On Aug. 13, Taylor Swift appeared on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast to announce her upcoming album. In the filmed version of the podcast, Swift pairs a white button-down shirt with Cartier accessories. The two items cost an eye-watering amount of money, and represents a shift into her new era.
Taylor Swift announced her upcoming album on Travis Kelce’s podcast
After an Aug. 11 post on the Taylor Nation Instagram account teased Swift’s “next era,” fans began to wonder if an album announcement would come soon. Just one day later, it did. In a teaser for the New Heights podcast, Swift revealed the cover — though blurred out — of her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl.
This is Swift’s 12th studio album. While the release date has not yet been announced, fans can already pre-order the album. Her official website said that the pre-orders will ship by Oct. 13.
Taylor Swift wore thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry during the album announcement
During Swift’s New Heights appearance, she wore a simple white button-down with Cartier’s Panthère de Cartier Pendant and the Cartier Santos Demoiselle Small Yellow Gold Diamond Ladies Watch. The pendant retails for $11,400, and the watch, now discontinued, costs $17,160. Together, the two items cost nearly $30k.
Emma Snowdon, the creative director of the antique and vintage jewelry specialist Berganza, said these pieces make a strong statement.
“The Panthère is one of Cartier’s most recognizable motifs, long associated with feminine strength, elegance, and independence,” Snowdon said. “Introduced under the creative vision of Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier’s mid-20th-century director, nicknamed ‘La Panthère,’ it came to embody a woman who is confident, free-spirited, and unapologetically herself: graceful yet powerful, alluring yet untamed. With its black lacquer spots, single green tsavorite eye, and diamond detailing, Swift’s pendant projects this quiet authority.”
The watch is a simple, elegant piece with an expensive price tag.
“The watch, a vintage, diamond-bezel Santos Demoiselle, is modest in scale but unmistakably luxurious, with a legacy tied to elegance and craftsmanship,” Snowdon explained. “Swift has worn both before, including on public outings with Travis Kelce, making them both personal and symbolic. By bringing them back here, she creates a through line between her private life and the public spectacle of The Life of a Showgirl.”
Snowdon said the jewelry was a good representation of Swift’s new era
Snowdon believes Swift’s jewelry choices, like much of what she does, were intentional.
“Her jewellery choices align with the new album’s aesthetic,” she said. “The Cartier pieces remain restrained in styling, yet they convey a polish and status that match the theatrical, high-profile energy the title suggests. In this context, the jewellery isn’t just decoration — it’s part of the narrative for a new era.”
They mark a shift into her new era with The Life of a Showgirl.
“If she’d announced The Life of a Showgirl in tiny, minimalistic pieces, say pared-to-nothing silver hoops and a hairline chain, the shift wouldn’t register as strongly,” she said. “These pieces mark a decisive break: a visual signal that this is a new chapter.”
