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A Look Inside Taylor Swift’s New Era

By Amaia Colón

Taylor Swift is a name everyone has inevitably heard at some point in their life- her effect on the music industry and the world can forever be studied. Over the past 19 years, she has released 12 best-selling albums, all reaching millions of listeners and winning countless impressive awards. Additionally, her most recent tour, The Eras Tour, broke the record for being the highest grossing concert tour, earning her around 2 billion dollars and selling the most tickets for a solo artist. She’s been busy recently- in the past two years, she has released two albums, The Tortured Poet’s Department on April 19th, 2024, and most recently, The Life of a Showgirl in October 2025. Swift also bought her masters to her first 6 albums, and she’s gotten engaged to her boyfriend of two years- NFL player Travis Kelce. It’s safe to say that ‘New News’ with Swift is never in short supply. 

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Taylor Swift’s reclamation of her masters (essentially the complete power over distribution and licensing of her music) was a huge recent event in her life. Under a record label that she signed when she was only fifteen, she recorded her first six albums, all without the rights to actually hold ownership of it. Swift is one of the few artists that re-recorded her first six albums. Though Swift has said that many people in the industry doubted her idea and they assumed it would ‘derail her career,’ the fans’ response to the re-recorded albums was record-breaking, the ‘Taylor’s Version’ albums actually outperforming the originals and sales.   Swift has mentioned, in a podcast episode of New Heights,  that “That was the closest I ever thought I would get to owning my music… [but] I thought about not owning my music every single day.” Furthermore, Taylor never stopped the fight to fully own all of her music, though this information wasn’t widely known. Earlier this year, she finally was able to buy back her music from Shamrock Capitol Records, completely changing her life forever. Swift has stated that the fan response to both her Taylor’s Version albums as well as the Eras Tour, made it possible for her to achieve her life-long dream. She shared this huge news with the world on her Instagram account on May 30th, 2025. She captioned the post “You belong with me” (additionally the name of a single on her 2nd album Fearless) and informed viewers there was a letter included on her site, which explained the circumstances in which she was able to get her music back and fans suspected included ‘easter eggs’ for upcoming news. 

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In August 2025, Travis Kelce proposed to Taylor Swift. According to Ed Kelce, Travis’s father, it was around August 10th. A few weeks later, August 26th, the rest of the world found out via an instagram post made on Taylor Swift’s account, captioned ‘Your English teacher and gym teacher are getting married’. The post included photos of the proposal set in a beautiful garden, a look at the engagement ring, and pictures of the happy couple. It’s unknown when the wedding will be, but according to a New York Post report, Kelce and Swift are hoping to have it next summer on June 13th, and that it will take place in Rhode Island, presumably near or at her Watch Hill mansion. 

    
Recently, on October 3rd, 2025, Taylor Swift released her 12th album titled The Life of a Showgirl. She announced the album on August 12th, but didn’t provide any details until August 13th, during her guest appearance on New Heights. Swift stated that she worked on it during the European leg of The Eras Tour and worked in Sweden with Max Martin and Shellback.The album contains 12 tracks, which Travis Kelce described as “Twelve bangers”. These words proved to be apparently true, since all 12 tracks from the album debuted in the top 12 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Life of a Showgirl continuously broke countless records, earning 680.90 million official streams in its first week, making it the biggest streaming week of 2025 and the fourth of all time, according to Forbes and Billboard, as well as becoming Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day this year. Fans worldwide absolutely loved the album- the most streamed songs being The Fate of Ophelia, Opalite, and Elizabeth Taylor. Obviously, with all artists and all albums there will be differing opinions, so many, even including life-long Swifties, stated they didn’t enjoy the album. Swift expressed her view on these reactions, stating in an interview with Zane Lowe, “I welcome the chaos. The rule of show business is, if it’s the first week of my album release, and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping. And art, I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art… Everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want.” Though many preferred other albums or in general didn’t like the album, the general consensus and overall reaction to Swift’s 12th album was extremely positive. The album itself is truly centered around her life as a performer and songwriter, but included various new aspects of her life, like her relationship with Travis Kelce, her hopes for the future, and provides insight into how her life has changed and what it’s looked like for the past two years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


   
Following the release of her 12th studio album, Swift released a movie called “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl”, playing for only the weekend after the album was released. The movie included The Fate of Ophelia music video, which was never seen before but later released on YouTube, behind-the-scenes, detailed, exclusive videos of the production of the music video. The movie also covered in-depth descriptions of each track’s meaning and Swift’s intention, followed by lyric videos for each song. Swift opened and closed the movie by thanking the fans for everything and overall expressing her excitement and gratitude for their endless support. This was Swift’s second movie- the first being an on-screen version of The Eras Tour, excluding The Tortured Poet’s Department since it wasn’t released yet, and just like the first movie, this one helped bring fans together to enjoy her music, sing along, and indulge in traditions like dressing up and exchanging friendship bracelets. 

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Judging by how busy she’s been, some might think she’s ready to settle and slow down. And yet, as per usual with Swift’s ambition and drive, there’s more to come. Coming out in December of 2025, and streaming on Disney+ is her six-part docuseries, The Eras Tour- The End of an Era. The first two episodes will premiere on December 12, 2025, and there will be four more, coming out each subsequent Friday. Additionally, on December 12, 2025, The Eras Tour-The Final Show movie is coming out- the extended version of her Eras Tour movie that came out in 2023, now including The Tortured Poet’s Department on the setlist and featuring guest appearances like Sabrina Carpenter, Ed Sheeran, Gracie Abrams, and more. 

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In conclusion, Taylor Swift is likely a name that won’t be forgotten for a long time, as her influence on the music industry as well as her vast empire is a legacy hard to overlook. Though her life may be changing, she’s made it clear making music is something she will continue to do throughout her life. 

 

Sources: 
Britannica 
New Heights Podcast 
Rolling Stone 

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