Taylor Swift just did it again: She not only announced a new album, but also snuck in a number of hints long before she broke the news. As she revealed her 12th LP, The Life of a Showgirl, is on the way, fans realized that the pop star had been sharing subtle nods at the record weeks—even months—in advance.

While appearing on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, she explained how she’ll keep her beloved tradition going if fans still have an appetite for it. “People are like, ‘the Easter eggs thing is getting a little zodiac killer at this point.’ I’m like, as long as they [fans] like it, you know?” she said.

Swift also shared her approach to dropping all her secret hints. “The art of the Easter egg is that there’s dos and don’ts, right? Like, I’m never going to plant an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life. It’s always going to be towards music...something I’m coming up with, something I have coming up, a plan I have coming together. Something that you don’t know I’m saying for a specific reason that you’ll hear later and you’ll go back and be like, ‘Oh my god.’

“I think my favorite one of those was I was given an honorary doctorate from NYU and I made the commencement speech and I put so many lyrical Easter eggs in that speech that when the Midnights album came out after that, the fans were like, ‘the whole speech was an Easter egg.’ And for me, that's really fun because they find it fun.”

Here are all the hints she sneakily dropped for The Life of a Showgirl.

A12

A TikTok Swift posted back in October 2024 featured a sign that said “A12,” which fans now realize is a reference to “August 12,” the day she announced her new album. Mind you, she broke the news at 12:12 A.M. ET—because this is her 12th album.

12 weeks

The album announcement came 12 weeks after Swift revealed she bought the masters to all her albums.

Spotify playlist

Shortly after Swift announced The Life of a Showgirl, she dropped a playlist highlighting music she has written with Max Martin and Shellback. Many fans are left wondering if this new album will feature them as collaborators once again, a departure from her last few projects which heavily featured Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner.

The Lover house burns

During the Eras Tour, Swift notably burned down the Lover house, which had a room for each of her eras. Debuted during the “Lover” music video, the house has stood as a representation of Swift’s career. Well, now the house is out of rooms, so during her performance of “Bad Blood” on the tour, Swift burnt it to the ground. And now, in this new era, the emoji Swift is using is a heart on fire.

Orange door

After Swift announced The Life of a Showgirl and teased her new era with the color orange, fans noticed an Easter egg from the final show of the Eras Tour. She was proud to see that people caught the subtle hint, she said on New Heights.

“So I would leave the stage every night going down the elevator lift. That’s how every single Eras Show ended, except for one, except for the last one, where I exited through a door, an orange door to be specific,” she explained.

“And that actually was an Easter egg. Basically, the reason why I chose to exit that way is because I kind of wanted to give a little subliminal hint to the fans that I may be leaving the Eras Tour era, but I was also entering a new era.”

12 Is

In a letter about the masters that she posted on her website, Swift said she was “Thiiiiiiiiiiiis close” to releasing new music, with the letter I written 12 times. Her mind!

Showgirl references

In the past, Swift has dabble in the showgirl arts. In the music video for “Bejeweled,” Swift worked with famed burlesque performer Dita Von Teese and concluded the video with a fully-feathered performance where she stood in a glowy orange spotlight.

Orange dancers

Fans also noticed that Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” number in the Eras Tour was showgirl-inspired. To further emphasize the through line, in the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” music video, as Swift is seen practicing, her backup dancers are carrying orange fans, possibly alluding to what’s to come. For their performance in the Eras Tour, they switched to white fans.

The “Anti-Hero” music video

There might even be an Easter egg in Swift’s “Anti-Hero” music video, which was released two years ago. In one scene featuring two Swifts, one version of the singer wears white (possibly symbolizing her The Tortured Poets Department era), while another wears orange and green, the colors of her Showgirl era.

This post has been updated.