After Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour ended in December, fans have been eagerly awaiting what’s next. Monday they got their answer. Swift’s team posted a slideshow of 12 photos featuring different hues of orange on Instagram. Each of Swift’s albums, or “eras,” famously has its own color — orange now pointing to her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, to be released Oct. 3.
Right away, old memories and old friends rushed back to me.
Just after midnight Tuesday morning, Swift officially announced the album in a clip shared by New Heights, the podcast cohosted by her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce.
Seconds later, I received a slew of text messages from my college friends in our old dorm group chat.
“Miss you all. Glad we could bond over this exciting announcement,” my college roommate wrote.
For three years, I lived in Pasquerilla East Hall at the University of Notre Dame, the dorm I was randomly assigned to my freshman year. The girls I met there became some of my closest friends. Just last year, 13 of us crowded into one room to listen to the release of The Tortured Poets Department together. Now we are scattered across the country, but if anything can bring us together, it’s a Taylor Swift album announcement.
Written while Swift was on the road, The Life of a Showgirl promises to offer a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into a global spectacle like the Eras Tour. The album is a tight 12 tracks, notably less expansive than her most recent album, and marks a return to upbeat pop anthems. The album is produced by Swift, Max Martin and Shellback, who worked with her on some of her biggest hits like “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off” and “22.”
The lead-up to Swift’s albums might be more exciting than listening to the music itself. Over the years, Swift has become notorious for dropping “easter eggs” for her fans. These clues range from captions on social media, speeches at award shows, lyric booklets, music videos and even the clothes she wears. And her fans eat it up, hanging onto her every word and trying to decode secret messages about what she might be planning.
Stacks of friendship bracelets at the Eras Tour. In one of her songs, Swift writes, “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.” In a nod to the song, fans made beaded bracelets to trade at her shows.
Caroline Collins
The promise of a Taylor Swift album drop isn’t just any album announcement; it’s a cultural event with national brands scrambling to capitalize on the newest era of music. On Tuesday, Dunkin’ Donuts posted a version of its logo on social media using the sparkling orange lettering from Swift’s announcement with the caption “we’ve always been in our orange era.” Even searching “Taylor Swift” on Google resulted in orange confetti raining down the screen.
But more than viral content for social media, Swift’s music resonates with so many because she grew up alongside her fans.
Swift has been in the music-making business for close to two decades. She was just 15 years old when she signed her first record deal and by the time she was in her 20s, she was topping billboard charts and winning awards.
Listening to her songs feels like someone flipped through my diary entries and turned those feelings into lyrical ballads — never feeling good enough, waiting up at 2 a.m. for a call back, friendship breakups or wishing to do things differently. I see younger versions of myself reflected in her songs.
I’m like so many Swifties. Her music was a part of my childhood, and her eras overlap with the chapters of my life. 1989 was the first album I ever bought and my first concert. Lover was the summer before high school that I spent daydreaming about the future. Fearless was the album I blasted with the windows down after getting my driver’s license. Speak Now was the feeling of falling in love for the first time, and The Tortured Poets Department was my anthem after breaking up with my long-term boyfriend.
My family and I at The 1989 World Tour at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Caroline Collins
I like to say that I was an original fan, before Ticketmaster couldn’t handle the number of people attempting to buy tickets for her shows and before the applause at one of her concerts registered as an earthquake. But more than that, I’m happy that other people find the magic in her storytelling and songwriting, and that we can all take a minute to text our friends “omg TS12!!”
