Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot Not to be all "the crowd was chanting 'more'" about it, but doesTaylor Swifthave more tricks up her sleeve with the release of her 12th studio album,The Life of a Showgirl? There's the stuff we know about: The 12-track record releases Oct. 3, and will be heralded by athree-day only movie event,The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which promises the debut of the music video for lead single "The Fate of Ophelia," as well as behind-the-scenes footage from that video shoot, insights into all the album's songs, and lyric videos. A Spotify pop-up experience in New York City starts Tuesday. Swift is going to stop byThe Graham Norton ShowandThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, for shows airing Oct. 3 and Oct. 6. But we can't help wondering whether the titular showgirl has more coming before the final curtain call. Some weird Easter eggs haveEntertainment Weekly's Swiftie senses tingling, so let's break it all down. Eagle-eyed fans have noticed a lot of exit signs, like the ones you might find in a theater, popping up in the album's promotional imagery, and interestingly, they seem to be coming in pairs. Earlier this week, when Swift announced a Target-exclusive vinyl variant of the album, the "The Crowd Is Your King Edition," her affiliated social media account Taylor Nationposted an uncropped versionof one of the variant's photos. In it, Swift poses next to a wall of photos of herself — all from theShowgirlalbum photoshoot — and curiously, in the top corner of one of those snaps, two exit signs can be very clearly seen. In fact, they kind of stick out when compared to the other photos Swift poses next to. This isn't the first time double exit signs have popped up in recent promos, though. In the very beginning of avideo shared on Swift's socialstied to the reveal of theShowgirlcardigan box sets, two neon exit signs are clearly shown behind the singer-songwriter as she works on some kind of film set (while wearing said cardigan, natch). In fact, the camera almost seems to purposely tilt up to reveal the second exit sign above her head, as if to call attention to it. Thefull-size versionof the "Baby, That's Show Business" variant cover also features two glowing exit signs in the background of the image, at the top, behind Swift and her fellow dancers. All of this wouldn't have necessarily piqued our curiosity if it weren't for a few things. First, Swift's Instagram post from Sept. 24 features this caption, "A showgirl knows to savesomeof her best tricks for the grand finale…" The emphasis on "some" is ours, but it's curious wording, as it would suggest that some tricks — but not all! — have been played. Taylor Nation, to support the signed CD variants that were announced Friday, has started using similar language as well, with posts mentioninga "grand finale"and"our showgirl's next trick." Erika Goldring/TAS24/Getty Perhaps what raised our eyebrows the most was a warning from the ringleader herself during her Aug. 13 appearance on now-fiancé Travis Kelce and his brother Jason's podcast,New Heights. In explaining her philosophy and love of leaving obscure clues for fans, she said (emphasis added), "I want Easter eggs to be a certain thing where like if you are a part of the fandom and you want to experience the music in a normal way, then you don't even see these.You don't even care what that thing is above that doorway under that dimly lit flickering light over therethat's upside-down, backwards, in braille. You don't need to know what that is. But if you want to look at that, then it's there. Do you know what I mean? Like if you know you know you know, then you know." Oh, we know. Now, we're all for clowning responsibly, and as such, it is our duty to point out that this could all be a weird coincidence. After all, exits and grand finales are part and parcel with any theater and therefore any showgirl's life, and could be purely symbolic in nature. ("Exit stage left," anyone?) But there is precedent to Swift seemingly revealing all her cards, only to have one more ace hidden away. For instance, at 3 a.m. after the release of her 10th studio album,Midnights, she put out an extended3am Edition. At 2 a.m. following the debut of her 11th record,The Tortured Poets Department, she dropped the double album, subtitledThe Anthology. Could this point to a 1 a.m. surprise tied toThe Life of a Showgirl? As any showgirl would know, before you exit the stage after a great performance, you give the audience an encore. Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free daily newsletterto get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. As for what that encore could be, the 14-time Grammy winner has strongly advised not to expect more music. "There's no other songs coming," Swift said onNew Heights. "It's not like, withThe Tortured Poets Department, I was like… here's 31 songs. This is 12. There's not a thirteenth. There's not other ones coming," But what about something else at the top of every Swifties' "Wi$H Li$t," like a tour announcement, or a documentary, or a sequel to her Eras Tour film perhaps? Camera crews were spotted filming the final three nights of Swift's Eras Tour stops in Vancouver, as well as several behind-the-scenes moments throughout the record-shattering tour, and we've yet to see that footage. And we know the album was inspired by and produced during the tour, so it'd fit theLife of a Showgirltheme. Only time will tell if none of it was accidental. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
