CLEVELAND, Ohio — Taylor Swift made her podcasting debut alongside her NFL star boyfriend/Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce and announced the details of her 12th studio album.
The Wednesday, August 13 episode of the podcast hosted by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis and his brother Jason Kelce, also a retired NFL star, featured a very special guest. “New Heights” released the “pre-season” episode of the podcast as a special episode to announce Swift’s next album.
Alongside the album announcement, Swift reflected on the Eras Tour, settling into home life with Travis and what it was like to immerse herself into the world of the NFL.
She’s on to the next era
The most anticipated moment of the latest “New Heights” episode was when Swift announced her third studio album, “The Life of A Showgirl,” set to release on Oct. 3 (10/3 or 10 + 3 = 13, for fans looking for Easter eggs). The 12-song album features a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter for the title track, and Swift reunited with former producers Max Martin and Shellback to create the album.
“The Life of A Showgirl” was written during the European leg of Swift’s Eras tour, “literally living the life of a showgirl while she wrote it,” Travis pointed out. She was inspired by the whirlwind life of touring the world with Travis and wanted to capture that “lightning in a bottle” in an album.
“It’s everything that was going on behind the curtain,” Swift explained of the album theme. “Life is more upbeat.”
Swift and Travis, who repeatedly bragged about hearing the album already, remarked that the songs are upbeat “bangers” that will get stuck in your head. Additionally, unlike her last release, the 31-track “Tortured Poet’s Department,” Swift said the 12 songs on the album are it for this new “era.”
“Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons,” Swift said. “I want to be as proud of an album as I am for the Eras Tour.”
Check out the full track list below:
“The Fate of Ophelia”“Elizabeth Taylor”“Opalite”“Father Figure”“Eldest Daughter”“Ruin the Friendship”“Actually Romantic”“Wi$h Li$t”“Wood”“CANCELLED!”“Honey”“The Life of a Showgirl” featuring Sabrina Carpenter
Swift also released visuals on her social media pages
They’re settling into home life together
Throughout the episode, Swift and Travis teased that they were settling into their home life together after the end of the Eras Tour. Swift mentioned always hearing Travis yelling “new news” around the house constantly when filming the podcast. She also mentioned interrupting Travis playing video games to break the news that she repurchased her masters records earlier this summer. Additionally, Swift brought up settling back into her hobbies post-touring, including sewing, painting, cooking and baking sourdough.
“I am the luckiest man in the world,” Travis said in response.
Taylor credits the podcast for their relationship
Throughout the episode, Swift and Travis recounted how their relationship came to be. The couple went public with their relationship in 2023 after months of speculation. Swift totally credited Travis’ public plea on “New Heights” with kickstarting their relationship.
“This podcast got me a boyfriend ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app two years ago,” Swift recalled. She compared it to a 1980s John Hughes movie, which features the type of romantic gestures she said she’s been “writing songs about wanting to happen” for her entire career.
However, Travis said he really fell in love with Swift after watching her on stage during the Eras Tour, prompting him to make the public plea.
“If I would’ve never gone to that show and been mesmerized and just been captivated and left with such a desire to want to meet you, I would’ve never went on here,” he said. To the delight of fans of the couple, their flirtatious vibes were hard to ignore throughout the episode.
Taylor talks becoming an NFL fan
Considering Swift was on a podcast with two NFL stars, she was prompted to discuss how she got interested in football, giving all of the credit to Travis.
“I didn’t know what a first down was,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what a tight end was.”
Now, she’s proud that she’s been able to attract so many women and young girls into watching the sport, even if it’s only to catch a glimpse of her. Travis praised Swift for “diving into the football world whole-heartedly” and trying to learn as much as possible. The pair actually related to each other’s careers, despite the widely different fields — they both perform physically exhausting tasks for three or more hours in NFL stadiums for hundreds of people.
Travis looks back on the Eras Tour together
Swift spent plenty of time recounting her historic Eras Tour, calling it “perfect for what it was.” Even Travis got a chance to experience what it was like in her shoes when he got on stage during one of her shows in London in a tuxedo during a performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
“I felt like an ant,” Travis said, adding that it was nothing like playing football in front of an NFL crowd.
The cameo was Swift’s idea, but she said she could tell that Travis was extremely interested once she brought it up. “That was so special,” Swift said. “His comedic timing is crazy.” She added that the moment he came on stage was when fans screamed the loudest of any show.
Swift and Kelce made a visit to his hometown this summer, dining at JoJo’s Bar in Chagrin Falls. The Kansas City Chiefs star was in town for the Alex’s Way Charity Golf Tournament presented by Patrick Bacon and Forest City Insurance.
Swift’s visit to Cleveland had been long-awaited, since Kelce is a proud Cleveland Heights native. There was speculation she’d visit Cleveland last year when the Chiefs played the Browns, but she didn’t appear.
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