Businesses around the D.C. area are embracing a new Taylor Swift era with her new album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ set to release Friday.
Complete with feather boas and sparkling cocktails, businesses around the D.C. area are embracing a new Taylor Swift era with her album “The Life of a Showgirl” releasing Friday.
This page contains a video which is being blocked by your ad blocker.
In order to view the video you must disable your ad blocker.
Where to listen to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ around the DC region
On fiancé Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, Swift has described her 12th studio album as “infectious.”
Local restaurants, bars and breweries are looking to ride the sparkly orange wave of Swift’s success from her incoming album with millions of fans pining in anticipation.
Baby, that’s show business for you.
Those businesses are planning events catered to the fan base, working off what is known about the upcoming era — vibrant colors, showgirl glam and the names of the 12 tracks.
Overnight Thursday: Listening party
The party starts before the album drops.
Barrel in Capitol Hill is welcoming Swifties in for a listening party beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday night.
“Our kitchen is open, so for the first couple hours, people hang out and they drink and they eat, and we’ve got old Taylor music playing,” General Manager Matt Sternberg said. “Then, at midnight, when the album drops, it gets really quiet.”
Jo Palmer is a regular at the neighborhood bar’s listening parties.
“You’ll be listening to the lyrics so hard, because we’re dedicated here — like we’re studying, this is an academic pursuit, being a Swiftie,” Palmer said. “You’ll meet someone’s eye across the bar because you just heard a lyric that just gave you some insight.”
Palmer proudly calls herself “one of the resident Swifties of Capitol Hill.”
“I’m a mother now. I have a 5-year-old, so I don’t have so many late nights anymore, but I can sneak out,” she said. “You just get to build community and meet new people.”
It’s the fourth time the whiskey bar has hosted Swift fans for an album drop, complete with themed cocktails and life-sized cutouts of the singer for selfies.
Sternberg credited a former bar manager with coming up with the idea after noticing D.C. didn’t seem to host listening parties for Swifties, unlike other cities.
“Coming out of COVID, you were just trying to find anything that could bring communities back together, get people to come back out to bars and restaurants,” Sternberg said. “It was an avenue that, to be honest, we didn’t know was going to work, and it did, and it’s worked over and over and over again.”
Friday: Hat decorating and jam session
Another local business that’s been hosting Swifties is Lost Barrel Brewing in Middleburg, Virginia. Friday night marks the brewery’s third “Taylor Swift Party” this year. The event goes from 2 to 9:30 p.m.
“We’re going to have 12 signature drinks, one for each album and for each era,” said Natalie Femia, Lost Barrel Brewing’s marketing and events director.
The drink menu is designed to match the aesthetic of each “era,” based off Femia’s research. The Life of a Showgirl’s designated drink is an orange creamsicle frozen cocktail. Eras-themed outfits are encouraged.
Outside the music and cocktails, other local vendors will set up stations at the brewery to set the mood for Swifties.
“We’ll have a permanent bracelet station,” Femia said. “We’ll have a hat bar, a charm bar, glitter hair strands.”
For those unfamiliar with a hat bar, Femia said customers can customize a Western or trucker-style hat with patches, feathers and cards.
The parties have been a success for the brewery, Femia said.
“It brings great people in and great brand awareness, and just really a cool night where people can enjoy themselves, and our staff enjoy themselves too, because we’re busy,” Femia said.
This weekend: ‘Brunch of a Showgirl’
This weekend, Cynthia Bar and Bistro on H Street is hosting the “Brunch of a Showgirl.” Outside leaving Taylor Swift’s music on repeat, owner Phil Coppage said there will be photos ops, boas, friendship bracelets and bottomless bacon (which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Swift but doesn’t hurt his cause).
“It’s really just sort of submerging ourselves in all that is Taylor Swift, including some Taylor Swift-themed cocktails,” Coppage said of the morning’s event.
While sporting a Swiftie-themed shirt behind the bar, Coppage concocted one of the cocktails, “The Opalite Elixir,” in honor of a track off the album, “Opalite.” Tito’s vodka, house-made vanilla syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice all go into the shaker.
“Now, this is the secret, the sparkle,” he said, while demonstrating how to make the drink over video call. “It’s a little edible glitter, which we pop right in there.”
Coppage said the album release gives his business an excuse to put a spotlight on its recently debuted brunch offering.
“This gives us a little opportunity to sort of amplify what we’re already doing, to mix in a little bit of fun, a little bit of dancing and just enjoy ourselves these days,” he said.
And as a fan himself, Coppage hopes Swifties will meet up for brunch to take in the “Taylor Swift overload.”
“It’s just a celebration of Taylor and all the joy that she brings to this world,” he said. “She comes up all the time at a bar. It’s just really natural to do something to celebrate this release, and it really brings people together, old and young.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.