Swifties were right: Taylor Swift wasteasing something. The pop star has released a four-song EP, The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, including the lead single “Patient Zero.”
“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post announcing the album, which dropped on Friday. “You gave The Life of a Showgirl the biggest first week for an album in history.”
She continued: “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album. Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs. I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”
The track listing for The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore is as follows:
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Cleveland!
The news came after the pop star’s Tuesday announcement of “Patient Zero,” the lead single.
“I’ve been impatiently waiting to tell you that my brand new single ‘Patient Zero’ will be out on September 25 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and it’s available to pre-order now on my website for 24 hours. 0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Swift also posted a teaser for the “Patient Zero” music video featuring actors Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson. The video is set to premiere Sunday at MTV’s Video Music Awards, where Swift will receive the inaugural Artist Director Honors.
Swifties had already noticed a peculiar change to the pop star’s Instagram and X accounts early Tuesday morning. The “Opalite” hitmaker seemed to use zeros instead of O’s for the lyric in her bio, “And, baby, that’s sh0w business f0r y0u.” The same exchange of O’s for 0’s was made in “The Life of a Showgirl” lyrics on Apple Music.
Three collector’s edition CDs of the single are available for preorder on Swift’s website, including a double-sided cover, “Patient Zero (Acoustic Version)” and “Patient Zero (Piano Version),” for one day only.
For Swifties, this announcement doesn’t come as a total surprise. Fans suspected that Swift was gearing up to share some major news after her cameo in Mariska Hargitay’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unitsketch, which played during the Emmys on Sept. 14. In the sketch, a crime board seemingly filled with Easter eggs can be seen. At one point, Swift looks directly into the camera before saying four seemingly random words and phrases: “Saccharide, Aries, From the Vineyard, North or South.”
Of course, Swifties are no strangers to their favorite pop star’s penchant for hidden messages and playful Easter eggs. It wasn’t long until the speculation hit a fever pitch online. What could these words possibly mean? Well, the leading theory is they comprise an anagram revealing the release date of Swift’s version of her self-titled debut album, affectionately referred to by fans as Debut TV.
Should the anagram theory hold any weight, Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version)will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The original album, X users have noted, was also released on a Tuesday. It seems worth mentioning that “Patient Zero” was announcedon a Tuesday too.
How The Encoreand “Patient Zero” factors into the rerelease of Swift’s debut album remains to be seen. Swift’s “Opalite” music video famously featured three 0’s. The angel number 000 is also believed to represent a spiritual reset and infinite potential. Swifties also found a Los Angeles Times article in which the pop star is described as “patient zero for emotional contagion.”
Fans have pointed out, however, the possible intention behind her swapping O’s for 0’s. The three 0’s could represent three separate announcements.
The upcoming release of The Encore and Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version)are, by that logic, merely the first two of three total updates from the singer. The third announcement, fans have speculated, could be the highly anticipated release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Other fans believe “Patient Zero” could just be a jumping-off point for three bigger, more drawn-out announcements to come — that the track itself isn’t actually one of the three surprises.
