Taylor Swift's album 'The Life of a Showgirl' certified Platinum after ONE WEEK

Well, Taylor Swift's 12th album 'The Life of a Showgirl' may have only been out for a week, but it's ALREADY been certified Platinum in the UK - translating to over 300,000 UK sales ALONE in just the first seven days.

Since it was released on Friday 3rd October, 'The Life of a Showgirl' has been absolutely everywhere - with lead single 'The Fate of Ophelia' having over 57 MILLION YouTube views already.

If that wasn't enough, Taylor's even announced brand new documentary series The Eras Tour: The End Of An Era, which will land on Disney+, giving fans behind-the-scenes access to the tour - plus a recorded full concert film of Taylor's last performance on the 'Eras Tour' in Vancouver.

Taylor confirmed her 12th album back in August, and came to chat to us at Hits Radio and Magic Radio on release day to delve deeper into the music and the inspirations behind it. Here's everything else you need to know about Taylor Swift's 12th album, 'The Life of a Showgirl'...

The importance of 'Wi$h Li$t'

In an exclusive chat with Magic Radio, Taylor revealed that 'Wi$h Li$t' was an important track on her album because it signified the completion of her record. The singer said: "With this album, I was very specific about the vision for it being a short, concise, almost like in my mind, I had like the perfect album as an idea, right?

"Like perfection is unattainable. We know that conceptually, it's like a problematic thing to think about perfect. But I meant perfect in the idea of like, each song has a place."

She continued: "It can't be swapped out with anything else. It fits perfectly together, right? So that's when I knew that we had made, in my mind, the perfect album for this moment in my life was when we wrote 'Wi$h Li$t'. Because it really does get me too. Like, it's really emotional.

"It's a very accurate stance on where I'm at in life. And like, and so I just like, it was a feeling. It was a feeling of like, we're done now. Sometimes I've written very sprawling albums before where I just couldn't stop writing."

What is the album about?

Taylor explained in an exclusive interview with Hits Radio that sometimes because of the time between writing and releasing an album, her life has moved on, and it doesn't reflect her life at the time of release. However, with 'The Life of a Showgirl' it's different!

"One thing about this album that I think is really exciting is that oftentimes when I make a record, we then take all this time to plan out how we're going to put it out and make sure that we have vinyl for everybody," Taylor explained.

"So there's like a lag time between when I made it and when it enters the world. Oftentimes your life can change drastically between this point and this other point."

Taylor continued: "And for example, my last album, 'Tortured Poets Department', by the time that album came out, I was in a completely different point in my life.

"So it was like, it's an interesting feeling sometimes putting albums out into the world. With this one, the coolest part is that it is absolutely the place that I still am in my life.

"You know, the music matches the moment that I'm in. So it's so much easier to come in here and talk about music that completely accurately like reflects what's going on in my life."

At the time she announced the album, Taylor explained what the album was about, saying: "This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life, during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant. It just comes from like a most infectious, joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in, in my life.

"And so that effervescent has come through on that record, and like you said 'bangers' and we were just like, there's no other songs coming. It's not like with 'Tortured Poets Department' I was like, 'here's a data dump of everything I thought, felt, experienced, in two or three years'... Here's 31 songs."

How did she announce it?

The singer, appeared as a guest on her fiancé's podcast called New Heights, where she could be seen next to Travis Kelce as she unveiled the new album to co-host Travis' brother Jason, saying: "So I wanted to show you something, we've got... This is my brand new album 'The Life of a Showgirl'.

Sharing a clip from the podcast, in a collaborative post between the podcast and Taylor, the caption read: 'Posted at 12:12 on the 12th. ❤️‍🔥 Tay’s 12th album is called…………

'pre pre-order now at TaylorSwift.com'.

Despite not revealing the release date at the time, fans were encouraged to pre-order the album through Taylor's website. Those who visited her website were greeted with a message saying it will be sent before 13th October, but that 'this is not the release date'.

The website also confirmed that the artwork would be revealed at a later date. A few days later, and with the release of the full podcast episode, Taylor also posted the full tracklist, along with details of a huge collab on her album, and confirmed the release date.

What is Taylor Swift's new album called?

Taylor's album is called 'The Life of a Showgirl'.

When was it released?

The album was released on 3rd October, and Taylor was in the UK to celebrate its release. Across the world, a launch party movie is available to watch in cinemas between 3rd and 5th October, allowing fans to celebrate the release with other Swifties.

Where did it come in the charts?

Unsurprisingly, 'The Life of a Showgirl' debuted atop the album charts in the UK, and was even certified Platinum by the BPI - meaning over 600,000 album sales in the UK alone after just one week!

What songs are on it?

Before the album's release, Taylor revealed there would be 12 songs on the album. The first song from the album 'The Fate of Ophelia' was released on the same day as the album. The full tracklist can be found below.

1. 'The Fate of Ophelia'
2. 'Elizabeth Taylor'
3. 'Opalite'
4. 'Father Figure'
5. 'Eldest Daughter'
6. 'Ruin The Friendship'
7. 'Actually Romantic'
8. 'Wi$h Li$t'
9. 'Wood'
10. 'CANCELLED!'
11. 'Honey'
12. 'The Life of a Showgirl' (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)

The meaning behind the songs on 'The Life Of A Showgirl'

Taylor came to see us at Hits Radio and Magic Radio on the release day of her 12th album, and talked us through how she wrote some of the songs on the album and what they mean to her.

