THE RUNDOWN
- Taylor Swift discussed a variety of topics on her New Heights podcast appearance, including her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
- Swift and Kelce discussed how their relationship started and how Swift spent her downtime after finishing her Eras Tour.
- The podcast marks the most revealing interview Swift has given in years.
After 20 years in the music industry, Taylor Swift has finally made her podcast debut—and naturally, she broke the internet doing it. With over 15 million views to date on YouTube, Swift’s appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast alongside his brother, Jason, has already become an instant cultural moment, less than two days since its release. Here‘s everything we discovered during the nearly two-hour conversation that has Swifties obsessed.
The album we’ve all been waiting for has a name (and a release date).
The Life of a Showgirl will be released on October 3, featuring 12 tracks that Swift promises are all “bangers.” Unlike The Tortured Poets Department, there won’t be any surprise double albums this time—these 12 songs are it. The orange-themed era represents “energetically how my life has felt” during the Eras Tour, with Swift explaining she worked on the album with Max Martin and Shellback while flying between European tour dates.
Travis really did use New Heights as his “personal dating app.”
Swift revealed she’s only doing podcasts because “New Heights got me a boyfriend” after Travis “made it his personal dating app.” The full origin story is incredible: When he attended Swift’s July 2023 Eras Tour show at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, Travis thought he could just talk to “the elevator lady” to get to Swift’s dressing room rather than going through proper management channels. Arrowhead is Travis’s home stadium as a Kansas City Chiefs player.
“He really was just like, ‘I know a guy. I can figure this out,’” Swift said with a laugh, admitting she’s never actually seen the original friendship bracelet he made with his phone number to give her.
“I give the Eras Tour credit,” Travis told Swift in the episode. “Because if I had never gone to that show and just been mesmerized and just been captivated—and then left with such a desire to want to meet you, I would’ve never gone on [New Heights] and told everybody how butthurt I was.”
Their first date featured a football fumble.
On their first date, Swift asked Travis “what it was like when the Chiefs played the Eagles in the Super Bowl, and he looked across the field and saw his brother standing five feet away from him on the field.” The problem? The brothers were never on the field at the same time due to their positions—Travis plays offense, Jason played offense. Swift now calls it an “insane question,” but Travis sweetly explained how football actually works, sparking her genuine love for the sport.
She got emotional talking about buying her masters.
Swift got teary discussing the moment she learned she could buy her master recordings for her first six albums from Shamrock Capital. She “very dramatically hit the floor” crying when she heard from her mother, then tried to tell Travis “in a normal way” but broke down in sobs. Travis responded, “I’m just so happy for you because I’ve seen how you make music...I know how much it burned you that you didn’t have that.”
Family health scares have shaped her summer.
Swift opened up about serious health issues affecting both parents. Her mother “got a new knee,” and her dad had quintuple bypass surgery after a stress test revealed “five blockages in his heart.”
“This was the summer of my parental upgrades,” she said.
We have Donna Kelce to thank for Swift and Travis’s big AFC Championship kiss moment.
Swift’s favorite football moment involved Travis’s mother Donna telling her to go down to the field after the AFC Championship. She said, “Trust me, he wants you there.”
Swift worried Travis would think, “What are you doing here, dude?” but his mother knew better. Now Swift genuinely loves the sport, and she and Travis even “traded physical therapy notes” during the Eras Tour.
Online commentary about her doesn’t faze her anymore.
After 20 years in the industry, “it’s pretty hard to hurt my feelings,” Swift revealed. “My name can be in the actual headline, and it can still be none of my business,” she said of blocking out negativity. The couple admitted they don’t really see most of the online chatter, with Travis learning from Swift “how to be a pro about it.”
She’s living her domestic fantasy life.
Beyond the stadiums and studios, Swift is embracing a state of cozy domesticity. Her current obsession is making sourdough bread in flavors like blueberry lemon, cinnamon swirl, and funfetti. She even delivered bread-themed puns referencing her discography: “Are you bread-y for it?” “It’s a loaf story, baby just say yeast,” and “Loafing him was bread.”
Her Easter eggs really are strategic.
Swift revealed her favorite Easter egg moment: her 2022 NYU commencement speech that was secretly packed with Midnights album references. “Fans were like, ‘the whole speech was an Easter egg,’” she said with a laugh. She also explained the orange door at her final Eras Tour show was a “subliminal hint” that she was leaving that era and entering a new one.
Watch the full episode below:
