She did not disclose the release date of the album, or any other information about its tracks.
Known for meticulously placing Easter eggs before announcements, Swift’s team set off speculation from her hyperattentive fan base by posting a carousel of photos on Instagram on Monday. Could the 12 photos, taken at stops on the Eras Tour, correspond with the singer-songwriter’s 12th studio album? Did the pattern of orange outfits align with Swift’s practice of color-coding her catalog?
“Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…,’” the post’s caption teased.
The announcement coincided with the news that Swift would be making a rare media appearance on the podcast “New Heights,” which is hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his brother, Jason Kelce. The episode is slated to post Wednesday.
The fan theorizing began to build Monday, when the podcast posted to social media a teaser advertising a “VERY special” mystery guest in silhouette. Her appearance was confirmed Monday night, when the podcast’s social feeds posted a short snippet revealing Swift sitting alongside Travis Kelce.
The decision to appear on “New Heights” may be more than just favoritism. The Kelce brothers’ show has its own huge fan base. This month, it was ranked 10th in audience reach in the United States.
Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs star tight end, has mentioned Swift sparingly on the podcast, which features a crossover of sports and pop culture topics. But every public appearance from the couple has been closely dissected since their relationship became public in 2023.
Swift has been largely quiet since her mammoth world tour ended in December after traversing five continents over nearly 150 shows.
But Swift announced in late May that she had bought back the master recordings of her first six albums from the investment firm Shamrock Capital, giving her ownership of all of her music videos, concert films, album art and photography and unreleased songs. It was a momentous deal — worth a reported $360 million, according to Billboard — that ended a saga over the recordings that began in 2019 when music manager Scooter Braun acquired the catalog. Braun sold it to Shamrock the following year, prompting Swift to begin the process of rerecording those works and releasing them as “Taylor’s Version.”
“All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy,” Swift wrote in a letter that announced her purchase.
Her most recent original studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was released in April 2024 after she announced it while accepting a Grammy.
Though Swift has kept a low profile, she has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump. Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election (despite Trump’s posting of artificial intelligence-generated images that falsely suggested that the singer had endorsed him). Trump later said he preferred the wife of one of Kelce’s teammates, who reportedly liked a social media post supporting Trump. Last week, he took further aim at Swift in a post on Truth Social in which he claimed that her popularity had declined since he disavowed her.
—
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Julia Jacobs
c. 2025 The New York Times Company