'The Fate of Ophelia'

Taylor told Hits Radio that she has a "fixation" with Shakespeare characters and "can't stand to see them meet a tragic demise." She added that she went back to 'Love Story', which she wrote as a teenager, saying: "I can't watch Romeo and Juliet not work out.

"What do you mean they both die? They don't in my version of things. So, it's like you just turn the movie off before the bad ending," before talking about Ophelia was "driven mad by love".

She explained the lyrics: 'You dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia', telling us: "It’s a love song and it's also just got one of the catchiest post-hook kind of sections that I'm pretty proud of."

She added to Magic: "This is a song about feeling for a long time like you might have met a similar fate to Ophelia who was driven mad over the years slowly by love. And instead, we reference her fate, but it's more about someone saving you from that fate and how euphoric that feels to look at your past experiences with heartbreak, and feel that you've been like rescued from that by this fortuitous turn of events where you ended up finding a person that changed that for you."

'Opalite'

Taylor told Hits Radio that 'Opalite' was "so much fun" to write, revealing that sometimes if we go through hardship in life, we "see it as a major setback," adding that instead, she'd found that it depends on how you respond to it and that can "catapult you forward in growth, in wisdom, in perspective."

She added: "Can you react to certain situations in a way that benefits you and the people around you and essentially, like acquire wisdom because of it?"

Taylor went on to say: "'Opalite' is a song about forgiving yourself for having gone through something that didn't pan out the way you wanted it to. All the perfect couples would look at you and say, 'When you know, you know, and when you don't, you don't'. It's giving yourself permission to not have it all figured out or not marry the first person you ever dated, stuff like that."

'Wi$h Li$t'

In her interview with Magic, Taylor revealed that 'Wi$h Li$t' was the track that made her realise the album was finished. Adding that she was very specific about the "vision" for the record, Taylor conceded that "perfection is unattainable", but that she knew these songs fit together perfectly.

Admitting that the song makes her "emotional", Taylor confirmed that it's a "very accurate stance on where I'm at in life," adding: "It was a feeling of, 'We're done now'. I've written very sprawling albums before where I just couldn't stop writing. And there's something to that too, if that's the project you're making, but this was not that."

Who has she worked with on the album?

Taylor has worked with a number of well-known faces on this album. Not only does the title track feature Sabrina Carpenter, she has worked with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback.

Max previously worked on 'Shake It Off' and 'Blank Space' with Taylor and Shellback has produced several songs on Taylor's 'Red', '1989 and 'reputation' albums.

Where did she record it?

During the podcast with her fiancé Travis Kelce, she revealed that the album was recorded in Sweden. The singer explained: "We've never actually made an album before where there was just the three of us (Taylor, Max Martin and Shellback). There's no other collaborators, it's just the three of us making a focussed album where... I mean it felt like catching lightning in a bottle honestly."

She continued: "And actually, when I was on tour in Stockholm, I had Max Martin come out to the show and I was talking to him and I was just like, 'I feel like we could just knock it out of the park if we went back in, and we did this all in Sweden and it was just us three.

"I essentially said to him, I want to be proud. I want to be as proud of an album as I am of the 'Eras' Tour and for the same reasons."

Chatting to Magic Radio on the release day of her album, she explained more about her drive to write it while she was on tour. She said: "Like it was, it felt like I was so physically exhausted from the shows, but being mentally and sort of like emotionally stimulated by making this music, got me to the point where I was so excited to step back on stage, because I knew I had this little secret project I was working on.

"So I'd play my shows, I'd play like three shows on the 'Eras Tour', I'd fly to Sweden, I'd fly back to the tour, I'd fly to Sweden and it was a blast."

Are there any extra tracks?

Taylor has confirmed there are only 12 tracks on this album, and she will not be adding any more. She explained: "This is 12 (songs), there's not a 13th, there's not a 14th, there's not other ones coming. This is the record I've been wanting to make for a very long time.

"Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, you know, you couldn't take one out and it be the same album, you couldn't add one and it be just right."

How many versions are there?

As fans will know, Taylor's album 'The Tortured Poets Department' had several different versions, including four physical versions named after their extra songs.

The singer has now revealed that she will have four versions of her upcoming album, all available to pre-order. 'The Life of a Showgirl: Sweat and Vanilla Perfume Edition' cover art was revealed in her Instagram post, with the further three editions shared on her website. The alternative editions are:

• 'The Life of a Showgirl: It's Frightening Edition'
• 'The Life of a Showgirl: It's Rapturous Edition'
• 'The Life of a Showgirl: It's Beautiful Edition'

For those lucky enough to be in the US, Taylor has also announced 'The Life of a Showgirl: The Crowd is Your King Edition', this alternative version is on Summertime Spritz Pink Shimmer Vinyl.

You can hear songs by Taylor Swift on heat radio.

Take a look through Taylor Swift's amazing career so far:

Now read:

Taylor Swift: All your questions answered on the 'Cruel Summer' singer 🎶

Taylor Swift's albums: Facts and figures about her super successful records

Taylor Swift awards: All the biggest accolades she's won over the years 🏆

Want more music news?

Read more of the latest music news here

• taylor swift