Will Taylor Swift Release a New Album in 2025? The AMAs Might Reveal All
Will we get a new Taylor Swift album in 2025?
Let’s be honest, does anyone really think we won’t? As a diehard Swiftie, I certainly hope to be jamming out to new Taylor songs by the end of the year, and given that she’s released at least one album every year since 2019, the odds are good that 2025 won’t go by without a release. Sure, she’s earned a vacation, but it’s no secret that our girl is a workaholic.
So, yeah, I’d easily put money on some sort of release from Taylor this year. But what? And when?
Two weeks ago, I would have said the timing was anyone’s guess, but in the last ten days some of her signature Swiftian Easter eggs have been dropping and they all point to one thing: the American Music Awards (AMAs). And Kalshi has jumped on the buzz with a market centered around Swift and the AMAs:
Why the AMAs could host a big Taylor Swift announcement
Would she really announce something at an award show? She sure would. In recent years, Taylor has announced two albums on stage after a win: Midnights at the 2022 VMAs and The Tortured Poet’s Department at the 2024 Grammys.
And why the AMAs? First off, the AMAs love Taylor. She has won 40 AMAs in her career and is by far their most decorated artist with fourteen more awards than any other winner. Taylor is also nominated for six more of the fan-voted awards in 2025.
And then there’s those Easter eggs I mentioned. You can make a strong case for an AMAs announcement with just two:
Last week, several items on Taylor’s webstore were marked down by 26 percent. A very odd amount. Until you remember the AMAs are airing on Monday, May 26th.
At the same time, the merch store was also rearranged and there are now four categories to choose from: Apparel, Music, Accessories, Sale.
These are exactly the kind of hints Taylor loves to leave. Sure, they could be a red herring (she loves those, too), but signs indicate that after a few months of laying low, we’re about to find out what Miss Swift is up to next.
Whether the announcement comes on the 26th or not, the most likely options for new releases in 2025 are the remastered versions of the final two albums in her Taylor’s Version project—fan favorite Reputation, and her self-titled debut album. However, with Taylor, a brand new album is always a possibility. Let’s break down these options, clear up a misconception, and take a look at what might drop first.
The Case for Taylor’s Version
Since announcing her intention to gain ownership of her work by re-recording her first six albums in 2019, Taylor has established a clear pattern by sandwiching two re-recordings between new albums, alternating by year, as follows:
2020: Folklore and Evermore
2021: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version)
2022: Midnights
2023: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
2024: The Tortured Poets Department
Given Taylor’s love of patterns and leaving hints for Swifties about upcoming eras, it makes sense that she would continue this sequence through the end.
On top of that, Taylor was being filmed a lot during the final months of the Eras Tour. Seems a bit suspicious considering she’s already released several versions of the tour movie. Could an Eras Tour or re-recording process documentary be in the works? If so, wouldn’t it make sense to use it as the capstone of the Taylor’s Version era before moving on to something totally new (or taking a long, well-deserved break)?
Now, let’s talk trademarks.
If you spend enough time around Swifties, you’re bound to hear that the re-recordings are definitely the next releases because of trademark deadlines. This information will be kind of vague, but probably enough to convince you that Rep (TV) and Taylor Swift (TV) absolutely must be released in 2025, making your bet pretty simple. So, what’s that about? And is it true? Well, it’s kind of complicated.
Taylor filed intent-to-use (ITU) trademark applications for all six Taylor’s Version albums in 2021. While you cannot apply for a trademark in the United States until you’ve started using it commercially, ITUs indicate your intention to do so. After you apply, the government issues a Notice of Allowance, and you have six months from that date to begin using your trademark. Which, as bureaucracy goes, seems pretty straightforward. Until you learn it’s also possible to file for up to five ITU extensions.
The fifth extensions for Rep (TV) and Taylor Swift (TV) have been filed, and the ITUs are set to expire in August of this year. So, that means she has to release both albums within the next five months, right?
Alas, no.
Despite Swiftie hopes and widely spread misinformation, Taylor’s team can file new ITUs as soon as the current ones expire and the whole process starts again. That might seem like a lot of work to an average human, but when you have an army of lawyers at your disposal, it’s not hard at all. If you planned to bet based on trademark deadlines alone, it might be a good time to consider the rest of the available information.
