Taylor Swift can’t stop hitting us with good news.
Yesterday, Taylor Swift announced her upcoming single, “Patient Zero.” This morning, she took things a step further by announcing The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, a deluxe version of her 2025 album, The Life of a Showgirl. The deluxe edition 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 supporting 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, yet we always manage to be shocked by announcements like this anyway. I’m so excited to hear what these songs will sound like. Alongside “Patient Zero,” the deluxe edition will include “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.”
I’m particularly excited about “Babylon.” Taylor previously referenced the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon in “cowboy like me” from evermore. More broadly, “Babylon” is an intriguing title because it carries so many potential meanings. There are the gardens, the fascinating history surrounding the fall of Babylon, and the biblical depiction of Babylon as a worldly city destined for a dramatic collapse. There is plenty for Taylor to explore if she uses Babylon as the song’s central metaphor.
My current theory is that the music video for “Patient Zero” will premiere at the VMAs on Sunday. She took a similar approach with “Look What You Made Me Do” in 2017, and the timing of this release lends itself perfectly to an awards-show premiere.
I’m sure I speak for many of us when I say that I’ll be on the edge of my seat waiting for The Encore to arrive on Friday, September 25.
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