An unhinged guide to all the details you missed about Taylor Swift's new album.

Taylor Alison Swift is a diabolical woman with a penchant for the kind of schemes and tomfoolery that are typically reserved for a cartoon villain twirling their moustache. She is also my favourite artist of all time.

She once said that dropping "cryptic clues" about her music was one of her most treasured pastimes — that she loves messing with her fans in new and unique ways that could drive them to the brink of madness. And apparently she's often pondered how to take it to the next level.

"How far is too far in advance? Can I hint at something three years in advance? Can I even plan things out that far? I think I'm gonna try to do it," she said in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, back in 2021.

Fast-forward to 2025 and the singer has just confirmed her 12th studio album, The Life Of A Showgirl.

The announcement came in a flurry of orange glitter, with a countdown on her official website, a teaser on her official fan-page, Taylor Nation, and a very official appearance on her very official boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast, New Heights.

At 12:12am on the 12th of August, with the entire fandom watching live as her website transformed, she shared the exciting news: a new era had arrived. Swifties are so back!!

Taylor Swift teases her new album on the New Heights podcast. Article continues below.

We never left, of course. We've spent the past 248 days since The Eras Tour routinely engaging in clown-behaviour to stitch together different theories and possible future projects. What did all that orange stuff mean? And why on earth did she say that weird stuff when Sabrina Carpenter made a surprise appearance? And what was with her cryptic final TikTok post? Why did she wear 12 jewels on her earrings at the Grammys?

The thing about Taylor's Easter Eggs is that they are, in fact, always obvious. We knew these weird clues would lead us to TS12 when she was ready — it was just a matter of time before it all lined up.

But I have to admit, finally getting to relive some Taylormania and seeing my much smarter Swifties pull together clues has been nothing short of amazing. As one person put it on Twitter, "It's awesome when every few months I get to watch people who could be decoding nuclear codes do this instead."

So, I've gathered 12 of the most incredible clues fans have uncovered about The Life Of A Showgirl — ones that led us to this moment, and some that hint at what's to come when Taylor drops her next album.

I'll be honest with you, this took me a hot minute and this piece is LONG. So I've gone ahead and cut some of the more basic ones. I've conveniently supplied subheadings for your ease, scrolling capabilities, detective work, and joy. Happy egg-hunting!

All the Easter Eggs for Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl'.

The orange theme.

For the rest of these Easter eggs to make sense, we must first discuss the colour of the moment: orange.

If you know one thing about The Eras Tour and Taylor's 11 studio albums prior to this, each 'era' has an associated colour. The album Lover is pink, Speak Now is purple — you get the gist! But with 11 albums under her belt, our girl is running out of rainbow. And yet.

On The Eras Tour, Taylor randomly incorporated a number of orange two-piece sets, bodysuits, dresses and bedazzled boots into her wardrobe. Suspicious? Very! And so the 'orange = TS12' theory was born. You know what? It feels good to be correct for once. At least we did one thing right.

The copper theory.

Alongside orange sparkles, Taylor's new era features a 'mint green' colour as part of her refreshed branding that's been splashed across her social media profiles and website. It's also a colour combination she previously hinted at on stage at the Eras Tour in Cardiff in 2024 (more on that to come).

It's also the exact colour combo she wore one year before the announcement, on August 12, 2024. But I digress.

A number of Swifties have since pointed out that the colour combo is reminiscent of the process of copper oxidation. Yes! Really!! Are we experiencing a collective mass fever dream? Perhaps.

As one fan on Twitter pointed out with a copper oxidation chart — oh, the places Swiftism will take you — copper has a bronzed, orange colour when it is "unexposed" but once it's been around for about 20 odd years (like a certain blonde singer), it dons a mint green colour after being "exposed" to the elements. Do I think this was intentional? Who knows, but it sure is fun.

"Her mind!" I scream as they drag me away.

OH I AM SICK. I AM SICK! pic.twitter.com/umihu26DEj

— bella ☮︎ (@a90strend) August 12, 2025

Is 'The Life Of A Showgirl' a 'Midnights' sister album?

Now that we know about the orange and green theme — and the very sparkly, star-filled aesthetic flooding her website currently — fans have begun piecing together a timeline. Especially since Taylor all but told us in 2021 (one year before announcing Midnights) that she had raised the bar for shenanigans.

When Midnights was released in October 2022, she dropped a number of extravagant and intricately detailed music videos. Shortly after dropping Midnights, she announced she would be heading off on The Eras Tour — the theatrical world tour that was the culmination of nearly two decades in show business.

It's now believed by some Swifties that Taylor always planned to record and release an album titled The Life Of A Showgirl — with an orange and green theme — once the tour was over.

