT 12:12 AM ET,” set against a glittery orange background, for no reason.
Taylor’s Version of an Elaborate Album Tease
On Aug. 12, 2024, Taylor was photographed in a matching plaid miniskirt and cropped jacket—but there was nothing clueless about it.
As pointed out by super-sleuth Kristen (@perfectlyfine89), not only could it be construed that Taylor is making very purposeful eye contact with the camera, but also the orange and green print of her outfit matches the color palette of the cover of The Life of a Showgirl, which Taylor revealed exactly one year later on Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce‘s New Heights podcast.
In an episode teaser posted at 12:12 a.m. ET on Aug. 12, 2025, Taylor picked up a mint-green briefcase emblazoned with “T.S.” in orange and pulled out the cover of what will be her 12th studio album. Blurred for now, but obviously green and orange.
Of course, Taylor is pretty mad about plaid, and she also wore a tartan print to the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards—where she said the fateful words “my boyfriend Travis.”
Did Taylor Swift Subtly Reveal the Release Date of The Life of a Showgirl?
The Life of a Showgirl is already available to preorder from Taylor’s website, which notes that whatever hard copy you desire—vinyl, CD or cassette—will ship before Oct. 13.
Fair enough, Taylor’s connection to the number 13 well-established. But, as Kristen also noticed, Oct. 3 (a.k.a. 10-3) not only adds up to 13, it’s both National Plaid Day and National Boyfriend’s Day. See above.
Orange You Glad the Fans Are Always On It?
Hindsight is always 20/13 in the Taylorverse. On the morning of Aug. 11, the official Taylor Nation social accounts posted a carousel of 12(!) pics showing Taylor onstage in a variety of orange ensembles, captioned, “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…”
Travis Kelce’s Key Assist
Travis and Jason made a half-hearted trick play when they teased a “VERY special guest” on a “special episode” of New Heights—dropping Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. ET, mind you—including what to even amateur Swifties was obviously a silhouette of Taylor in the post.
New York Hearts Taylor Swift Right Back
The top of the Empire State Building was preemptively lit up orange in honor of the occasion. The official X account for the New York City landmark posted a photo of the color-coordinated building on Aug. 11 at 1:45 p.m. ET, captioned, “See you next era.”
Low-Hanging Orange Fruit
A TikTok from Oct. 18, 2024, her first Miami show of the Eras Tour, showed Taylor standing in front of section A12 (Aug. 12, album 12?!) at Hard Rock Stadium.
Then she proceeded to wear a glittery orange bodysuit when she declared, “Miami, we are so back!” and then a green skirt and orange bustier during the 1989 portion of the concert, not to mention a very show girl-esque white feathery costume as she belted “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”?
Her way of saying that her next album was finished and this is what it looks like?
To be fair, orange and green are also the official Miami Hurricanes colors—but hey, two things can be true at the same time.
Spotted on Spotify
There’s already a Spotify playlist prophetically titled “And, baby, that’s show business for you,” featuring the now emblematic orange T.S. initials against a green background.
There are, ahem, 22 existing Taylor songs, all produced by Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback (a.k.a. Karl Johan Schuster), bolstering fans’ speculation that she wrote the entirety of The Life of a Showgirl while on tour in Europe and these two helped her pull it off.
Did You Catch These Possible Variants?
Fans noticed that the background of the New Heights podcast featured multiple boxes in orange, red, white and purple bearing her initials “T.S.”—hinting at possible variations of the album or more music to come.
Let’s Applaud These Lady Gaga Collab Rumors
Taylor herself liked a fan theory on X (formerly Twitter) that pointed out how Lady Gaga released her song “Applause” 12 years to the day on Aug. 12 when Taylor announced Life of a Showgirl. The significance? Taylor had used “Applause” as her lead-in song before opening the Eras Tour each night, along with Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.”
Taylor liked a fan’s post that hinted at a possible Gaga collab: “Is this just the most insane coincidence or like is she clinically insane.”
Get a Taste of This Sabrina Carpenter Theory
Swifties began speculating Sabrina Carpenter may be involved on Life of a Showgirl after she appeared in the 12th slide of a photo gallery from Taylor Nation teasing the next era. Not to mention, Sabrina unveiled a message on her website with the date Aug. 12.
