Jamaine Punzalan

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DO_pGo5jjoj/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=763&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A4480933.300000012%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="715" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><p>With the meticulously planned release of Taylor Swift&#x27;s 12th album this Friday, the country singer-turned-pop star demonstrates again that she is as business savvy as she is musically adept.</p><p>From hints dropped during her last tour in 2024 to movie screenings this coming weekend to accompany the new album&#x27;s release, &quot;Taylor Swift has perfected marketing as narrative art,&quot; said Robin Landa, a professor who studies advertising and branding at Kean University.</p><p>&quot;She doesn&#x27;t simply release an album -- she orchestrates a cultural phenomenon.&quot;</p><p>The massively hyped &quot;The Life of a Showgirl&quot; album was inspired by Swift&#x27;s experiences during her record-breaking &quot;Eras&quot; concert tour, which coincided with the singer&#x27;s romance with her <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2025/8/27/taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce-are-now-engaged-0804">now-fiance Travis Kelce</a>, a three-time Super Bowl champion football star.</p><p>The 12-track record &quot;comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life -- and so that effervescence has come through,&quot; Swift herself promises.</p><p>That appears to signal a return to pop after her darker 11th album, &quot;The Tortured Poets Department,&quot; last year.</p><p>Swift, 35, has said to expect &quot;bangers&quot; -- high-energy, dance-friendly songs -- in the ilk of her fan-favorite &quot;22&quot; and &quot;Shake It Off,&quot; and created with the same Swedish production duo, Max Martin and Shellback.</p><p>To call &quot;The Life of a Showgirl,&quot; which features a duet with rising pop star Sabrina Carpenter, eagerly anticipated is an understatement.</p><p>The album is the most pre-saved album ever on the Spotify streaming platform, breaking the record set last year by Swift&#x27;s last album.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;OWNERSHIP&#x27; </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Accompanying the album, movie theaters in dozens of countries will host special screenings from Friday through Sunday of a music video, a making-of featurette, personal commentary by Swift about her songs, and a karaoke-style singalong.</p><p>The one-off movie event is estimated to gross between $30 million and $50 million, according to film industry website Deadline.</p><p>Swift, who first announced the album on Kelce&#x27;s popular podcast last month, is &quot;really taking ownership of the whole process, in every aspect of her music and her presentation to the public,&quot; said Toby Koenigsberg, a music professor at the University of Oregon.</p><p><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2024/12/13/taylor-swift-closed-her-eras-tour-on-top-of-the-world-now-what-1245">Swift&#x27;s &quot;Eras&quot; tour </a>also spawned its own movie theater event, and underlined &quot;the importance of having fan communities that interact in real life, not just on social media,&quot; he added.</p><p>One element that has long connected &quot;Swifties&quot; -- the nickname for her die-hard fans -- online is the frantic search for &quot;easter eggs,&quot; or clues about Swift&#x27;s upcoming projects scattered through her album booklets, music videos, concerts and social media posts.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>EASTER EGGS </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Swifties noticed that, in a letter to her fans in May, Swift spelled the words &quot;thiiiiiiiiiiiis&quot; with 12 &quot;i&quot;s -- taken by some to indicate her 12th album was imminent.</p><p>Once the first album images of &quot;The Life of a Showgirl&quot; were released, featuring cabaret-inspired outfits in orange and green tones, thrilled devotees rushed to social media to point out clues supposedly buried in Swift&#x27;s 2022 music videos, as well as certain costumes from her latest tour.</p><p>&quot;Taylor&#x27;s Easter eggs are one of the most brilliant fan engagement tools in modern music,&quot; said Landa.</p><p>&quot;This strategy creates free marketing through fan theories and social media speculation -- essentially turning her audience into her promotional team.&quot;</p><p>So, is Swift a musician or a businesswoman?</p><p>&quot;Sometimes people talk about her business acumen, which is really remarkable... but at the core of what she does is her songwriting,&quot; said Koenigsberg.</p><p>Swift is &quot;able to consistently write good songs, year after year, album after album, in a way that almost nobody else can.&quot;</p>

<p>With the meticulously planned release of Taylor Swift's 12th album this Friday, the country singer-turned-pop star demonstrates again that she is as business savvy as she is musically adept.</p>

With the meticulously planned release of Taylor Swift's 12th album this Friday, the country singer-turned-pop star demonstrates again that she is as business savvy as she is musically adept.

'Showgirl' conquers showbusiness: Taylor Swift releases 12th album on Friday

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'Showgirl' conquers showbusiness: Taylor Swift releases 12th album on Friday

Agence France-Presse

Published October 02, 2025 10:37 AM PHT

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Taylor Swift

album

The Life of a Showgirl

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