Taylor Swift is giving “Life.”
The 14-time Grammy winner released her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” early Friday — and Swifties, from schoolgirls to seniors, decked out in glittery finery, celebrated all week across NYC in anticipation of it.
The festivities culminated in a string of rocking, midnight release parties that brought out throngs of Taylor worshipers across the city.
“Welcome to New York, bitches!” 24-year-old Mariam Torres screamed at Slattery’s Midtown Pub, where she and her squad were waiting for the midnight album drop as friend and fellow fan, Jose Luis Alejo Gonzalez, turned 23 years old. The birthday boy dyed his hair a vibrant orange to match the new album — which he said empowered him to leave a “situationship” of four years.
“I was living with my ex-boyfriend and when Taylor announced ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ – that’s when I knew I needed to leave. Something changed inside of me,” he told the Post, opening his orange shirt to reveal his “Reputation” album-themed snake tattoo across his chest.
“She was changing her era, and I knew my life was going to change because we’re connected,” he enthused.
It was a cathartic night of bonding for the fandom. They doled out hugs as excitement built in the run up to the big moment.
Just as the clock struck midnight, the crowd of hundreds went wild as the 12-song album — its title track featuring another Grammy-winning goddess, Sabrina Carpenter — blasted at venues including Midtown mainstays Ainsworth Midtown and Slattery’s Pub.
They shrieked, jumped up and down, and sang the brand-new lyrics into each other’s faces with gusto as the singer’s 12th album saturated the spaces.
“This might be my favorite album she’s ever written, I’m not gonna lie,” 18-year-old Talia Barnes of Chelsea told The Post, referencing Swift’s past work while in awe of the new direction. “It gives ‘1989’ but better … more mature.”
To no one’s surprise, Swift’s two-year relationship with and recent engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was an album thread, which buoyed Barnes and others.
“She got rid of Jack Antonoff — and she needed to,” she said, referencing Swift’s previous oft-producer. “I love the love songs she’s written for Travis, it’s crazy. She talked about wanting to get married and have kids, and I was, like, ‘What?!’ He came in, and now she’s singing about a basketball hoop and a driveway.”
“She sang about forever because she hasn’t had that until now. I think she made that clear,” said 38-year-old Alejandra Sanchez of Hell’s Kitchen, who planned to turn to Instagram to figure out who every song was really about.
One 35-year-old fan drove through the night from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City to attend one of the first Swift-themed events of the week — “The Life of a Showgirl: A Spotify Experience,” a three-day immersive activation in Chelsea that ran from Tuesday through Thursday.
“I didn’t really have a plan. I said, ‘You know what? F–k it — I’m gonna be a showgirl,’” Emily Jane Ellis told The Post before grabbing a flowery photo.
Ellis was just one of 1,500 devout Swifties who lined up around the block on the pop-up’s first nine-hour day.
While one might assume the venues would be filled with only teenyboppers and millennial girls, Swift has proven to critics that her music and stardom appeal to all ages.
“I call myself a senior Swiftie,” Bronx resident Eileen Monahan, 60, said. “I always feel like I fit in. That’s what’s great about the fandom. They don’t exclude anyone — from the little babies to the old people.”
St. Louis resident Nancy Wess, 54, told The Post she became a Swiftie through her daughter, with whom she’s attended concerts.
“I’ve never been a part of anything so positive. Everyone was so happy, and we’re all trading bracelets,” she said, noting the popular trademark friendship trinkets spurred by Swift.
“Especially in this day and age, we need positivity — and that’s what she brings,” added Wess, a retired teacher who attended several events across the city, including an album release party.
“It’s a phenomenon, like the Beatles; they get it.” “My kids are gone and that whole part of my life is over, so I came back to myself at 50,” she said.
Her favorite track? “I love ‘Father Figure’ because I am a girl of the ’80s,” she said of the song, a nod to the late George Michael’s 1987 hit single.
Swift knows what her fans want – memorabilia and photo ops of a lifetime. And the Spotify pop-up delivered just that with showgirl feathers, a flower-filled bathtub, framed photos from the pop star’s “Eras” tour, and even a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to her relationship with Kelce.
The singer is known to build the hype for her fans — and she handled this new album no differently.
On Aug. 13, the 35-year-old pop megastar made a rare appearance on fiancé Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he hosts with his brother, retired Eagles player Jason Kelce.
The episode broke the internet, setting a Guinness World Record for the most livestream views, 1.3 million, for a podcast on YouTube.
It probably helped that the singer used the appearance to announce the new album drop — Swift’s first release since she acquired the rights to her full discography, six long years after it was sold to Scooter Braun for a reported $300 million back in 2019.
“This is her reclaiming everything because she owns all her music now,” Ari Zapata, 36, told The Post at an NYC Spotify pop-up this week, with her 11-year-old daughter, Clover Motta, chiming in, “This is her moving on.”
Like excited little kids eagerly waiting to rip open presents on Christmas morning, Swifties pre-bought tickets for listening parties at bars across NYC on the eve of album release day, with Midtown among the many neighborhoods taken over by fanatics on Thursday night.
Just a few hours before midnight, Swift fanatics dressed in orange and glitter piled into numerous events for a late night of bopping along to her hits, downing themed drinks and exchanging her trademark friendship bracelets.
All the fans love to chart their own lives alongside Swift’s evolution.
“We are all in our showgirl era. We’re no longer tortured poets,” 37-year-old Juliana Bruns of Astoria, referencing Swift’s 2024 surprise album, told The Post at The Ainsworth, where about 160 fans convened, some in orange-hued flapper gowns and bejeweled headpieces. “We all have to abandon our tortured side starting at midnight and become showgirls. We are in the era that Taylor’s in, always.”
Even in Williamsburg, New Yorkers couldn’t walk a block without running into a Swift squad.
They were spotted dancing at Mirror Bar, making friends with one another at 3 Dollar Bill nightclub, and Soho’s Torch and Crown Brewing Co. was even hosting a Travis Kelce lookalike contest to celebrate the big night.
Wherever the night takes you, it seems, collecting new friends is easy when you’re securely in the Swiftastic fan zone.
“All you need to know about somebody is that you like Taylor Swift, and then we’re instantly friends,” Bruns said. “It’s a community and our little corner of happiness.”
