Taylor Swift certainly knows how to get the world talking. She nearly broke the internet when she revealed her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl. She shared the big news on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s popular "New Heights" podcast. But the chatter didn’t stop there. Fans now believe more surprises are on the way.
Just a day after Swift’s album announcement, her official Taylor Nation X account posted something curious. They replied to a fan who was eager to hear the new songs. The message read, "We can’t find the key! We lost it in Vancouver." This cryptic post, shared on Thursday, August 14, also included a crying emoji and the official hashtag for The Life of a Showgirl.
The post also showed an image of an orange padlock. This padlock was a preliminary design for the new album before the official Mert and Marcus cover was released. It sat on a bright orange background. Right in the middle of the padlock was a small drawing of Swift’s Eras Tour stage.
Swift, who is 35 years old, wrapped up her tour in December 2024 with three shows in Vancouver. She actually wrote the entire The Life of a Showgirl album in between these massive concerts.
On Wednesday, August 13, Swift told Travis and his brother Jason Kelce on their podcast how she did it. "I would do three shows in a row, then have three days off," she explained. "I would fly to Sweden, then come back to the tour." She added that by that point, she was "physically exhausted." Yet, she felt "mentally very stimulated and so excited to be creating."
Swift teamed up again with producers Max Martin and Shellback for this new project. They had worked together before on her albums Red and Reputation.
The 14-time Grammy winner shared how much this creative period meant to her. She felt she and the producers had to bring their best ideas ever. Swift also admitted she knows the pressure she’s putting on this album by saying that. But she doesn’t care. She loves it deeply and feels incredibly proud of it. She says the album "just comes from the most joyful, wild, and dramatic moment I was in my life. So that ebullience is perceived in this album."
Swift has confirmed that The Life of a Showgirl will only have the 12 tracks listed on the back cover. She says there won’t be any bonus songs. Despite this, fans are convinced the Taylor Nation X post hints at another big reveal.
"Suspicious," one fan wrote on X. Another added, "Release the tapes!" A third fan wondered if Taylor Nation was "hinting there’s a key to find" to unlock the album before its October 3 release. (Swift had actually blocked pages on her website earlier that week, before she shared the album cover and tracklist.)
One super-sleuth fan even connected the dots about the Vancouver shows. "Wait a minute. The last show in Vancouver — 12/8 [is] the reverse date of the TS12 announcement (8/12)," they theorized. "What are they planning for 12/8? Documentary? New tour? What’s going on?" The Swiftie community is clearly buzzing with anticipation for whatever comes next.