Maps of Music

The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

Where the lyrics of The Life of a Showgirl take you, and where it was really made.

Recorded in Sweden during the Eras Tour, this studio album's outro still carries crowd noise from a Vancouver show.

Key places

Recording in Stockholm (2025)

Recording site Master Plan — Swift traveled to Sweden during the European leg of the Eras Tour to record the album at MXM and Shellback Studios in Stockholm. Sessions also took place at Christmas after the tour ended. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Crowd noise captured in Vancouver (2025)

Recording site BC Place — The album's outro contains crowd noise recorded at the final Eras Tour concert in Vancouver in December 2024. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Final Eras Tour concert in Vancouver (2024)

Live show Little Mountain Sound Studios — The final Eras Tour concert in Vancouver took place in December 2024. Crowd noise from this show was recorded and used in the outro of the title track. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Kitty's hometown: Las Vegas (2025)

In the lyrics Studio at the Palms — The title track is a character study of a showgirl named Kitty who comes from Las Vegas. The lyrics follow her climb through show business to become a successful showgirl. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Album story

Overview

• The Life of a Showgirl: twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
• Released 3 October 2025 through Republic Records
• Reissue subtitled The Encore followed on 25 September 2026
• Standard edition has 12 tracks and runs 41 minutes 40 seconds
• Written and produced by Swift with Max Martin and Shellback
• Soft pop and soft rock album with retro musical influences

Background

• Swift's previous album The Tortured Poets Department was released on 19 April 2024
• Inspired by the Eras Tour and Swift's romantic relationship with Travis Kelce
• Collaboration began after Swift spoke with Martin during the Stockholm shows of the Eras Tour in May 2024
• Creating an album of this standard had been a long-term goal for Swift
• The first song written for the album was 'Elizabeth Taylor'
• Republic Records did not know about the album until it was finished and promotional materials were made

Recording

• Recorded in Sweden during the European leg of the Eras Tour
• Sessions held at MXM and Shellback Studios in Stockholm, and again at Christmas after the tour ended
• Approximately 40 musicians from Swedish orchestras contributed
• Title track features the singer Sabrina Carpenter, who recorded her part while touring in Sweden

Cover

• Standard cover references John Everett Millais's Ophelia painting, with Swift half-submerged in water
• Showgirl-inspired photographs shot by Mert and Marcus
• Encore cover shows Swift against a burgundy backdrop in a gold fringed minidress

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania.
• Named after singer-songwriter James Taylor.
• Moved to Nashville area at 14 to pursue a country music career.
• Signed with Big Machine Records in 2005.

Career

• Debut album Taylor Swift (2006) peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200.
• Fearless (2008) spent eleven weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US.
• Shifted from country to pop with 1989 (2014), which spent eleven weeks at number one.
• Released Folklore and Evermore (2020), indie folk albums that debuted at number one.
• Re-recorded her first six albums after a dispute over her master recordings.
• The Eras Tour (2023–2024) became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time.
• Holds 14 Grammy Awards, including a record four Album of the Year wins.
• Named Time Person of the Year in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, 69 out of 100 from 23 critic scores
• The Independent's Roisin O'Connor lauded the sonic experimentation and thematic duality
• The Australian's Andrew McMillen praised the arrangements as vibrant
• Paste's Ellen Johnson found the album underwhelming and its lyrical quality inconsistent
• Vulture's Craig Jenkins wrote that 'not everything entirely clicks'
• Pitchfork's Anna Gaca deemed the album familiar and predictable
• Slate's Carl Wilson wrote that it featured repetitive themes and lacked the emotional stakes of Swift's previous albums

Reappraisal

• Joe Muggs of The Arts Desk wrote that the rhymes were 'uncharacteristically laboured'
• Billboard ranked it 9th and The Daily Telegraph 10th among the best albums of 2025
• Rolling Stone ranked it 15th and The Times 11th among the best albums of 2025
• Paste listed it as the third-worst album of 2025
• Chris Molanphy of Slate reassessed it from 'overrated' to 'slightly underrated' after a few months

Records

• Debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 4.002 million album-equivalent units in its first week
• Spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200
• UK opening week of 423,000 chart units, the largest for an international album in the 21st century
• Global best-selling album of 2025 according to IFPI, with 6.05 million pure copies sold
• Certified five-times platinum in the United States in November 2025
• Quadruple platinum in Canada; double platinum in Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom
• Won a Premios Odeón, a Japan Gold Disc Award, and two iHeartRadio Music Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Swift revealed the album on Travis Kelce's podcast New Heights, and the title appeared on her website at 12:12 am Eastern time on 12 August 2025.
• QR codes hidden on orange doors in 12 cities led to videos on Swift's YouTube channel, which were later deleted.
• The promotional film The Official Release Party of a Showgirl had a limited theatrical release in over 50 territories and grossed over $50 million.
• Swift said the standard cover was meant to glamorize the offstage side of the Eras Tour and that each show 'ends with [her] in a bathtub'.
• The Encore's 'Patient Zero' topped the Billboard Global 200 and the national charts of ten countries.
• The title track's Kitty is a character study of a Las Vegas showgirl, and the album outro uses crowd noise from the Vancouver Eras Tour concert.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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