The wait is over. Back on Aug. 13, Taylor Swift went on her then-boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights to first reveal that her much-anticipated 12th album — to be titled The Life of a Showgirl, and to consist of 12 pop “bangers” co-written and co-produced with her old 1989 collaborators Max Martin and Shellback — would be arriving on Oct. 3. Now, roughly seven weeks and exactly one engagement announcement later, your English teacher is here to make her Showgirl debut.
As the dozen-track set arrives this Friday — with just one featured guest, in fellow superstar and Eras Tour opener Sabrina Carpenter on the title track, though pop icon George Michael is also invoked via interpolation on “Father Figure” — Swift will also premiering her new film event, titled Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl. The film reportedly features the music video for the album’s opener and lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” along with lyric videos for the other tracks and Swift’s own insight on the songs.
The twin releases should kick off a massive October for the megastar, with pop fans and chartwatchers around the world on high alert to see what kind of further Billboard history she can add to her already-staggering list of achievements. But before all of that, we present our rankings of Showgirl‘s 12 new — which Swift said during her New Heights appearance that she would not be adding any additional bonus cuts to — below. (You can also read our full review of the new album here.)
