NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s an exciting day for Taylor Swift fans. The pop superstar released her highly anticipated new album "The Life of a Showgirl" on Friday, and Swifties in Music City are celebrating in true Taylor fashion.
Fans have been ready for it since Swift announced the album in August. To mark the release, several pop-up events are happening across Nashville, the city where her career first began.
Things started bright and early at Starbucks near Vanderbilt University with “The Life of a Showgirl” Starbies coffeehouse event. The pop-up featured a vinyl record shop, photo booth, friendship bracelet station, and special cold foam drinks.
At Grimey’s Record Store, excitement continued as artist Kim Radford painted a new mural of Taylor on the side of the building. Inside, staff prepared for the crowd by stocking plenty of copies of the new record.
“Taylor Swift definitely points people to the record store,” Anna Lundy with Grimey’s Records said. “Large releases like this bring people to a space they might have never come before. They find other artists they like or get turned on to artists they’ve never been exposed to, and we’re happy to share that with them.”
Fans got to the recrod store early to grab their copy of "The Life of a Showgirl". Among them was Casey Fitzsimmons, who said her love for Taylor runs deep.
“I have her lyrics tattooed. My middle name is Taylor,” Fitzsimmons said. “If I didn’t know what I was expecting with Tortured Poets, I don’t know what I’m expecting with this.”
Fitzsimmons canceled her morning plans to meet her friend Madelyn Arserio at Grimey’s. As she waited, she watched the mural come to life.
“When I pulled in here 20 minutes ago and saw they were painting one I was like, score — this is going in my October photo dump on Instagram,” Fitzsimmons said.
The two friends eventually made it inside and got their albums. “If you were to ask me my five favorite things about life, this is at least number three,” Fitzsimmons said with a laugh. “My nephews are number two — this is number three.”
"The Life of a Showgirl" is already breaking streaming records and marking Swift’s return to her pop roots.
“She can tell us everything about her life, but we really don’t know what her life is like,” Fitzsimmons said. “We don’t know what it’s like to live The Life of a Showgirl unless you are a showgirl.”
This story was reported on-air by reporter Aaron Cantrell and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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