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5 min readTaylor Swift\u2019s twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, drops on Friday, Oct. 3.Her official fan account, Taylor Nation, shared a release day schedule featuring her upcoming press appearances\u2014and a mysterious \u201cstand by\u201d message on Saturday, Oct. 4.Swifties are already spiraling with theories surrounding the sudden message, and we\u2019ve gathered the best ones.<\/p>\n
Happy Taylor Swift<\/a> release week to all who celebrate! The lead-up to her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl<\/a>, is met with excitement by her devoted Swifties. But what\u2019s a Taylor release week without a little spiraling?<\/p>\n New York-based fans are already on an Easter egg hunt thanks to her pop-up with Spotify<\/a> and mysterious billboards featuring the Eras Tour stage<\/a>. On a larger scale, Taylor Nation\u2019s official release schedule for TLOAS truly has fans losing their cool:<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not because of her multiple late-night appearances on The Graham Norton Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night With Seth Meyers, but rather the cryptic message scheduled on Saturday, October 4: \u201cStandby.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, I\u2019m always on standby for Taylor Swift,\u201d one fan wrote<\/a> on social media, while another added<\/a>, \u201cExcuse me what do you mean standby how could I possibly standby MORE.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, they\u2019re already dreaming up theories for what we\u2019re standing by for. Nothing has been confirmed yet, so take this with a grain of salt (or, glitter, in true showgirl fashion). Ahead, we\u2019ve gathered up the best \u201cstand by\u201d theories and ranked them from least to most likely to happen.<\/p>\n Least likely: A tour announcement<\/p>\n Remember when we mentioned those cryptic billboards of Taylor\u2019s Eras Tour stage? Well, they were posted in collaboration with Spotify across England, Brazil, and Mexico, which led fans to believe that another tour announcement could be up this mastermind\u2019s sequined sleeve. <\/p>\n Considering Taylor just wrapped the Eras Tour last year after a nearly two-year run\u2014and had been laying low up until her album announcement on Travis Kelce<\/a>\u2019s New Heights podcast on August 13\u2014it\u2019s unlikely she\u2019ll head on the road again so soon. <\/p>\n Likely: A Saturday Night Live cameo <\/p>\n While Taylor isn\u2019t yet scheduled to appear on SNL for its 51st season, there could be a chance she makes a quick cameo\u2014especially because she\u2019ll already be bouncing between shows at 30 Rock during TLOAS\u2019s release week. She\u2019s appearing on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers, which are both filmed in the same building as SNL.<\/p>\n October 4 is the season premiere, which could be a good window for a celeb cameo. But, Taylor doesn\u2019t have very public relationships with the episode\u2019s host, Bad Bunny, or musical guest Doja Cat. While Doja\u2019s latest album, Vie, was produced by Taylor\u2019s longtime collaborator and bestie, Jack Antonoff, he sadly wasn\u2019t involved in TLOAS. So…we don\u2019t know if Tay makes sense in this scenario.<\/p>\n Likely: Surprise appearance with Sabrina Carpenter at Austin City Limits Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter at the Eras Tour in New Orleans on October 26, 2024.<\/p>\n Hear us out\u2026Taylor has country beginnings, so a trip to Austin, Texas could be cute! Especially because the small blondie to her tall blondie, Sabrina Carpenter<\/a>, is headlining the fest that Saturday.<\/p>\n Not only has Sabrina performed live with Taylor before, but she\u2019s also featured on the title track, \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl.\u201d The only thing that has us skeptical about this theory is that it\u2019s Sabrina\u2019s first live show where she\u2019s performing tracks from her new album, Man\u2019s Best Friend. Perhaps Taylor wouldn\u2019t want to intrude on the milestone moment\u2026but it\u2019s not completely off the table. <\/p>\n Likely: A live Eras Tour album <\/p>\n While the Eras Tour is over over, that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t recordings of the mashups and moments from the iconic live show. Remember when Tay dropped \u201cCruel Summer\u201d live from the Eras Tour on streaming services? We\u2019ve been side-eyeing her ever since, because we know she\u2019s got more where that came from, though she\u2019s been keeping them in her notorious Vault. We also got the Eras Tour film and book\u2026the only thing missing is an album.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a chance that this is what Spotify\u2019s mysterious billboards lead to, though the streaming giant hasn\u2019t confirmed any details. Spotify also posted the graphic on their Instagram profile, captioned \u201c\ud83d\udddd\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83d\udd25.\u201d What could the Eras Tour key be unlocking but a live album?<\/p>\n Most likely: Reputation Vault tracks<\/p>\n Hear us out\u2026 Max Martin and Shellback are the main producers on TLOAS, and the last time they collaborated with Taylor was on Reputation in 2017. They also had a hand in producing songs on Red and 1989, but fans think Reputation Vault tracks might drop in tandem with Showgirl for a plethora of reasons. The first one is a recent social media post using the \u201cGorgeous\u201d instrumental. (And, before you clock us, Max did produce \u201cGorgeous.\u201d)<\/p>\n While the use of this instrumental is particularly suspicious, Taylor revealed that she didn\u2019t even re-record Reputation when she announced the ownership of her masters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief,\u201d she wrote<\/a>, in part. <\/p>\n Taylor\u2019s letter also revealed that there\u2019s a possibility her Reputation Vault tracks will be unleashed: \u201cThere will be a time (if you\u2019re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.\u201d<\/p>\n And, speaking of hatching…there\u2019s this (literal) Easter egg from her \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d music video, which features purple glitter emerging from the yolk. On September 30, Taylor\u2019s image on Apple Music started HATCHING, with black and purple glitter peeking behind her face.<\/p>\n The lyrics to most of Tay\u2019s Reputation songs on Apple Music also feature capital letters, revealing a secret message: \u201cThey don\u2019t make loyalty like they used to.\u201d This calls back to the ancient texts of Taylor Swift Easter eggs, as she used to have hidden messages in the lyric booklets of her physical CDs, from her debut album to 1989. Important to note that she stopped doing this with Reputation when it originally dropped in 2017. <\/p>\n If there wasn\u2019t enough of a case for the Reputation vault tracks theory, Taylor Nation literally posted this on social media, so\u2026spiral as you will:<\/p>\n We are simply too seated to see what goes down on October 4. <\/p>\nTAS2024\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n