Being a Swiftie is a wild experience. You can just go about your everyday life for months at a time, and then suddenly be hit with a string of Taylor Swift-related updates that could baffle a medieval peasant.
This year alone has brought the news that Swift bought back the masters of her first six albums, the announcement and early rollout of her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, and a pretty big update in her personal life. And now, we have something else to add to that list.
On Friday morning, Swift officially announced The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, a limited theatrical event tied to the release of the new album. The 89-minute event will run exclusively from October 3rd through October 5th, the same weekend that Showgirl is released. It will not only feature the exclusive world premiere of Showgirl‘s first music video for “The Fate of Ophelia”, but lyric videos and other behind-the-scenes footage and insights about how the album came to be. Tickets are available now.
As Swift said in her post announcing the news, “looks like it’s time to brush off that Eras Tour outfit or orange cardigan,” a reference to the Showgirl-themed cardigan that was for sale earlier this week. She also confirms that “dancing is optional but very much encouraged.”
Lights, camera…
This comes after Swift made headlines (and a global total of $261.6 million) in 2023 with the theatrical release of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. The concert film immortalized Swift’s three-hour setlist on the first leg of her worldwide Eras Tour, outside of a handful of songs that were cut for time (and subsequently added back on the Disney+ release, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)).
That initial run of the Eras Tour movie was significant for a number of reasons: not only did it become the highest-grossing concert film of all time, but it was brought to life through Swift bypassing the studio system entirely, instead financing and distributing it herself in a partnership with AMC Theatres. It also provided another evolution of the Eras Tour experience, for fans who had already attended it in person, and for those who hadn’t. Friendship bracelets were exchanged, choreography was performed in the aisles, and collectible popcorn buckets and drink cups became collectors’ new holy grails. As someone who saw it in theaters multiple times, it captured a kind of community and girlhood that we hadn’t seen since the summer of Barbie.
Swifties had theories about this new “theatrical event” even before reporting indicated that it was on the way. Basically, anything outside of Swift’s upcoming feature directorial debut (which has remained in development since 2022 amid her busy schedule) seemed to be on the table.
Fans have been eager to see a re-released version of the Eras Tour movie, reflecting the setlist changes that were made following the April 2024 release of Swift’s eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department. There have also been rumblings for what feels like years about a documentary, which could chronicle everything from Swift re-recording the first four Taylor’s Versions, to the Eras Tour itself, to her finally getting her music back earlier this year. Professional camera crews were recording the last three nights of the Eras Tour in Vancouver this past December (which I was lucky enough to see firsthand, having attended closing night), so we know that footage exists and could see the light of day at some point.
Both of those options could have made sense as a release alongside Showgirl, especially since Swift has confirmed that she wrote the album during the tour’s European leg last year and was heavily inspired by her time on the tour. But they also feel like things that could easily get their own time in the spotlight later on: especially the documentary, which I am convinced could become a thirteen-part limited series at this point.
When reports started surfacing about this theatrical event on Thursday night, my brain immediately went to some kind of visual album. It would not only make sense for the glitzy aesthetic of Showgirl, but it would be a first for Swift that fans have wanted to see for a while, after the teaser video for 2022’s Midnights album initially seemed like an entire album’s worth of music videos. While The Official Release Party of a Showgirl won’t fully be that, I am excited to see it on a big screen surrounded by other fans. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to start making some orange friendship bracelets.
(featured image: Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
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