Taylor Swift on Kelce brothers’ ‘New Heights’ podcast: What we learned
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Taylor Swift will enter her latest era in a matter of months.
The ubiquitous “Shake It Off” pop star announced that her upcoming album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” would drop Oct. 3 as she made her podcasting debut Wednesday on “New Heights,” co-hosted by her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his retired football pro brother, Jason Kelce. The Grammy winner also unveiled the album’s tracklist, which touts a finale featuring Sabrina Carpenter.
“It was something I was working on while I was in Europe on the Eras tour,” she explained to the Kelce brothers. “I was physically exhausted at this point on the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating.”
Swift revealed her 12th album was imminent earlier this week in a teaser promoting the latest “New Heights” episode. In the clip, she pulls a blurred-out record out of a briefcase decorated simply with her initials.
Taylor Swift announced her new album on “New Heights,” the popular podcast co-hosted by her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce. Swift has departed from her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff and returns to work with producers Max Martin and Shellback.
“The Life of a Showgirl” will be her second record in two years — following last year’s “The Tortured Poets Department” — and her first release since reacquiring the rights to her early recordings in May.
That was a move that “changed my life,” she said Wednesday.
Swift appeared on “New Heights” just over two years after she and Kelce sparked a connection. Though they officially became an item in the fall of 2023, their relationship could be traced back months earlier, when Kelce — a self-proclaimed Swiftie — managed to get a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp, and the two eventually got in touch.
Swift joked that her boyfriend used his podcast as a “personal dating app” and called his strategy a “wild and romantic gesture.”
She added: “This is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
How did an unlucky-in-love pop star and a good-natured tight end become America’s sweethearts almost overnight? The obsession runs deeper than fame, our columnist writes.
“Trayvis” — or “Traylor,” if you prefer — dominated headlines and social media timelines, and to some sports fans’ chagrin, the couple was even among the overarching narratives of Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs faced the San Francisco 49ers. On “New Heights,” Swift offered a cheeky comment.
“As we all know, you guys have a lot of male sports fans that listen to your podcast,” she told the Kelce brothers in a teaser for the two-hour episode. “I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans wanna see in their space and on their screens, it’s more of me.”
During their time together on “New Heights,” Swift and Kelce traded compliments. She praised his loyalty to longtime friends, and he said it was a “green flag” that she went through general admission with Kelce’s family and friends at her first Chiefs game.
“I was like, ‘Oh, she’s just in it. She’s down for the ride. She’s here for the fun,’” joked Kelce, who recently appeared in “Happy Gilmore 2.”
The pop megastar said Friday that she had regained control of her first six studio albums, six years after Scooter Braun bought her old record label.
Swift and the Kelce brothers also spoke extensively about her experience on her expansive Eras tour, her recent fascination with bread-making, Chiefs coach Andy Reid playing matchmaker, fielding criticism on social media, and her parents’ health. The singer concluded her podcast appearance reveling in the opportunity to pursue her craft.
“I’m so grateful for the ability to create,” she said. “That’s still what drives all of it.”
Though “Life of a Showgirl” won’t arrive until October, the album is available for preorder on Swift’s website.
