Taylor Swift has released her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. The follow-up to last year’s The Tortured Poets Department and its extended edition, The Anthology, features Sabrina Carpenter on the title track, as well as a sample of George Michael’s “Father Figure” on the song of the same name. Swift worked on her new album with Max Martin and Shellback, the Swedish production duo who co-helmed much of 2012’s Red, 2014’s 1989, and 2017’s Reputation. Listen to The Life of a Showgirl below.
On social media, Swift wrote:
“We were delighted when Taylor Swift and her team approached us earlier this year about incorporating an interpolation of George Michael’s classic song ‘Father Figure’ into a brand new song of the same title to be featured on her forthcoming album,” the George Michael estate shared in a statement posted to the late singer’s social media accounts. “When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same. George Michael Entertainment wishes Taylor every success with The Life of a Showgirl and Father Figure.”
After announcing The Life of a Showgirl almost two months ago, Swift revealed the album’s cover art and tracklist on an episode of New Heights, the podcast hosted by her now-fiancée, Travis Kelce, and his brother, Jason Kelce. Since releasing The Tortured Poets Department in 2024, she concluded her record-breaking, 149-date Eras Tour, which reportedly grossed over $2 billion in ticket sales and spawned both a companion book and a three-hour concert film.
In May, Swift announced that had bought back the master recordings for her first six studio albums, which she’d been steadily re-recording as the Taylor’s Version series. She ended up releasing new versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989 between 2021 and 2023. According to Swift, a re-recorded version of her self-titled debut album is in the can, but Reputation (Taylor’s Version) was never completed.
