Taylor Swift fans spot unexpected name on new album and it's sparked major theory

Taylor Swift has teased the release of her latest album, and fans are already coming up with theories after spotting an unexpected name.

It wouldn't be the release of a new album from the pop royalty without rumours (or 'Tusk'), circulating about its contents.

And with a name as huge as Taylor Swift, you can bet that the rumours will be all the more widespread when the star announced she would be releasing her new album 'The Life of a Showgirl' on October 3.

A preview of the upcoming record shows Swift in a bath wearing a sparkly showgirl costume, with just her eyes, nose and mouth peeking above the surface of the slightly cloudy bathwater.

But one celebrity name appearing on the credits has sent many fans into a spin of excitement and anticipation.

The cover of Swift's upcoming album (Taylor Swift)

This is the name of pop icon George Michael, who is credited as a writer on the song 'Father Figure'.

Eagled-eyed readers may have twigged a slight problem here - George Michael has been dead since 2016, RIP.

So, it might be a little tricky for him to have written the song.

Some people have speculated that Swift may be including a sample of Michael's song 'Father Figure' on the track.

Taking to social media, one person wrote: "More than likely a sample, I couldn't see Taylor putting a cover of another song on her albums."

Meanwhile another wrote: "Great time to be alive when my mum’s music and mine overlap like this!"

And the rumours that Swift would be sampling George Michael on her upcoming record have been confirmed to be true - sort of.

George Michael is credited on the album (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Billboard reported that Swift would not be sampling the late icon on her record, but she would be interpolating it.

For those who aren't familiar with that term - interpolating is when a musician re-records elements of another song as part of their own song.

Rather than sampling, which is taking the original recording, it's creating a new recording of the other song to use.

This could be done for a variety of reasons, among them being legal or licensing.

Another might also be creative reasons, to lend a piece of music a twang of familiarity without directly sampling something else.

Swifties have been left ecstatic with excitement as the release date for the album approaches.

It comes less than a year after Swift concluded her Eras Tour in December 2024, which was the highest-grossing tour of all time.