Secrets, Taylor Swift has a few.
And, from dropping her infamous ‘easter eggs’ to playing coy about former lovers, the pop megastar has proven she knows how to control her own narrative.
In particular, with 11 albums under her belt and a 12th on the way, she has locked down the art of covert recording, leaving no trace of her time in the studio until she is ready.
Now, the Daily Mail has learned that, for her upcoming The Life of a Showgirl album, Swift employed DEFCON-3 levels of security to prevent leaks while she was stealing time to record during her record-breaking Eras’s Tour in 2023 and 2024.
Insiders reveal that only five people have been allowed access to the record, which was recorded in Sweden ahead of its October 3 release date, meaning some contributors have yet to even hear the final product.
‘Taylor vetted everyone who was involved in the record and only agreed to work with them if she could trust they wouldn’t leak anything,’ an insider said. ‘She was determined to keep the development process under wraps. That was harder to do because most of it was recorded in Sweden and not in her home studio.’
Insiders have told the Daily Mail that only five people were allowed access to the record, meaning some contributors have yet to even hear the final product
‘Everyone, from the writers, producers, studio engineers and studio interns went through a rigorous vetting process to make sure they could be trusted. Everyone was asked to sign iron clad NDAs and weren’t even allowed to discuss their contribution with family and friends,’ the insider added.
‘Some of the contributors haven’t even heard the finished album. She really wants to keep it safe for her fans.’
Swift, 35, announced her upcoming album earlier this month on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights, hours after a countdown appeared on her social channels.
Clearly proud of his girlfriend, the NFL champ – who is also 35 – threw confetti in the air and shouted: ‘We got TS 12 baby!’
He then watched doe-eyed while clutching the vinyl – which features Swift submerged in a bathtub wearing nothing but a bejewelled corset – as the singer regaled the making of it and the easter eggs she planted months before its release which hinted at the start of a new ‘era’.
Kelce is reportedly only one of five people who have been granted access to the new album which has been kept under wraps in an encrypted folder. Others include Swift’s formidable publicist Tree Paine, an unidentified studio engineer, and Max Martin and Shellback who both helped to produce the music.
‘They used a program which indicates if files have been shared with anyone outside of that core group,’ our insider said. ‘She made her label wait to hear the album as she didn’t want any disturbances.’
Since releasing her first album in 2006, Swift has become a dab hand at managing the logistical complexities of covert operations.
Though in the past she has been a little more lax. For instance, Swift’s friend and fellow singer Selena Gomez said recently that she had heard Swift’s 2008 hit ‘Love Story’ before its release.
In 2019, Gomez said that, when it comes to her own music, Swift was the ‘go-to’ person she trusted to run new projects by without fear of them getting leaked.
Her boyfriend Travis Kelce is among those, as well as Swift’s formidable publicist Tree Paine, an unidentified studio engineer and Max Martin and Shellback who helped to produce
‘Everyone was asked to sign iron clad NDAs and weren’t even allowed to discuss their contribution with family and friends,’ an insider told the Daily Mail
While unclear if Swift deployed a code name for The Life of a Showgirl, the singer has previously used them to fly undetected.
Her esoteric albums Folklore and Evermore were referred to as ‘Woodvale’ and ‘November’ respectively before their release in 2020 over fears they would leak.
Revealing the decision behind the code names, Swift told Jimmy Kimmel: ‘When I was making Folklore I was too afraid to even unveil the title of the album to even my closest teammates and management. I didn’t tell anybody the album title until right before it came out.
‘So, I came up with a fake code name that had the same amount of letters as Folklore, chose a random name, chose Woodvale, wanted to see how it would look on the album covers, mocked them up, and then decided I don’t actually want to have a title on the album covers and we forgot to take the fake code name off one of the covers.’
Six years prior there was ‘Project Sparrow’ – the chosen name to ensure the utmost operational secrecy while shooting the music video for Shake it Off in 2014 – while ‘Project Cardinal’ was the secret alias for the mission to find fans to star in it. One girl was removed from the project after leaking the details online.
That same year Swift talked openly about her fears of spies and recording devices, telling Rolling Stone that she can’t even trust that a janitor is not being paid by a publication: ‘Don’t even get me started on wiretaps. It’s not a good thing for me to talk about socially. I freak out.’
The pressure to maintain Swift’s CIA-levels of secrecy weighed heavy on her former collaborator, producer Jack Antonoff, who once said having her songs on his hard drive made him ‘feel like I have Russian secrets or something.’
Last month reports claimed she had filmed a ‘secret’ music video in Los Angeles which was so confidential that not even the crew were able to hear the full song – just the beat.
According to our source she has in fact shot ‘two videos for the upcoming era’ and that the LA shoot ‘was for outdoor scenes for one of the singles which is currently in post-production.’
But while the music may be safe – for now – the album cover and tracklist were leaked in the hours before she made her grand announcement alongside Kelce earlier this month.
Insiders also told us about what to expect from the new music: ‘There are Easter eggs [in the new album] about how she overcame the drama with Blake [Lively]. And she does in her own way address people who believed her relationship with Travis was a PR stunt.
‘It is absolutely inspired by Travis. Being loved by him has really helped her overcome some dark chapters in her life.’
Although not a political record Swift was reportedly ‘motivated by the excitement around Kamala [Harris] last year which is when she recorded some of the songs.’
She was pulled into the race for the White House when she endorsed Harris back in September, prompting Trump to hit back saying he ‘was not a Taylor fan’ and declaring ‘she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.’
The President’s comments are partly behind the drive for secrecy around the new album.
‘Taylor knew that there a lot of people who wanted her record to fail after she went against Trump,’ said our insider. ‘So she set serious rules when sharing the record.’
