Taylor Swift can’t stop hitting us with good news.

Yesterday, Taylor Swift announced her upcoming single “Patient Zero.” This morning, she took it a step further and announced The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, a deluxe version of her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. This deluxe will feature four new songs.

“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave The Life of a Showgirl the biggest first week for an album in history,” Taylor began on Instagram. “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this 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.”

She went on to thank Swifties for listening to the album: “I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”

Swifties really shouldn’t be surprised, but we always manage to be surprised at things like this anyway. I’m so excited to hear what these songs will sound like. Aside from “Patient Zero,” the first deluxe track, the others are “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.”

I’m particularly excited about “Babylon.” She previously referenced the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon in “cowboy like me” on evermore. In general, Babylon is an intriguing title because it can have to do with a lot. There are the gardens, but also the compelling real story of the fall of Babylon. At the same time, the Biblical accounts of Babylon as a worldly city with a dramatic fall are also an interesting image. There is a lot to do with Babylon as a central metaphor.

My current theory is that the music video for “Patient Zero” will premiere at the VMAs on Sunday. She did that with “Look What You Made Me Do” in 2017. The timing of this release lends itself to an award-show premiere.

I’m sure I speak for many of us when I say that I am on the edge of my seat as I wait for The Encore to arrive on Friday, September 25th.

Emma Platt