This year has been a busy and memorable one for superstar Taylor Swift. She bought back the master recordings for six of her albums, announced her 12th studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” and surprised fans with her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The engagement was confirmed to take place in the backyard of his house in Missouri after Swift and Kelce filmed an episode of “New Heights,” Kelce’s podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce. Swift posted the news on her Instagram with the caption, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married” with a firecracker emoji. The ring was custom-designed by Kelce with the help of Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine Jewelry in New York, featuring cushion diamonds that were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. With its estimated cost being somewhere near $1 million, Kelce made sure she was bejeweled.
But personal life changes aren’t the only things going on for Swift, professional changes are happening as well. On May 30, she shared that she bought back her masters from Shamrock Records for approximately $360 million, according to Billboard. Since 2019, she has been re-recording her first six albums which have seen massive success, with the re-recordings outperforming the original albums, according to Billboard. Originally, Big Machine Records and its founder, Scott Borchetta, were the owners of Swift’s master recordings, but they were acquired by Scooter Braun for $300 million. It created an explosive dispute between Braun, Borchetta and Swift as she took to social media denouncing the selling of her master recordings to Braun. In October 2020, Braun sold the masters to Shamrock for an estimated $405 million. This deal included the ownership of her music, music videos, concert films, album art and photography and even her unreleased songs.
She shared on the “New Heights” podcast that her mother, Andrea Swift, and brother, Austin Swift, were the ones to negotiate with Shamrock.
“I very dramatically hit the floor, for real. Bawling my eyes out.” Swift said, recalling getting the call from her mother confirming the deal was made.
The first person Swift called after learning that she got her master’s back was fellow artist Phoebe Bridgers, who collaborated with Swift for the song “Nothing New” on “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
Her eventful year continues as she announced her new 12th studio album titled “The Life of a Showgirl,” which is produced by Shellback and Max Martin. The two producers worked with her previously on albums “Red,” “1989” and “Reputation.” Billboard said that the album became the most pre-saved album in Spotify history, beating the previous record of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” in 2024. It is planned for release on Oct. 3, with participating Target stores opening at midnight for the release day.
There are only 12 tracks for this album as Swift claims that she, “wanted to do an album that was so focused on quality and on the theme, and everything fitting together like a perfect puzzle.” She continues saying that the record captures her world as she was on The Eras Tour from March 2023 until December 2024 describing it as “exuberant and electric and vibrant.” The title track, which is the last song on the album, features Espresso-singer Sabrina Carpenter who opened for the South American leg of The Eras Tour.
An engagement, a reclaimed legacy and an already record-setting album has made 2025 one for the Swift history books.