It's been suggested this album was intended to be a sister-album or a follow-up album to Midnights, which explored much of Taylor's personal life behind the scenes and saw her grapple with the breadth of her fame on songs like You're On Your Own Kid and Mastermind. Where Midnights was what came before the tour, The Life Of A Showgirl would be what came after. What she would write as she was living through the peak of her career to date.

With Showgirl Easter eggs seemingly dating back several years, this theory has some major legs. And it doesn't hurt that Taylor Swift herself has liked a number of tweets suggesting as much. Could she just be encouraging our mayhem for fun? Maybe! But there are some strangely symbolic clues in hindsight.

In particular, in the Bejeweled music video, Taylor enlisted the help of professional burlesque dancer and ultimate showgirl Dita Von Teese for some dazzling party scenes. In one shot, she sat on a clock wearing a full 'showgirl' ensemble.

In the Anti-Hero video, where Taylor portrayed multiple versions of herself, Midnights Taylor was seen as a sad, introspective version of herself wearing a Midnights-coded 70s-inspired outfit. Meanwhile, another Taylor — era unknown — was wearing an orange and green sparkly outfit (with a star sticker on her cheek) and was portrayed as the 'party girl' upbeat version of herself that, one might say, was ready to put on a show.

The orange and green sparkly outfit in the Anti Hero MV; and the Showgirl moment from Bejeweled. Images: Taylor Swift/YouTube.

Of course, if this theory is true, it's likely she envisioned that Showgirl would be TS11 — but she wasn't expecting to go through such a major transition in her personal life while on tour (including breaking up with Joe Alwyn, dating and then breaking up with Matty Healy, and then falling in love with Travis Kelce). And so TS11 was taken, but with so many clues to TS12 laced throughout The Eras Tour, it does seem this was always part of her plan — even if Tortured Poets was not.

Given Taylor herself said that The Tortured Poets Department was an album she just "had" to write on tour as a result of her personal life unfolding behind the scenes, this theory seems quite plausible.

With that in mind, there were PLENTY of other clues that sprung up over the course of the tour that we can now link to her genius final plan of releasing an album to signify the end of that chapter and the start of something new.

She can do it with a broken heart (& The Eras Tour Book).

At the tail end of Eras in 2024, Taylor released a book commemorating the major world tour. At the end of the book, on a watercolour orange and pink background, she wrote "see you next era".

In one sentence in the book, she referred to herself as a 'showgirl' when she wrote that her performance of I Can Do It With A Broken Heart would portray "a showgirl's dressing room routine".

In the behind-the-scenes clips shared in the music video for this same song, her dancers carried orange fans (but on stage, they held white ones). Coincidence? Of course not.

What's this purple motif about? More in a moment, gals! We've got eight clues to go.

Taylor Swift!!! In the music video for I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, her dancers carried orange fans instead of white. Image: Taylor Swift/YouTube.

The mysterious orange door.

Throughout The Eras Tour, there were many (MANY) graphics displayed on screens, ever-changing to suit the songs, eras, and new teasers Taylor wanted to share.

In particular, there was The Lover House (which she eventually burned down — much like the burning heart emoji she's now linked to Showgirl) and a number of different coloured doors.

At the end of The Eras Tour each night, a virtual orange door floated down onto the stage to meet the actual doorway through which Taylor's dancers emerged. On the final night, Taylor herself walked through it instead of disappearing down into the stage as she usually did. Why orange? Why did she walk through it? Well, well, well.

Hello, beautiful orange door. Image: Taylor Swift.

The Eras Tour Stage.

When it came to the Eras Tour stage itself, fans believed it was built with intention. Some thought it looked like a guitar (which it did, specifically in the Fearless era). But for the most part, it was just a cool shape that allowed her to reach her audience all throughout the stadium.

But now? With the combination of the orange door, and a new profile photo of a lock, fans believe the stage was actually designed to look like a key. "HER MIND!" I scream once more.

THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL BEING A LOCK WHEN THE ERAS TOUR STAGE WAS A KEY??? pic.twitter.com/dGbq30J1oQ

— lauren ❤️‍🔥 (@sillysnorin) August 12, 2025

The final TikTok.

Before Taylor's show in Miami last year, she posted a TikTok about being back in the US for the final leg of the tour. Why? Well, we were all confused because she normally doesn't do things like that without #intention. And now, it seems, she may have had a plan.

A singular poster shown in the background of the video displays A12 — when did she announce her new album name? August 12.

You might be thinking, "hmmm, that's a stretch!" and honestly you have to wonder? But Taylor Swift liked a tweet calling her "psychotic" for this video, so we can probably assume she intended this little blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.

