How Taylor Swift’s “Crypto-Codes” For New Album Actually Started Last Year
Is it possible that Taylor Swift has been teasing the next album cycle for 'The Life Of A Showgirl' since last year?
Taylor Swift (Credit: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott/MCA Nashville)
This week’s cryptic teasers, high-profile announcements and rapid countdowns started this week by Taylor Swift regarding her 12th album, The Life Of A Showgirl, could well have begun at least a year ago.
Swift, a champion of “crypto-codes”, showed other artists how to create a frenzy among fans by turning it into an Easter egg hunt, looking for past clues they might have missed.
Back on October 18, 2024, just before her concert at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the 35-year-old singer released a TikTok message showing her walking into the venue with her cat Olivia Benson.
The singer was seen standing in front of section A12 … now signifying that August 12 was going to be an important date. Some took it as the release date of her 12th album, although, of course, it is now the announcement date of the release.
She came on to the Miami, Florida, show in an orange bodysuit, shouting out, "Miami, we are so back!" For the 1989 section of the show, she was in a green skirt and an orange top.
Hard Rock Stadium reposted the video on its own TikTok page, gleefully captioning, “We were an easter egg all along!”
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The album’s cover colours of orange and green have also been an Area 51 for a year.
When Taylor took to the stage at this year’s Grammy Awards, she was wearing a bright red Vivienne Westwood Couture mini skirt. The background was orange and green.
On the 12th show of the European leg of the Eras tour, Swift was in an all-orange gear during the 1989 part of the show.
E! News reported: “On August 12, 2024, Taylor was photographed in a matching plaid miniskirt and cropped jacket” in those colours.
At the end of the Eras show, the door of the Lovers’ house was depicted in different colours. But Taylor was dropping the hint even then: the act of going through the orange door was signalling a move into the next era.
According to social media chatter by some fans, the final date of the Eras tour was December 8, or 12/8. That is the reverse of August 12.
Fast Forward
Fast forward to this week. Swift’s marketing team Taylor Nation posted 12 photos online with the teasing caption: Thinking about when she said, “See you next era…”.
The 12 photos were of Swift onstage during the Eras tour. The white costumes she wore were now photo-coloured orange.
Hours after the dozen images, her official website launched a glittering orange countdown clock, set to end at 00:12 USA Eastern Time.
At 12.12 on August 12, in a teaser shared to Instagram, Taylor, sitting next to boyfriend Travis Kelce, revealed, "So, I wanted to show you something."
She pulled something out of a mint-green briefcase decorated with “T.S.” in orange. "This is my brand new album, The Life Of A Showgirl."
The album cover was blurred, but the orange and green cover was clear.
The announcement was officially made on Kelce’s podcast New Heights, which had teased “a special guest” with a silhouette.
Her website crashed as Swifties clicked in from around the world. A CNN reporter, a madcap Taylor fan, reported that one of her Swiftie friends even switched flights so she didn’t miss the announcement 30,000 feet in the air.
An official Spotify playlist was launched, advertised on digital billboards in New York City and Nashville.
Later, there was a flurry of questions by Swifties to fill in spaces. Like, who produced the album? The 22 songs on the Spotify playlist were helmed by Max Martin and Shellback. The three have not worked together since 2017's Reputation.
The actual date of release? Taylor’s website notes that the vinyl (translucent orange vinyl with gold glitter), CD and cassette formats of the new album could already be pre-ordered … and they would be shipped out to customers before October 13.
Once there was a time when artists announced a new album or tour with as much fanfare as they could whip up.
But in these days of social media and FOMO tweeking, why not let “da kids” do it for you?
The hysteria around the crypto-codes of The Life Of A Showgirl could see it attain the same breakout success of The Tortured Poets Department.
That earlier album broke the Spotify record for the most-streamed album in a single day and sold more than a million copies in 24 hours. It was the fastest album to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, The Tortured Poets Department sold 5.6 million copies to become the global best-selling album of 2024.
More Crypto Codes
Taylor Swift wasn’t the only one throwing nose-tap bombs through the week.
Live Nation teased Linkin Park’s return with their new lineup with posters in different cities and an August 11 flash to confirm when the tour was being confirmed.
The Music picked up a death notice placed by Paul Kelly in a Melbourne newspaper about the main character of his song How To Make Gravy, and wondered if a sequel was being set up.
Meantime, an Instagram post IS THIS IT? by the promoters of Adelaide festival Harvest Rock whipped up excitement, alluding to the title of a The Strokes album, which meant the New York band was to be announced as headliner.
In the meantime, My Chemical Romance used a number of cryptic posts to announce a UK tour next year to celebrate 20 years of their third studio album, The Black Parade.
The shows extend on the album’s concept of a man dying from cancer (aka The Patient) and seeing the end of his life and being taken into the afterlife.
The shows extend into the fictional country of Draag, where people speak Keposhka, and characters as the Great Immortal Dictator are introduced.
In May, Frank Ocean intrigued fans waiting almost ten years for a third album with a series of posts that pinpointed his future direction. These drew in his patient followers but remained teasers.
Rumours about Ocean began circulating this year that he was about to direct his first film. Posters in various locations included a QR code which took people to an Instagram page with the name @franciswupperman.
Francis Wuppermann was the real name of US character actor Frank Morgan, who was best known for playing the lead character of the 1939 classic movie The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland.
Just what the connection is yet to be properly revealed. But the posts have done their job: stirring up interest with 75,000 followers and keeping them wanting to know more.
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