By Lauren Ironmonger,Nell Geraets

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Hello and welcome to our Life of a Showgirl blog! We’re “enchanted” to have you (yes, prepare yourself for many Swift puns).Swifties across the globe have been eagerly awaiting this moment since the pop juggernaut blew our minds by announcing her new album on a sports podcast in August. Who knew we’d be back again so soon after pulling off the millions of friendship bracelets we collected at the Eras Tour?Well, Taylor did. In fact, she’s been dropping Easter eggs left, right and centre since her tour (anyone remember the orange door at her final show?).Regardless of whether you saw it coming or not, here we are, ready for another 12 songs! Knowing Swift “all too well”, there will probably be a few extra surprises thrown in there. But worry not because we’re here to update you every step of the way.So… Ready for it?Latest postsLatest postsSarah Storey’s entire weekend revolves around one event: the launch of the new Taylor Swift album.The 25-year-old Sydneysider has everything planned out for the moment The Life of a Showgirl lands today. She’ll start with a cosy listening party at home alongside a friend – another hardcore Swiftie she went to the Eras Tour with last year. The party begins at 2pm “on the dot,” she emphasises. No delays on album launch day!“It’s so exciting. [Swift] has the most fans she’s ever had – like people who were never Taylor fans before have become fans,” Storey says. “She just has so much momentum since Tortured Poets Department.”Sarah Storey (left) and her friend Whitney Driscoll (right) are booked and busy this weekend, and it’s all for Taylor Swift.Credit: Janie BarrettOn Saturday, Storey will head to her local cinema for a screening of The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, where she’ll see a music video and other behind-the-scenes footage and commentary on the album. This will all be topped off with yet another listening party, only this one will be at the Sydney CBD Event Cinema with her friend and sister. She won these tickets in an online raffle via Australian fashion retailer Showpo.And, of course, she has already bought the Showgirl vinyl online.“I’m really excited for [the track] Cancelled because I think it might have something to do with Kanye [rapper Ye],” Storey says. “Her album is called The Life of a Showgirl, and he has an album called The Life of Pablo. I think it’s connected, maybe it’ll be a diss track.”Taylor getting into Kendrick and Drake territory? We’re here for it.Storey says many Swifties believe Showgirl to be something of a stand-in for the long-rumoured Karma album, an orange-themed record that was theorised to have been created in 2016 but never released.“This was never necessarily called Karma, but this is our orange album,” Storey says. “She sure knows how to get the fans excited.”Monica Isaacs is currently celebrating the “12 days of Swiftmas”. To prepare for Showgirl’s launch, the Melburnian Swiftie has been listening to one of the singer’s studio albums every day for the past 12 days. She has kept this tradition since Red was released in 2012, and though each release requires more forward planning than the last, Isaacs says it’s the best way to “get her in the mood”.Monica Isaacs has all sorts of traditions on album launch day, including baking a themed cake and making her own outfit.Credit: PENNY STEPHENS“This is my Christmas, basically,” she says.Her traditions don’t stop there. Isaacs also makes her own outfits in honour of each of Swift’s new album launches, which she then wears to her local JB Hi-fi to buy the CD the second it’s released. “I always make a point of being the first in line to buy it,” she says.Monica Isaacs in her handmade The Life of a Showgirl t-shirt.Credit: PENNY STEPHENSFrom there, she gets into her car, turns off her phone and listens to the album all the way through with zero distractions. “I turn everything off because that’s my time with Taylor.”She’ll then return home, where she’ll add her new CD to her collection of other Swift CDs (she began collecting them in 2006 and owns more than 100 so far) and enjoy the Showgirl cake she has whipped up for the occasion.While everyone around her seems certain Showgirl will be a more upbeat pop record, Isaacs says the beauty of a new Swift album is that you never truly know what you’re going to get.“She’s gone from country to pop to alternative to folk. There’s no end to what this album could be, which makes it so much more fun,” she says. “There’s nothing better than pressing play on a new Taylor Swift album, having no idea what to expect and hearing that first beat.”

It’s safe to say that Taylor Swift is usually one of the busiest people in show business, but that is amplified by a million when she’s launching a new album. She’s booked and busy, people!Photographs of the pop icon on the set of The Graham Norton Show – her first scheduled late-night appearance in honour of the album’s drop – have landed online, and Swifties are beyond excited about them. Taylor Swift during filming for the Graham Norton Show.Credit: Alamy Stock PhotoThe Kelce Brothers Fan Page Instagram account also shared vision of Swift and her team at the live taping of the talk show along with images of the popstar sitting alongside fellow guests Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith. Now, some are not entirely convinced by the look, arguing that she should have appeared covered in jewels and feathers, a la a “proper” showgirl. Others, however, are satisfied with her choice of a more demure, classic look – let her tracks do the talking rather than her outfits, right?Then there are those who just can’t get over the massive rock on her finger. Someone is getting married, and the Swifties are freaking out about it.Swift will appear on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show at 7.40am tomorrow (AEST) with Australian viewers able to stream the full episode from 5pm (AEST) on 10Play.

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Hello and welcome to our Life of a Showgirl blog! We’re “enchanted” to have you (yes, prepare yourself for many Swift puns).Swifties across the globe have been eagerly awaiting this moment since the pop juggernaut blew our minds by announcing her new album on a sports podcast in August. Who knew we’d be back again so soon after pulling off the millions of friendship bracelets we collected at the Eras Tour?Well, Taylor did. In fact, she’s been dropping Easter eggs left, right and centre since her tour (anyone remember the orange door at her final show?).Regardless of whether you saw it coming or not, here we are, ready for another 12 songs! Knowing Swift “all too well”, there will probably be a few extra surprises thrown in there. But worry not because we’re here to update you every step of the way.So… Ready for it?