Taylor Swift announced Tuesday she\u2019s dropping a new album: \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surprise announcement of the Grammy-winner\u2019s 12th original studio album came in dramatic fashion, as a countdown clock on her website ticked down to 12:12 a.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n
In a video posted on Instagram, giving a sneak peek<\/a> of Swift\u2019s upcoming appearance on Travis Kelce\u2019s \u201cNew Heights\u201d podcast, co-hosted with his brother Jason Kelce, Swift pulled out a mint green briefcase with her initials \u201cTS\u201d written in orange, saying: \u201cThis is my brand new album.\u201d<\/p>\n She did not say when the album would be released or any other information about it. Fans will have to wait a little longer to see and hear more when her much-awaited podcast appearance on \u201cNew Heights\u201d releases Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n No stranger to including \u201cEaster eggs\u201d or hidden clues in the lead up to her releases, Swift set off a frenzy of speculation Monday after a carousel of 12 photos was posted on her Instagram.<\/a> \u201cThinking about when she said \u2018See you next era\u2026,\u2019\u201d the caption said.<\/p>\n The surprise announcement coincided with a reveal Monday night that Swift would join Travis Kelce, her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs football player, and his brother for an episode of \u201cNew Heights\u201d after teasing<\/a> that a \u201cVERY special\u201d guest was joining Wednesday\u2019s episode.<\/p>\n This is Swift\u2019s first new album since concluding her record-breaking Eras Tour in December. It\u2019s available for pre-order on Swift\u2019s official website<\/a> in physical vinyl, cassette and CD format.<\/p>\n The most recent studio album Swift released was \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department,\u201d a 31-song double album that she announced in 2024 amid the Eras Tour and revamped her set list midway through to add songs from.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d will be her first release since becoming the proud owner of her entire catalog<\/a> of music, roughly six years after she protested<\/a> the sale of her master recordings by her former record label.<\/p>\n She purchased her music \u201coutright with no strings attached, no partnership, full autonomy,\u201d from Shamrock Capital, a private equity company that had acquired her master recordings, she announced in May.<\/p>\n \u201cTo say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,\u201d Swift wrote, adding that she was able to \u201cbuy back\u201d her music from Shamrock following the success of the Eras Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sale of the master recordings of Swift\u2019s first six albums to producer Scooter Braun\u2019s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 was contentious<\/a>, with Swift alleging she was blindsided and not given the opportunity to buy her catalog at the time. Braun maintained her team was aware of a pending deal in advance.<\/p>\n It prompted the singer to take back ownership of her music in her own way by pledging to re-record the albums. She went on to release what she called \u201cTaylor\u2019s Version\u201d albums for \u201cRed,\u201d \u201cSpeak Now,\u201d \u201cFearless\u201d and \u201c1989.\u201d With each \u201cTaylor\u2019s Version\u201d album, she\u2019s included a number of previously unreleased songs she coined \u201cfrom the vault.\u201d<\/p>\n This story has been updated with additional information. <\/p>\n CNN\u2019s Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this report.<\/p>\n For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n