Fans Are Going Wild Over Taylor Swift’s New Album Cover Photo

Global superstar Taylor Swift unveiled her highly anticipated 12th studio album this week, The Life of a Showgirl, and the cover photo was captured by celebrated fashion and portrait photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, who go by just Mert and Marcus.

There have been so many iconic album covers over the years, and Mert and Marcus, both born in 1971, have shot around 20 of them.

Beyond shooting the album cover for The Life of a Showgirl, the photography duo also worked with Swift on her sixth album, Reputation, in 2017. Mert and Marcus, whose work has been featured in Vogue and used by huge brands like Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Dior, and more, also shot album covers for other huge musical artists like Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, Shania Twain, and Nicki Minaj.

As reported by The Line of Best Fit, Swift unveiled her album last night, August 13, on the New Heights podcast that stars her famous boyfriend, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, and his brother, former NFL center Jason Kelce. When announcing the album, Swift showed off the cover, which shows the singer-songwriter submerged almost entirely underwater in a bath and wearing a small bejeweled dress.

“There are a lot more photos in this,” Swift says, referring to the inner jacket of the record. “I love the photography so much that I don’t want to show it right now because I want to keep some mystery going.”

“But the photos are done by Mert and Marcus, who are two of my favorite photographers. The last time, the only time, I’ve worked with them for an album cover shoot was with Reputation, for that album,” Swift continues. “And I loved what they did with those photos, so I called them up for this one, and I’m so happy with the way that the photos came out for this one.”

Although Reputation is the only other album cover Swift worked with Mert and Marcus on, she has worked with them on other things, including for a Vogue cover story in 2016.

After working with Swift on the Vogue story and Reputations, Mert and Marcus chatted with Time for an interview about their illustrious careers. During the conversation, the photography duo dished on working with Swift, describing her as having “the most incredible photographic eye.” Swift’s penchant for photography is well known, and she has routinely been spotted out and about with an interchangeable lens camera in hand, including an Olympus E-M10 IV in late 2024.

“I like when someone has an opinion and a point of view and Taylor had an incredible point of view,” Mert told Time in 2017.

Swift’s upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, arrives on October 3, 2025.

Image credits: Header photo by Mert and Marcus.