Taylor Swift Releases Encore

What happened

Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl: Encore, an expanded edition of her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, with four new songs. The lead single, “Patient Zero,” is about a woman now dating one of Swift’s exes, with Swift singing from a place of understanding. Swift said she wrote the extra songs during a celebratory trip to Sweden with collaborators Max Martin and Shellback after the original album’s success. The original Showgirl was a concise 12-track release that Swift had said would not be expanded. Swift framed the new songs as thanks to fans, and the tracks are “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” The “Patient Zero” video debuts Sunday.

How each side covered it

From the left

Left-leaning outlets treated the release as a managed pop-cycle move, not just a fan-service surprise. The Guardian cited fans saying it was “designed to remind” Grammy voters about the album during voting. Slate doubted the Sweden origin story as too neat for a major pop rollout. Slate also cast the additions as part of a weak era, especially around romantic material.