Hints for the record date back to 18th October 2024, when Swift posted a TikTok en route to her Miami Hard Rock Stadium show, standing by section A12. At that concert, she performed in an orange bodysuit before switching to a green-and-orange outfit during the '1989' segment, with Hard Rock Stadium later captioning a repost, “We were an easter egg all along!” Variations on orange and green reappeared over the past year — from the Grammys stage design to the 12th European Eras tour date, where Swift wore all-orange during the '1989' section — while visual motifs in '
Lover' house graphics also showed an orange door.
Taylor also recounted the moment she regained ownership of her master recordings. She announced in May that she had bought back the masters to her first six albums, giving her control over her entire catalogue for the first time. The move followed a protracted dispute that began in 2019 when Scooter Braun and his firm Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group, which held the rights to her early work. At the time, Swift, who had moved to Republic Records, described the development as “the worst-case scenario” and accused Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying”, outlining plans to re-record her first six albums.
Ownership changed hands again in 2020 when Braun sold the rights to Shamrock Holdings in a $300million deal. Swift said then the master recordings “were not for sale to me”. Earlier this year, she said she bought back her masters, along with her videos, concert films, album art and photography, and unreleased songs, from Shamrock.
“Since I was a teenager, I’ve been saving up money to buy my music back,” she said on the podcast. “I thought about not owning my music every day … it was like an intrusive thought.”
Swift explained that her mother, Andrea, and brother, Austin, negotiated the deal with Shamrock, with Andrea delivering the news by phone. “She was like, ‘You got your music,’ and I literally hit the floor,” Swift recalled. “Bawling my eyes out, just weeping.”
She added that when she went to share the news, Kelce was in another room playing video games. “I’m like, ‘Just go tell Travis in a normal way,’” she said, remembering that she immediately started crying as she tried to explain. Kelce put down the console and hugged her, at which point she was “absolutely heaving.”
“For me, this is not, ‘Oh, I want to own this asset because of its returns, because of the dividends that I will receive over the years,’” Swift said. “I want it because these [are] my handwritten diary entries from my whole life. These are the songs I wrote about every phase of my life. This is my photography, my music videos, most of which I funded. My artwork, everything that I’ve ever done, is in this catalog.”
Braun has addressed the situation in the years since. In 2022, he said, “I learned an important lesson from that. I think a lot of things got lost in translation. I think that when you have a conflict with someone, it’s very hard to resolve it if you’re not willing to have a conversation.” In July, he said Swift’s supporters had “made the horrible miscalculation that I care” about their anger over his purchase and resale of the masters.
Pre-orders for 'The Life of a Showgirl' — including several variant editions — are available via Swift’s website. The album follows 'The Tortured Poets Department', released in April 2024, arrives after the conclusion of 'The Eras Tour', and is her first release since regaining full control of the master recordings for her first six studio albums.
The tracklisting for 'The Life of a Showgirl' reads:
'The Fate of Ophelia'
'Elizabeth Taylor'
'Opolite'
'Father Figure'
'Oldest Daughter'
'Ruin the Friendship'
'
Actually Romantic'
'Wi$h Li$t'
'Wood'
'Cancelled!'
'Honey'
'The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)'
