Taylor Swift‘s twelfth album The Life of a Showgirl is finally here and it features a long-anticipated collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter.
Carpenter, the only guest vocalist on the LP, joins Swift on the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl.” The mid-tempo pop songs recounts the story of a woman named Kitty, who “made her money being pretty and witty.” The singers join voices as they embody Kitty, crooning, “Hey, thank you for the lovely bouquet/ You’re sweeter than a peach/ But you don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe/ And you’re never ever gonna.”
As the song closes, Swift intones, “Give it up for the band, the dancers, and, of course, Sabrina.” Carpenter chimes in, “I love you, Taylor!”
“The Life of a Showgirl” marks Swift and Carpenter’s first song together. The rumored collaboration was officially confirmed in August when Swift shared the album’s set list. Carpenter responded on Instagram, writing, “I know someone who’s freaking out and it’s me.”
A feature on Swift’s 12th album would be a big deal for anyone, but it’s especially momentous for Carpenter, who has idolized the superstar for years. “I hold her to such a different echelon,” she told Rolling Stone last year. “I could never compare my life, my career, my trajectory to anything close to what she’s done.” Back in 2009, around when Carpenter first started uploading YouTube covers of popular songs, she delivered a passionate rendition of Swift’s “Picture to Burn.”
The two singers previously joined forces on the Eras Tour stage in the fall of 2024, when Carpenter came out in New Orleans for the surprise-songs set. They played a mashup of Carpenter’s smash hit “Espresso,” along with Swift’s “Is It Over Now?” and another Short ‘n Sweet track, “Please Please Please.” After the performance, Swift sang Carpenter’s praises. “She’s as real as they come and I’m so thankful she did that for us,” she wrote on Instagram about the surprise performance.
Swift celebrated the release of her latest album on Friday in an Instagram post, sharing behind-the-scenes photos alongside the caption: Tonight all these lives converge here/ The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears/ Where fraternal souls sing identical things/ And it’s beautiful/ It’s rapturous/ It is frightening.”
Swift continued, “I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right. A forever thank you goes out to my mentors and friends Max and Shellback for helping me paint this self portrait.” The singer also teased, “If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain… The Life of a Showgirl is out now.”