Taylor Swift on New Heights: New album, Travis Kelce relationship

Taylor Swift made her extremely anticipated podcast debut on New Heights, hosted by boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce.

The pop celebrity used the looks to announce her new album, The Lifetime of a Showgirl, and provides some updates on her life because the Eras Tour, which ran nearly two years and spanned 5 continents earlier than ending in December.

Greater than 1.3 million tuned in stay for the programme as Swift supplied insights into her relationship with Travis, the infamous easter eggs she vegetation in music for followers and even titbits on her sourdough-bread-baking pastime.

It marked a change for megastar, who’s infamous for not giving interviews and as a substitute sharing updates on her life by way of track lyrics, which frenzied followers analyse and piece collectively.

The American soccer star brothers supplied a heat welcome to Swift, calling her “Tay Tay” and working by way of a listing of her many awards.

Teaser clips of the New Heights podcast went viral earlier than her episode aired, together with one video clip the place Swift unveils a briefcase with “TS” on it and pulls out her new twelfth studio album, which shall be out there 3 October.

The file was concurrently made out there for pre-order on her web site – which additionally had a countdown clock to the second when she would seem on the podcast.

Right here is a few of what we discovered from her greater than hour-long look.

The episode begins with a screaming introduction from Jason, the previous Philadelphia Eagles participant, who runs by way of an extended checklist of his brother’s girlfriend’s accomplishments, together with being the one artist to win the album of the yr Grammy 4 instances.

Swift sat beside Travis, chuckling alongside earlier than thanking Jason for his enthusiasm.

She then went on to poke enjoyable at her showing on a podcast that usually caters to American soccer followers.

“As everyone knows, you understand, you guys have a variety of male sports activities followers that hearken to your podcast,” she stated.

“I feel everyone knows that if there’s one factor that male sports activities followers need of their areas and on their screens, it is extra of me,” she deadpanned, trying straight into the digicam.

Swift’s look at Kansas Metropolis Chiefs video games brought about a frenzy through the years. In 2023 when the pair began courting and she or he began making appearances, recreation cameras seemed for the singer within the stands – reducing to her greater than a dozen instances throughout some video games.

The NFL promoted her appearances at video games closely on social media, posting movies and tweets in regards to the singer and her superstar entourage that usually accompanied her.

Some soccer followers weren’t proud of the brand new focus.

Swift was booed by NFL followers throughout her look on the jumbotron display on the Tremendous Bowl final February, which drew headlines and even social media posts by President Donald Trump.

However regardless of the criticism, Jason assured her that she has been the “most requested visitor on the podcast”. Different latest friends on the present embrace basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James, and actors Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Invoice Murray and Adam Sandler.

Because the countdown clock ran down on her web site and the podcast began, Swift’s web site up to date with the quilt of her twelfth studio album.

The Lifetime of a Showgirl options Swift carrying a bralette emblazoned with diamonds mendacity in turquoise inexperienced.

She is seen submerged within the water, with solely her face above the floor.

The web site to pre-order the album began crashing as quickly because the podcast started, with customers receiving error messages. It will likely be launched 3 October, in line with her web site.

Inside seconds of the podcast starting, almost a million folks had began watching on YouTube. About half-hour into the episode, greater than 1.3 million have been tuning in.

Swift was requested why she selected to look on the podcast, which caters primarily to sports activities followers.

“This podcast has executed loads for me. This podcast acquired me a boyfriend,” she stated, accusing Travis of utilizing the podcast as his “private courting app” earlier than he met her.

Earlier than they began courting – and even met – Travis famously gushed on the podcast about attending considered one of Swift’s concert events and being saddened once they could not meet. He talked about making her a beaded friendship bracelet, which have been common through the Eras Tour, and stated he needed to present her his cellphone quantity.

She stated the clip, which went viral, felt nearly like “he was standing outdoors of my residence, holding a growth field saying, ‘I wish to go on a date with you'”.

She stated this was precisely the second she had “been writing songs about, eager to occur to me since I used to be a young person”.

“It was wild, however it labored… He is the great sort of loopy,” she stated, calling her boyfriend “a human exclamation level”.

She stated she was circling again to the podcast present as a option to say thanks.