Ultimately, Taylor is one of the savviest businesswomen in the industry. She knows better than anyone that fame and success are cyclical. Stay too hot for too long and you’re bound to lose the public’s attention and adoration (and often earn their ire instead). The re-recording process has been in the works for five-and-a-half years now. While Swifties will happily wait as long as necessary, she’d probably be wise to close out the Taylor’s Version era before it overstays its welcome with the rest of the world
Since you’ll never convince me that she’ll release both albums at once and miss the chance at a perfect record of number one releases (the original self-titled album never topped the charts), which is more likely to come first (and thus, most likely to come in 2025)?
The Case for Self-Titled
Not much of a case to be made here, in my opinion. There will always be some debate among Swifties about anything and everything, but most folks seem inclined to believe that the debut album will be the grand finale of the re-recording era. It’s hard to imagine a better symbol of the project’s purpose than reclaiming the last of her stolen work with Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).
And Taylor Alison Swift is a girl who loves her some symbolism.
The Case for Reputation
Listen, I won’t pretend that Swifties haven’t been convinced Taylor was announcing Reputation (TV) a borderline embarrassing number of times since it became available for re-recording in 2022. We have.
Most of those theories have been complete misses, but it is worth noting that the announcements of Midnights and TTPD took place when Swifties had predicted the Rep (TV) announcement. So, while we’re delusional, we do occasionally find the right Easter eggs. Once again, Taylor seems to be dropping hints.
At the end of 2023, she talked about the Rep (TV) vault tracks in her TIME Person of the Century interview. She hasn’t dropped a re-recording since that interview.
In March, she wore a snake necklace in a pre-recorded message accepting the award for Tour of the Year at the iHeartRadio awards. Snakes are emblematic of the Reputation era.
On Tuesday, a previously released two minute snippet of Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version) was highlighted when it was used in an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. The original version of the song was the first single from Reputation. The show debuted in 2017, the same year as the original Rep.
Taylor is obsessed with numerology and frequently drops hints using numbers. Rep was her sixth studio album. Look What You Made Me Do is the album’s sixth track and it was used in The Handmaid’s Tale’s sixth season.
If you buy into the AMA announcement theory, here’s a few more for you:
Tiffany Haddish will be presenting at the awards. Every night of the Reputation Stadium Tour, a recording of Haddish delivered Look What You Made Me Do’s iconic “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? ‘Cause she’s dead!”
It has been six years since the AMAs named Taylor their Artist of the Decade, and she performed wearing a shirt featuring the names of her six stolen albums.
The Handmaid’s Tale snippet was released six days before the AMAs.
Oh and did I mention that Taylor’s nominated for six awards this year?
There are, of course, a lot more potential Easter eggs flying around the Swiftie community, and a lot of them are very interesting. These, however, are the ones that don’t make me feel like I need to make myself a tin hat or join a conspiracy theory subreddit.
The Case for A Brand New Album (TS12)
This would break the established release pattern and that would be out-of-character. However, as I mentioned, we’ve twice clowned for Rep (TV) and instead gotten announcements for new studio albums. Taylor is so prolific that while the chances of new music are sometimes low, they’re never zero. Let’s look at some of the arguments for TS12.
The earrings Taylor wore to the Grammys each had 12 stones in them. (Yeah, maybe I need that tin hat after all.)
When praising BFF Selena Gomez’s recent album on her instagram story, Taylor wrote, “OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDD.” You guessed it, that’s 12 Ds. And, hear me out, Taylor has hinted at previous releases using very specific numbers of emojis in the past. For example, four red hearts were used in the lead up to the re-recording of her fourth studio album, Red (Taylor’s Version).
Remember how some items on Taylor site were 26% off? Yep, there were 12 of them.
If TS12 is released before the final re-recordings, Taylor’s first album in the post-Taylor’s Version era will be her 13th. And every Swiftie knows, 13 is Taylor’s lucky number, her birthday, and featured in many an Easter egg.
In November, Taylor ended the introduction of The Eras Tour Book with, “See you next era…”
And if you believe there’s an announcement coming at the AMAs? Worth noting that the last two original studio albums were announced at award shows while the most recent re-recordings were announced on stage at the Eras Tour.
My Pick
Personally, I hope there isn’t an announcement at the AMAs because the award show announcements aren’t my favorite, but it’s hard to deny that all signs point to something going down at the show. For my money, AMAs or not, Taylor sticks to her pattern and Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is our next release.
That said, TS12 is my dark horse pick, and Rep (TV) only beats it by a very slim margin. It really could go either way.
