It's Taylor Swift album release night. What you need to know about The Life of a Showgirl
Are you ready for it?
Taylor Swift is set to dominate music streams and movie screens alike on Friday with the release of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, and a theatrical release party event premiering across the country.
Showgirl is her hotly anticipated follow-up to last year's The Tortured Poets Department and her absurdly successful Eras concert tour.
The album drops at midnight, and like everything the 35-year-old singer-songwriter-magnate does, it's an event orchestrated by Swift herself.
Here's what you can expect for The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift promised this album would be full of "infectious" melodies and "vivid but crisp" lyrics.
"There's [going to be] a joy in The Life of a Showgirl that we have wanted to see from Taylor for years," said Liz Duff, the Toronto-based host of the pop culture podcast Late Night Scrolling Canada, alluding to Swift's hints about the tone of her new songs.
Duff explained that past Swift albums have delved into more serious subject matter, like breakups, self-worth and the pressure of being in the music business and advocating for herself.
With The Life of a Showgirl, Duff says it feels like Swift is "stepping into a lane that is about owning accomplishments."
The track list includes 12 songs:
- The Fate of Ophelia
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Opalite
- Father Figure (a tribute to late pop legend George Michael and his 1988 hit of the same name)
- Eldest Daughter
- Ruin the Friendship
- Actually Romantic
- Wi$h Li$t
- Wood
- CANCELLED!
- Honey
- The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)
Swift also reunited with Swedish super-producers Max Martin and Shellback, in what Duff calls the "most exciting pop collaboration of 2025."
The duo has worked on some of her biggest pop hits, including Blank Space and We Are Never Getting Back Together.
Duff says what is "putting fire under this album launch" is that the rollout has been different from anything Swift has done before.
Swift broke the news of the album on Aug. 12, revealing it on the New Heights podcast co-hosted by the love of her life, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his fellow NFLer and brother Jason.
Two weeks later, she broke the internet with her announcement that she and Kelce were engaged.
Now that the big day is here — the release, not the wedding — fans can expect to listen to the album at the stroke of midnight on streaming platforms Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music.
Then there's The Official Release Party of a Showgirl screening in theatres across Canada and the U.S. beginning at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.
Swift's 89-minute "soirée" — not a movie, documentary or concert film — is only in theatres from Friday through Sunday. It includes a boatload of behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the album and the exclusive premiere of the music video for The Fate of Ophelia.
If you can't celebrate Showgirl on the big screen or at one of the many local Swiftie celebrations this weekend, you will have your chance to see her on TV over the next week.
Her first appearance will be Friday night, on the BBC's The Graham Norton Show at 5:40 ET.
Swift will "TAY/kover" NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers on Oct. 8 as the sole guest on the couch for the entire hour. She'll also have an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 6 — where she's not actually the scheduled musical guest.
It's a press tour that we haven't seen from Swift in years, says Duff.
"She is everywhere doing everything, and it's so exciting to follow along," Duff said, adding she will be one of the many people live on TikTok tonight to stream her first listen to The Life of a Showgirl along with fellow fans around the world.
Swift is no slouch when it comes to breaking records and making bank — and that's why her album releases are significant.
Fans, critics and even economists will likely be watching to see if The Life of a Showgirl is as successful as her past forays.
If album and movie ticket pre-sales are any indication, it's going to be a blockbuster.
On Spotify alone, Showgirl has already broken Swift's own record for pre-saves and became the first album to surpass five million saves on the platform before its release.
Then there's the movie theatre release party.
The entertainment industry news outlet Variety reported the big screen event is already on track to rake in $35 million to $40 million US based on advance ticket sales. CBC News contacted Cineplex about ticket sales for the Canadian release event, but the company would not disclose that information.
This all follows the colossal success of past albums and the phenomenon that was the Eras tour.
As of this week, Taylor Swift is the first and only female artist to surpass 100 million album sales (as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America).
This feat has contributed to her estimated $1.6-billion US net worth.
The New York Times called The Life of a Showgirl her "Eras tour victory lap" — and for good reason
The 51-city world tour, which kicked off in March 2023 in Glendale, Ariz., and finished off in Vancouver on Dec. 6, is officially the most commercially successful tour of all time, generating more than $2 billion US in revenue.
A 3½-hour concert film, released in October 2023, grossed more than $261 million US worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, selling $93 million in tickets on its opening weekend.
It also became the most-watched movie on streaming platform Disney+, with 4.6 million views in the first five days.
There is no word yet if Swift plans to tour with the new album.
For now, what matters most to fans like Duff is counting down the minutes until The Life of a Showgirl debuts.
"Tonight's going to be one for the memory books," she said.
cbc.ca
