Taylor Swift reveals how The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore became four new songs
A trip to Sweden was meant to celebrate the album’s historic debut. Then Swift and her producers walked into a studio
Taylor Swift went to Sweden to celebrate a record with Max Martin and Shellback. Nearly a year earlier, The Life of a Showgirl had delivered the biggest opening week for an album in the modern chart era. Swift wanted to pause with the two producers who had helped her make it and take in what they had achieved together.
But there was a studio nearby. In her announcement of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, Swift explained that the three began writing again during that visit. What started as a celebration became four more songs.
Why Taylor Swift returned to The Life of a Showgirl
Swift described the new music as coming from gratitude for the way fans embraced the original album. That makes The Encore feel like a reply to the people who gave the record its extraordinary first week: she went to thank her collaborators, then found she still had more to say.
The four new tracks are titled “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” Their names offer plenty for Swifties to examine, but Swift has not explained their stories in the announcement.
Fans will have to wait to hear the songs before deciding what any of those clues mean.
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore arrives Friday, September 25 , and is available to pre-order and pre-save now.
For fans, the surprise is more than four additional tracks. It is the thought that, while Swift was celebrating what they had already made possible, she and her collaborators were quietly making something else for them to hear.
