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It’s been almost one year since Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl, but is she already planting seeds for a potential 13th album?
In the months since Swift dropped her 12th studio album in October 2025, eagle-eyed fans have wondered whether the pop star has started leaving Easter eggs about future projects.
“There are dos and don’ts. I’m never going to plan an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life,” Swift said on husband Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast in August 2025 about her penchant for dropping clues about her records in advance. “It’s always going to be toward music or something that I have coming up. A plan I have coming together. Something that you don’t know I’m saying for a specific reason that you’ll hear later and go back and go, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Swift, who married Kelce in July 2026, has not revealed any plans for a 13th album — though it’s no secret the number is the Grammy winner’s favorite.
Allow Us to break down the biggest clues that Swift’s 13th record could be in development:
All About the Numbers
While attending a friend’s wedding in May 2026, Swift paired her golden Maria Lucia Hohan gown with opal drop earrings. The baubles featured 13 stones, which would correspond to the potential album number.
Swifties were quick to point out that Swift similarly wore red earrings with 12 stones to the 2025 Grammy Awards — months before she announced The Life of a Showgirl.
Lilac in London
Swift stepped out in London in August 2026, rocking a lavender-colored Delphine mini dress as she exited a members’ only club. She was previously spotted leaving the same venue in August 2024 while in town for her Eras Tour performances at Wembley Stadium.
Swift sported a plaid Vivienne Westwood blazer and matching miniskirt at the time, following a period of multiple plaid getups. Showgirl was ultimately released on National Plaid Day.
“This taysighting was the beginning of the massive plaid era taylor wore during 2024-2025 which we later found out was pointing to plaid day when showgirl was released (october 3rd),” a fan tweeted on August 2026. “Two years later, Taylor is seen in the exact same spot dressed in a color that has been highly theorized to be the ts13 color and with an exit sign nearby which was heavily emphasized during the Showgirl era….. like HELLO.”
Swift promoted Showgirl in fall 2025 with the release of multiple covers shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. In one pic, Swift rocked a bedazzled corset while standing underneath an exit sign backstage. (Showgirl was written about Swift’s life during the Eras Tour, which was also the catalyst for her romance with Kelce.)
Look to the Top of the Empire State Building for Clues
The official social media accounts for the New York City landmark shared photos of the skyscraper lit up in green on August 20, 2026.
“WhaTS happening?” the caption read, capitalizing Swift’s initials.
On Instagram, the account event tagged Swift’s page.
While it’s entirely possible the Empire State Building social team could be feeding into fan frenzy, some Swifties have guessed the pop star might be hinting at a new album or a rerecorded version of her debut LP. (Swift’s self-titled first album will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2026.)
Back to Her Roots
Swift spoke at the Grammy Museum in August 2026 for a 20-year career retrospective, waxing poetic about her start in the country industry.
“I love my country roots more and more as I go further in this path,” she told attendees. “I wanna honor them more and more, the artist who shaped who I am, and that all happened in Nashville.”
From Swift’s own admission, several fans believed that TS13 could have a country twang.
It All Comes Back to ‘Bejeweled’
In the 2022 music video for “Bejeweled,” Swift rode on an elevator with different colored buttons. Fans deduced that each button corresponded to the colors associated with Swift’s past albums, including red for Red, blue for 1989 and yellow for Fearless. The 13th button at the top was painted lilac.
“Taylor has been teasing TS13 being lilac since the Bejeweled [music video]. The 13th floor is 💜,” one fan wrote via X in August 2026. “But the 💜is paired with 🧡tones, she did it with [‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’] mv, ‘Anti-Hero’ mv, at Eras with the mixed colors [‘1989’] outfit, and today with the pap walk outfit.”
Another fan noted that the same color scheme was featured in Swift’s Eras Tour book.
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