As excitement builds for the much-anticipated release of Taylor Swift’s “Life of a Showgirl,” businesses in the D.C. area are rolling out the red carpet to warmly welcome this vibrant new era. The album, which drops this Friday, inspires local establishments to create unique experiences for fans through themed events, dazzling decor, and innovative cocktails designed to capture the essence of Swift’s showgirl aesthetic.
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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.
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 of 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 explained. “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 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, running 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 crafted to match the aesthetic of each “era,” based on Femia’s research. The Life of a Showgirl’s designated drink is an orange creamsicle frozen cocktail. Attendees are encouraged to wear eras-themed outfits. Along with music and cocktails, other local vendors will set up stations to enhance the atmosphere for Swifties.
“We’ll have a permanent bracelet station,” Femia noted. “We’ll have a hat bar, a charm bar, glitter hair strands.” For those unfamiliar, a hat bar allows customers to customize a Western or trucker-style hat with patches, feathers, and cards. The parties have been a success, according to Femia, who 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.”
This Weekend: ‘Brunch of a Showgirl’
This weekend, Cynthia Bar and Bistro on H Street is hosting the “Brunch of a Showgirl.” Outside, Taylor Swift’s music will play on repeat while owner Phil Coppage plans for photo ops, boas, friendship bracelets, and bottomless bacon—an unexpected but welcome addition. “It’s really just submerging ourselves in all that is Taylor Swift, including some Taylor Swift-themed cocktails,” he shared.
Sporting a Swiftie-themed shirt behind the bar, Coppage concocted a cocktail called “The Opalite Elixir,” inspired by a track from the album. The mix includes Tito’s vodka, house-made vanilla syrup, and freshly squeezed lemon juice, finished with a dash of edible glitter. “Now, this is the secret, the sparkle,” he said while demonstrating the drink.
Coppage believes the album release provides an excellent opportunity to highlight their newly introduced brunch offering. “This gives us a little opportunity to 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 explained. As a fan himself, Coppage hopes Swifties will gather for brunch to revel in the “Taylor Swift overload.” “It’s just a celebration of Taylor and all the joy that she brings to this world,” he concluded. “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.”
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