Taylor Swift has released The Life Of A Showgirl: The Encore, a version of her 12th album that adds four new songs. The announcement arrives as her first new music since her wedding at Madison Square Garden.
The new edition includes “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” Swift first teased “Patient Zero” by changing her Instagram bio to “And, baby, that’s sh0w business f0r y0u” and announcing it as a single. The track comes with a music video starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, which will premiere on Sunday (Sept. 27) at the VMAs, where she’ll receive the Artist Director Honors.
Swift’s Letter to Fans
Swift wrote about the album’s success on Wednesday (Sept. 23). “About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing,” she said. “Something that completely blew my mind…”
She described taking a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, her collaborators on the 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 Life of a Showgirl: The Encore including four new songs is out on Friday and available to pre-order and save now.”
The Record’s Journey
The Life Of A Showgirl already had multiple versions. Upon its release, Swift set a modern-day sales record with 34 variants of the album.
The encore edition expands the original record with those four new tracks.
Release Schedule
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Album release | Friday |
| VMAs premiere of “Patient Zero” video | Sunday (Sept. 27) |
| VMAs Artist Director Honors | Same day |
The schedule keeps the momentum building through the weekend.
The Four New Songs
The four new tracks are:
- “Patient Zero” — a single with a video starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell
- “Cleveland!”
- “Pink Clouding”
- “Babylon”
The video for “Patient Zero” adds visual context to the track. It also stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, who appear together in the footage.
The encore edition gives fans a reason to return to the catalog. The video for “Patient Zero” and the VMAs appearance add live context to the release.
Swift announced the encore, explained why it exists, and delivered the music on schedule. The next question is whether the new songs stand alongside the originals.
See the video the story is built around at Stereogum.
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