Taylor Swift is in her podcaster era.

The pop superstar made her highly anticipated debut as a guest on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's "New Heights" podcast on Wednesday, Aug. 13. As the episode began, her website updated with an album cover and release date of Oct. 3.

"The Life of a Showgirl" cover shows Swift underwater in a bedazzled top. Four variants are available for preorder. They are "Sweat and Vanilla Perfume," "It's Frightening," "It's Rapturous" and "It's Beautiful."

Swift said she started recording the album when she was touring in Europe. She would fly to Sweden to record. The album is produced by Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, along with Swift.

There are 12 tracks on the album, including the title track featuring Sabrina Carpenter. Another song is called "Cancelled!"

"That's a banger," Travis Kelce said. He later clarified that there are 12 bangers on the album. The other tracks are: "The Fate of Ophelia" (a nod to Hamlet), "Elizabeth Taylor," "Opalite," "Father Figure," "Eldest Daughter," "Ruin the Friendship," "Actually Romantic," "Wi$h Li$T," "Wood," "CANCELLED!" and "Honey."

Swift said she hadn't worked with Martin in about eight years.

"It felt like catching lightning in a bottle," Swift said about working with the producer again.

Taylor admitted no one else worked with the three of them. Swift said she talked to Martin the same weekend she dedicated an Eras Tour medley to him in Stolkholm, Sweden.

"I was talking to him and I was like, 'I just feel like we could just knock it out of the park if we went back in and we did this all in Sweden and it was just us three."

Travis Kelce's review: fun, pop, upbeat.

"This album is going to make you dance," he said.

Swift insisted the album will only have 12 tracks, whereas her most recent albums "The Tortured Poets Department" and "Midnights" have landed with numerous additional tracks.

She said the theme of the album is everything that happened behind the Eras Tour curtain. The artwork represents the end of her night.

"My day ends with me in a bathtub, not usually in a bedazzled dress," she said. "I wanted to glamorize all the different aspects of how that tour felt."

Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce, have hosted the "New Heights" podcast since 2022, but this was the first time Swift has been a guest on the show since she and Travis began their highly publicized romance in 2023.

Swift chose Kelce's podcast as a platform to reveal her next album and usher in a new era, rather than do so on her own social media channels or at a live event. The singer has been strategic about when and where she reveals new music in the past, and she announced her most recent album, "The Tortured Poets Department," on stage at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Before that, Swift revealed her 2022 album "Midnights" in a speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Swift's fans had been eagerly anticipating the start of her next era after the singer wrapped her wildly popular Eras Tour in December. Her previous album, "The Tortured Poets Department," dropped in April 2024 to critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination for album of the year.

Taylor Swift album comes after music catalog ownership announcement

"The Life of a Showgirl" will be Swift's first time releasing new music since she became the owner of her entire catalog. In May, she revealed she gained ownership of all her old albums following a dispute with former music manager Scooter Braun.

"All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me," she said at the time.

Before this, Swift had been in the process of rerecording her first six albums so that she would own all of her music. Swift's self-titled 2006 debut album and her 2017 album "Reputation" were the only ones that had not yet been rereleased.

In her May announcement, the pop star told fans that she had already rerecorded "Taylor Swift" and may still put it out. She also said she had not yet finished rerecording "Reputation" but still planned to release previously unheard "vault" tracks from that original album.

"Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about," she wrote in a letter to fans. "But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift reveals inspiration, recording process for 'The Life of a Showgirl'

Reporting by Bryan West and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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