Taylor Swift achieved two Spotify milestones this week after releasing “The Life of a Showgirl: Encore,” an expanded edition of her 2025 album. The lead single “Patient Zero” set a record for most-streamed song by a female artist in a single day in 2026, while Swift herself logged the most streams of any female artist in a day this year.
Swift built anticipation for the project through a puzzle embedded in her appearance during the Emmys telecast. Appearing as a detective in a “Law & Order: SVU” skit, she provided clues that fans decoded to spell out the word “encore.” The announcement of the new material came earlier this week, when Swift first revealed a single release before unexpectedly unveiling plans for a full four-track EP.
The expanded project includes “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” In a social media post, Swift attributed the new songs to a trip to Sweden where she reflected on the success of the original album with collaborators Max and Shellback. She noted that the original “Life of a Showgirl” achieved the largest first-week streaming figures in album history, and the new material emerged from writing sessions during that celebratory visit.
Swift is set to premiere the music video for “Patient Zero” at the MTV VMAs this Sunday. The video, shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, features appearances by Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell. Swift is also receiving the inaugural Artist-Director Award at the ceremony. She shared a preview of the video on a morning television program earlier in the week before posting it online.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI