On the third floor of the Student Center, Eastern Michigan University students danced and sang along as they celebrated the release of Taylor Swift's 12th studio album "The Life of a Showgirl," which hit streaming platforms and Target stores across the country when the clock struck midnight on Oct. 3, 2025.
Team Taylor, EMU's student fan club dedicated to Taylor Swift, hosted a campus listening party on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. About 15 attendees gathered in a room decorated with orange streamers and balloons — a nod to the color associated with the new album — to listen as a group.
Attendees and club members, many donned in Swift-branded apparel and friendship bracelets, chatted over the music, analyzing lyrics and drawing parallels between songs and signifying their favorites.
"Hey, I know I said that the last five were my favorite, but this one is my favorite," attendee Maddy Jecewski said to the group as a new song poured out of the boombox speaker.
The standout track for Carmen Lakatos, club secretary, was "Ruin The Friendship," a song that describes its narrator's grief and regret of looking back on a high school almost-sweetheart who later passed away.
"It really just hit me in the gut," Lakatos said about the song.
"The Fate of Ophelia" and "Elizabeth Taylor" were favorites for Aleigha Parrack, Team Taylor member-at-large.
At the listening party, attendees snacked on fall-themed cupcakes and cookies and collected stickers of Swift while they discussed the album.
Attendees look through a selection of Taylor Swift-themed stickers at "The Life of A Showgirl" listening party hosted by EMU's Team Taylor fan club on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.
Team Taylor at EMU
For many members, joining Team Taylor was a way to connect with fellow Swifties, as Swift's fans are affectionately known, at EMU.
"The community aspect and the friendships that can be formed by listening to [Swift's] music is a big draw," Parrack said.
The Team Taylor club was the brainchild of EMU's self-identified "head Swiftie," Justin Giles. As president and founder of the club, Justin Giles stakes his claim to the title, and other members of the club were quick to concur.
Team Taylor club president Justin Giles takes a walk around campus between classes while donning Taylor Swift apparel.
Often found walking around campus with his headphones and Swift merch on, listening to the pop star's music, Giles was the one who rallied his Swiftie friends together to form the group this semester.
“After the first meeting, everyone walked out, because we were done, and it was just me, my secretary and my vice president, and I was like, ‘Guys, that just happened,'” Giles said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, we actually have a good group together, and everyone’s so kind, and everyone’s like, talking to each other,’ and it’s just been really beautiful seeing that.”
EMU Team Taylor e-board members Carmen Lakatos, club secretary, Kailey Streeter, vice president, Justin Giles, president, and Aleigh Parrack, member-at-large, pose in front of album-themed decorations at the Oct. 3, 2025 "The Life of A Showgirl" listening party.
Born the same year of Swift’s 2006 debut, Giles, a freshman studying psychology, calls himself a lifelong fan. But it was in eighth grade, when he heard Swift’s songs “Don’t Blame Me” and “right where you left me,” that his admiration for the singer really deepened. After that, a friend convinced him to listen to more of Swift’s music.
“It kind of just got more obsessive from there,” Giles said. “I just fell in love with all of it.”
Shared connection
"The club offers a space for like-minded Swifties to connect and bond over their love of Swift’s music," Giles said.
He likened the connection to the one he experienced with other fans when he attended the Eras Tour, Swift’s record-breaking world tour, in Detroit in 2023. Swift played two shows in Detroit in 2023 on June 9 and 10.
“It was just really awesome to be at a stadium full of people that I had something in common with, and everyone was so social and nice," Giles said. "And I’ve yet to be in a space like that, except for — I guess — my own club."
Seeing Swift in concert during the Eras Tour was Giles’ first and only time seeing the singer live so far, and it’s clear the experience left a mark.
“That was the best time of my life,” Giles said. “I was going through a rough patch around the time this concert happened to occur, and so my cousin and I went together, and honestly, I think that that just kind of cured the depression I was dealing with at that moment.”
The Eras Tour was an emotional experience for other Team Taylor club members who attended, too.
"I sobbed like a baby," said Spencer Keefer, a member of the club since its first meeting, who also attended the June 9, 2023 show in Detroit.
The power of storytelling
To Giles, Swift’s music represents catharsis.
“I’ve just always gone to her in the case of heartbreak,” Giles said. “I fall for someone, I’m listening to Taylor. We break up, I’m listening to Taylor.”
Swift's music has been a guiding light through personal struggles for other club members, too.
Swift's 2024 release, "The Tortured Poets Department" is club member Luci Frattarelli's favorite Swift album.
"It came out during a hard time in my life, so it just helped me get through stuff," Frattarelli said.
An artist known for her songwriting talents, Swift’s lyricism stands out to Giles, especially on his favorite album “evermore,” which was surprise-released in 2020.
“The storytelling on it is just so powerful,” Giles said. “I think it’s like the peak of her storytelling capabilities, at least for now.”
Those storytelling capabilities shine in the song "tolerate it," Giles said.
“She just paints such a clear picture of this, like, loveless relationship that’s been going on for years. And I love how it begins with, ‘I sit and watch you,’” Giles said, describing the song's lyrics. “Then the final line is, ‘I sit and watch you’ because it’s a cycle. She’s not actually breaking free. And I just think that’s genius.”
Parrack also praised Swift's lyricism, and said the 2020 release, "folklore" — sister album to "evermore" — boasts impressive narrative qualities.
"There really is a Taylor album for everybody," Parrack added.
Swift’s music has often been the soundtrack of important moments in Giles’ life.
“My first kiss with a guy, 'Everything Has Changed' was playing, and that really stuck with me,” Giles said. “Every time I hear that song, I’m like, transported back to that moment.”
Celebrating "The Life of A Showgirl"
For "The Life of A Showgirl," Swift reunited with Swedish producers and songwriters Max Martin and Shellback, who were collaborators on some of her previous albums, including "Red," "1989" and "Reputation."
"I liked how it was just fun," Giles said of the new album. "I was just dancing and having fun."
"It flowed together really well," he added.
As for album release night traditions, Giles said he tries to always stay up until midnight to listen to Swift’s new albums right when they come out, and "The Life of a Showgirl" was no exception.
Globally, Swift fans flocked to movie theaters from Oct. 3-5 for "The Official Release Party of A Showgirl," which featured the world premiere of "The Fate of Ophelia" music video, behind-the-scenes footage, lyric videos and Swift's reflections on the new album. Several members of the Team Taylor club mentioned plans to attend the theatrical event.
Team Taylor's next meeting will be on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. and will feature a game of Kahoot! covering Swift trivia. The meeting location will be announced closer to the date, and those interested in attending should check Team Taylor's Instagram, @emuteamtaylor, for updates.
Team Taylor, a student fan club dedicated to Taylor Swift, passed out customized "The Life of An Eagle" stickers at its "The Life of A Showgirl" listening party.