She additionally spoke about all of the methods she makes use of easter eggs to tease her music and plant hidden clues for followers.

She stated she has guidelines for the hidden clues in her music and performances.

“I am by no means going to plant an easter egg that ties again to my private life. It is all the time going to return to my music,” she defined, joking that a few of followers have gotten so good at decoding her that it is nearly gotten a bit “zodiac killer”.

The hidden clues are “one thing that you do not know I am saying for a selected cause, however you may return and be like ‘Oh my God!'”

She stated that her favorite instance was a speech she gave when she obtained an honourary doctorate.

“I put so many lyrical easter eggs in that speech that when the Midnights album got here out, after that, the followers have been like, ‘The entire speech was an easter egg!'”

She spoke about her love of numbers and dates. “I really like math stuff,” she stated, calling out 13 as her favorite quantity. Travis, she stated, is “87” – the quantity he wears on his jersey throughout video games – and she or he famous that 13 plus 87 equals 100.

A few of her hidden messages are so advanced, she stated, they’re crafted “the wrong way up, backwards in Braille”.

Swift stated that she knew nothing about soccer earlier than their romance started.

“I did not know what a primary down was,” or a “tight-end,” (which is the place Travis performs), she stated.

She stated she appreciated Travis’ endurance and understanding once they began courting and introducing her to his world.

She’s now discovered herself personally invested – citing an episode the place she discovered herself eager about a latest participant commerce. She recalled pondering to herself: “Who physique snatched me?”

Travis informed her that he shall be “ceaselessly grateful” that she dove totally into his world “wholeheartedly”.

In Could this yr, it was introduced that she had purchased the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-running and extremely publicised battle over the possession of her music.

After her unique masters bought, she vowed to re-record all six albums, which grew to become often known as “Taylor’s Variations”.

Swift grew emotional as she defined the method by which she bought her grasp recordings, after making an attempt for a whole decade to safe the rights.

She stated she was not within the monetary “returns” the albums would carry.

“For me it is not ‘I wish to personal this asset due to its returns’,” she stated. “I need this as a result of it was my handwritten diary entries from my whole life.”

She stated that her mom and brother talked with with Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based funding agency, about buying her music.

When her mom known as her, saying “You bought your music,” she stated: “I simply very dramatically hit the ground. For actual.”

“Bawling my eyes out, and simply weeping. And similar to ‘Actually? Actually? What do you imply?'”

“This modified my life,” she continued. “I can not consider it nonetheless.”

She additionally thanked loyal followers for listening to her re-recorded albums, saying they reacted to the dispute over rights to her music with the Western cowboy expression, “We journey at daybreak”.

She additionally stated that it was by way of her followers that she was capable of purchase again her music.

“The explanation I used to be capable of buy my music again is, they got here to the Eras Tour,” she stated.

She was additionally requested which variations of her albums her followers ought to hearken to – now that she owns each variations.

“I feel a variety of the vocals I did on the re-records have been higher than the unique,” she stated, including that she is particularly keen on the remake of her 2012 album Purple.

Talking about her Eras Tour, which led to December, she instantly drew comparisons to soccer.

“It was a variety of bodily remedy. It was a variety of being in a state of perpetual discomfort,” she stated.

“I am not getting hit by enormous 300-pounders. However the heels!” she stated.

She additionally talked about life after the tour. She and Travis spoke fondly about their love, describing how they bake sourdough bread collectively.

His dough winds up with chest hair in it, whereas hers has additional cat hair, she joked.

“I had by no means skilled one thing so mesmerising on stage, after which so actual and exquisite in individual,” stated Travis.

Jason then joked that possibly he ought to go away, and provides them some privateness, as Swift swooned.

“Yeah I feel so, actually,” Swift responded. “At this level, I feel everybody ought to go away.”

Whereas Swift has at instances been shy about discussing her relationship in public, Travis has been extra outspoken. Earlier than the podcast aired, he informed GQ in an interview, “I really like being the happiest man on the planet”.

He additionally praised Swift for her athleticism, evaluating her three-hour lengthy concert events to his soccer video games.

“That’s arguably extra exhausting than how a lot I put in on a Sunday, and she or he’s doing it three, 4, 5 days in a row,” he stated.