Especially since, as fans have also noted, the stage was bright burning orange when Taylor performed August throughout the Eras Tour. Which suggests she just might have planned this timing all along.

What if I told you none of it was accidental? Image: Taylor Swift/TikTok.

The Cardiff show.

Okay, just a small one — but, oh boy, is it so weird and silly. I love tomfoolery!

In December 2024, Taylor celebrated the end of The Eras Tour with one final Instagram post, including a photo of herself sitting inside a cleaning cart that was used to transport her inside the stadium. Inside the cart was a framed picture of… the beautiful capital city of Wales. Hmmm.

What happened in Cardiff several months earlier? Taylor wore her orange and green outfit colour combination for the first time during the 1989 performance.

I just want to spend one day inside her brain. That's all.

The infamous Cardiff photo and Taylor's orange + green debut. Image: Taylor Swift/Getty

The Max Martin of it all.

Following Taylor's new album announcement, she shared a Spotify playlist titled 'And baby, that's show business for you'. She literally took out billboard space in Times Square in New York City to publicise a Spotify playlist… so what was on it? All of her pop songs that she created with Max Martin, a Swedish record producer and songwriter.

If you don't know, he worked with Taylor on hits including Blank Space, Gorgeous and I Knew You Were Trouble. She paid homage to their collaborations while performing in Sweden in 2024, telling the crowd she loved "Sweden's genius pop writers and producers" before performing "the Max Martin Medley".

This suggested that, after years of collaborating mostly with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dressner, she was going to return to working with Martin on her new release. But fans of their work shouldn't fret just yet.

The double-album theory.

"But I thought you said Showgirl was a sister album to Midnights?" you ask.

"Everything is up for debate!" I reply.

Given how routinely Taylor combined both orange and purple together in imagery on the Eras Tour, some Swifties believe we will get the signature double-drop when The Life Of A Showgirl is released. Taylor has done this on her past two studio albums, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department.

She releases the official album; one that fits the theme and tone of the finalised product she wanted to deliver. And then she hits us with the rest of the songs that didn't make the cut. The Tortured Poets Department had The Anthology, while Midnights had the 3am Edition followed by the Til Dawn Edition.

Could we be in for a double drop? I'm not counting my album chickens until they hatch. But Taylor did hold up two fingers in a new promo for the New Heights podcast. So… there is that.

The Sabrina Carpenter of it all.

Oh, Taybrina, you will always be iconic!

Sabrina Carpenter performed as the opening act for multiple legs of The Eras Tour — including in Australia — which further launched her into superstardom ahead of the release of her chart-topping album, Short N Sweet.

Once Sabrina's new songs began to chart, Taylor invited her back for a surprise performance during the acoustic set. But the moment had some… meaning… shall we say.

First, Taylor wore one of her orange dresses.

Then, there was the strange tone of the introduction. Taylor pretended to 'call' Sabrina, dialling her in and holding her phone on loudspeaker to the cheering crowd. Then, Taylor asked Sabrina, "Is there any chance you could get off the rollercoaster you're on and go put on some clothes and just come down to the stadium real quick?"

Why would she say that?

Sabrina recently teased the lyrics 'Go put on some clothes' ahead of the release of her own next album, Man's Best Friend, which comes out in August.

Fans are speculating that Sabrina's new album will feature a Taylor collab, before they switch and do a second collab song for The Life Of A Showgirl. And to that I say, please and thank you!

Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter's iconic Eras Tour performance. Could it mean so much more? Image: Getty.

Travis Kelce's GQ interview.

I won't lie to you, kids. I don't have an Easter egg to share, per-se. But I do believe once the tracklist drops, the album is released, and the world has a moment to reflect, we will look back on Travis Kelce's recent interview with GQ Magazine and find clues.

Because there is no way — NO WAY — he just happened to have an interview released the day after the album name was announced, and a day before the podcast appearance, without one single clue woven into his quotes. If I had to choose, I would maybe think his quote calling her 'athletic' and talking about the stage being a 'big computer screen' could be something to keep an eye on.

Taylor herself is infamous for dropping lines and lyrics ahead of time. For example, revealing lines from You're On Your Own Kid during a college graduation ceremony before the Midnights album was even out. Now that she's brought Travis into the process of unveiling her new album, I wouldn't be surprised if he was also tasked with clue drops.

So, I can assure you, myself and the other Swifties will continue looking through this one with a fine-tooth comb until we have our answer.

Stay tuned for more when the big reveal happens this Thursday! Because if one thing can be certain, it's that Taylor has decorated that studio to drop even more clues (spot the background imagery, divas) and will be sharing all kinds of hints on the New Heights podcast. I'm positively delighted.

This smile! These clues! We can't wait for more. Image: Taylor Swift.

Feature Image: Getty.