Let the 'Showgirl' era begin: Taylor Swift's new album is almost here

Taylor Swift's hotly anticipated "The Life of A Showgirl" drops at 12:01 am Eastern time Friday (0401 GMT), accompanied by a swirl of public release parties and plenty of fans in the music superstar's chosen color this time around: orange.

"Something that's been interesting from the last few albums is that we get an esthetic, we get colors, but we don't hear any sound from the album until midnight on the Friday that it's released," fan Michael Kutek told AFP in New York.

"Showgirl" is the 35-year-old's 12th studio album, and draws inspiration from her life on the record-shattering Eras Tour, which wrapped up late last year with a staggering $2 billion in ticket sales.

Indeed, it's Swift's world, and we are all living in it: this year, she bought back the rights to her entire back catalog and got engaged to her NFL Super Bowl champion boyfriend Travis Kelce before the album's release.

The album "comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life," she said on the New Heights podcast hosted by Kelce and his brother.

"That effervescence has come through."

Swift has said to expect "bangers" on the 12-track "Showgirl," and her reunion with Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback -- responsible for her infectious "Shake It Off" and "22" -- certainly suggests a pop-heavy outing.

Fans were excited about what Swift has called her "Portofino orange" theme.

The 31-year-old Kutek, who was attending a promotional event in the massive run-up to the release, said the color was "very loud" and "gaudy," but "in a good way."

His friend Sydney O'Shaughnessy, 28, said she believed the color signified a sound that would be "bang, bang -- very upbeat."

The album is the most pre-saved album ever on the Spotify streaming platform, breaking the record set last year by... Swift's last album, "The Tortured Poets Department."