Taylor Swift announces an encore album a day after dropping new music news
Less than 24 hours after delighting fans with news of a new single, Taylor Swift has confirmed her next album release.
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore will be a re-release of her hit 2025 album but with four new songs – and, a snazzy new cover.
Patient Zero is out on Friday. Instagram/@taylorswift
The newlywed singer gave fans some insight into what inspired the upcoming release.
“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave The Life of a Showgirl the biggest first week for an album in history,” Swift wrote on social media.
“I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album.
“Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.
“I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”
The encore album will feature four new songs, Patient Zero, Cleveland!, Pink Clouding, and Babylon.
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Taylor Swift surprises fans with huge announcement, but the clues were hiding in plain sight
Patient Zero was the track she announced on Tuesday with a caption that featured three zeros amid the text, leading to Swifties trying to decode the caption.
It prompted NSW Police to share a cheeky Instagram post, asking Australians not to dial Triple Zero in a bid to solve the riddle.
“Save triple zer0 f0r emergency situati0ns,” the police wrote alongside shots from the Opalite music video.
It turns out that music video may have the Easter eggs fans are looking for, with not only the three zeros shown on screen after her dance with Domhnall Gleeson, but also a poster in the background.
“Patient For The Encore,” it reads.
Swifties also believe the singer’s Emmy Awards opening sketch with host Mariska Hargitay hid clues for the new music, which hadn’t been announced when it aired.
It’s not the first time Swift has repackaged an album for fans or released an expanded edition.
Swift famously added tracks “from the vault” when she re-recorded her first albums amid a copyright stoush with Scooter Braun. GC Images
She famously added tracks “from the vault” when she re-recorded her first albums amid a copyright stoush with Scooter Braun.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) had six unreleased songs, as did Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), while 1989 (Taylor’s Version) had five added tracks, all written around the same time as the album was originally recorded.
But Red (Taylor’s Version) takes the cake with nine vault tracks, including the fan-favourite 10-minute version of All Too Well.
Swifties also believe the singer’s Emmy Awards opening sketch with host Mariska Hargitay hid clues for the new music, which hadn’t been announced when it aired. NBC
There’s also been, more recently, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology in 2024 and Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition) in 2023.
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore and Patient Zero mark Swift’s first music release since her big Madison Square Garden wedding to Travis Kelce.
Both the album and single will be released on Friday.
