Taylor Swift has returned to The Life of a Showgirl with four additional songs, releasing the deluxe edition The Life of a Showgirl: Encore on Friday, Sept. 25.
The expanded version of Swift’s 12th studio album adds “Patient Zero,” “Babylon,” “Pink Clouding” and “Cleveland!” to the original track list. The release arrived just two days after Swift announced the deluxe project on Instagram.
Encore follows a major chart run for the original album, which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the main U.S. albums chart. The Life of a Showgirl also opened with 4.002 million equivalent album units in the United States during its first week, setting a record.
Swift says the new songs came from a celebratory studio trip
In her announcement, Swift looked back at the scale of the album’s debut and credited listeners with making it possible.
“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing … you gave The Life of a Showgirl the biggest first week for an album in history,” she wrote.
The 14-time Grammy winner said she traveled to Sweden to celebrate with Max Martin and Shellback, her two collaborators on the album. Although the trip was intended as an opportunity to reflect on the moment, the presence of a studio soon led them back to songwriting.
“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,” Swift explained. “I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”
Before confirming the full deluxe edition, Swift had already begun planting clues that another release was approaching. She replaced the letter O with zeros in her Instagram bio and in some of her lyrics displayed through Apple Music.
Those changes pointed to “Patient Zero,” the first new song Swift announced before unveiling the complete Encore track list. The title is now taking center stage in the album’s next visual chapter as well.
“Patient Zero” video is headed to the VMAs
Swift will premiere the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” during the 2026 VMAs on Sunday, Sept. 27. She directed the visual, which features Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson as costars.
A teaser for the video has already been released, offering an advance look at the collaboration ahead of its debut during the ceremony. The premiere comes as Swift prepares to receive the inaugural Artist Director Honor at the 2026 VMAs.
The honor and video debut extend a busy release week that began with Swift’s social-media clues, continued with the announcement of “Patient Zero,” and culminated in the arrival of all four new songs on The Life of a Showgirl: Encore.
What Happens Next?
With the deluxe album now available to stream, attention turns to Sunday’s VMAs, where the full “Patient Zero” video will be shown for the first time and Swift will accept the ceremony’s first Artist Director Honor.