Taylor Swift has a lot to be happy about — including a ring she says she could watch “like it’s a TV.”
The “Bejeweled” pop star hit “The Graham Norton Show” Friday to promote her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” and the host swiftly congratulated her on the “new bit of finger jewelry.”
“He really crushed it when it came to surprising me,” Swift said of fiancé Travis Kelce’s marriage proposal. “He went all out. 10 out of 10.”
The “Norton Show” appearance marks the first time the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has addressed this new chapter of her love story with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end on TV. In August, the high-profile couple announced they were engaged with a joint Instagram post that looked straight out of an enchanted garden.
According to Swift, the viral photos were not staged. While the couple were recording an episode of Kelce’s podcast, “New Heights,” the three-time Super Bowl champion was having his backyard transformed for the romantic occasion. (Kelce’s father, Ed, let it slip shortly after the announcement that the proposal had happened at Travis’ home in Lee’s Summit, Mo.) Among the added greenery were a few strategically placed hedges where Swift’s tour photographer could capture the proposal unnoticed.
“It’s really fun that we actually have the exact moment” when he proposed, Swift said.
Television is not the only place where Swift has been unable to stop gushing about her fiancé.
Fans have been meticulously dissecting the lyrics on all of the tracks on Swift’s latest album and there are plenty of nods to Kelce. The most explicit, according to Swifties and Swiftologists, is “Wood,” which is being described as her horniest and most openly sexual song to date.
Times pop music critic Mikael Wood describes the song as “a kind of kiddie-disco number that … exults in the erotic thrill of a guy brandishing ‘new heights of manhood,’” pointing out the reference to Kelce’s podcast. Among the other lyrics that are causing a frenzy among fans include references to a “Redwood tree,” how “his love was thе key that opened [her] thighs” and “a hard rock [being] on the way.”
Clearly, Swift is just as giddy about her upcoming nuptials as Kelce.
Taylor Swift has opened up about her engagement to American footballer Travis Kelce and how someone was hiding away in the bushes as he got down on one knee
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters not to “make too much” of the sideline spat between him and star tight end Travis Kelce during the second quarter of the team’s 22-9 win over the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football.”
NBC’s cameras caught the two men yelling at each other, with Reid at one point appearing to intentionally give Kelce’s shoulder a hard bump with his own shoulder. The Chiefs were up 6-0 at the time, but the offense had just failed to capitalize on a Giants turnover.
Going into halftime, as the confrontation with Kelce played on viewers’ screens, NBC’s Melissa Stark asked Reid what his message was to the team after seeing “a lot of frustration and emotion from your key players, star players on the sideline.”
“That’s OK, we need some juice,” said Reid, whose team had entered the game 0-2. “So that’s good.”
During his postgame news conference, Reid was asked what he had been trying to get across to Kelce during the exchange.
“I love Travis’ passion, and so I’m OK with that. We didn’t have enough of it,” Reid said. “That second quarter wasn’t where we needed to be. So within reason, you know, he knows — he knows when to back off the pedal, and knows when to push it too. So that’s part I love about him, the guy’s all in. Just sometimes I have to be the policeman.”
Reid added: “Listen, he’s an emotional guy. He’s Irish.”
Asked if the exchange was him telling Kelce to back off a bit, Reid answered: “Don’t make too much of it. He’s a passionate guy, and I love that part. So I’ve been through a lot of things with him, so that’s all part of it. I love that he loves to play the game. That’s what I love. And it’s an emotional game. So I’ll take it.”
Kelce wasn’t made available to speak to reporters after the game.
It’s not the first time the two men made contact during a sideline dispute. Early in the second quarter of Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 12, 2024, Kelce was seen yelling in his coach’s face, grabbing his arm and bumping into him, which appeared to cause Reid to stumble a bit.
After the Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime win in that game, Reid brushed off the incident, telling CBS that Kelce had hugged him and apologized after the incident.
“There’s nobody that I get better than I get him,” said Reid, who was 65 at the time. “He’s a competitive kid and he loves to play.”
“It’s definitely unacceptable,” he said, “and I immediately wished I could take it back.”
On the same podcast, Kelce said: “Unfortunately, sometimes my passion comes out where it looks like it’s negativity, but I’m grateful that [Reid] knows that it’s all because I wanna win this thing with him more than anything.”
The Chiefs hadn’t started 0-2 since 2014, which was Kelce’s first year as a starter and Reid’s second as the team’s coach. The team has since played in five Super Bowls and won three.
This season is off to a slow start also for Kelce, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection. He has 10 catches in 17 targets for 134 yards and one touchdown. During the Chiefs’ 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes bounced out of Kelce’s arms at the goal line and resulted in a game-changing interception by the Eagles’ Patrick Mukuba.
Also during the Philadelphia game, Kelce appeared to point to his crotch as part of a crude gesture aimed toward the opposing sideline after making a 23-yard reception. He was later fined $14,491 by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift announced their engagement more than a week ago, and the excitement has yet to wear off for the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
On this week’s episode of the “New Heights” podcast, Kelce described to his brother, Jason, how it feels to introduce the pop music superstar as his fiancée.
“I still get giddy,” Kelce said. “I love it. It’s exciting times.”
The brothers opened the show with Kelce’s first public comments on his upcoming nuptials since he and Swift made the announcement on Aug. 26 with a joint Instagram post. That post has received more than 36 million likes and has been reposted more than any other Instagram post, passing the 1-million mark in its first six hours.
“I appreciate everybody that reached out and sent something, and all the posts, and all the excitement that’s been going on,” Kelce said. “It’s been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with.”
Just days after the announcement, the couple attended a college football game between Cincinnati (the Kelce brothers’ alma mater) and Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ home field. While much of the public was thrilled to see Swift’s massive engagement ring out and about for the first time, Kelce said it was another first that made the occasion special to him.
“Actually, it was my first time introducing Taylor as my fiancée to a few of my teammates,” Kelce said. “So, yeah, it was pretty cool.”
Kelce provided no insight into any wedding plans, though, telling his brother at one point, “We’re gonna see how it all shakes out.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement may have kicked off a major earthquake in the real world this week, but it hasn’t put serious seismic activity into the lives of the spouses-to-be: They were spotted out Thursday night in a luxury box catching — wait for it — a college football game, where Swift took her new engagement ring out for a test drive.
It was the first game of the 2025-26 NCAA season for the hometown University of Cincinnati Bearcats, the Kelce brothers’ alma mater, who lost to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Cornhuskers by a field goal at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The bros (Jason was there too) were rooting for the Bearcats, obviously, with Travis rocking a street-art emblazoned Cincinnati cap and his older sibling sported a more traditional college typeface on his chapeau.
Swift rocked a denim miniskirt, according to People, with a white sweater, white boots, green nails and, oh yes, that massive engagement ring. The Old Mine Cut diamond ring was designed by Travis Kelce and New York City-based jewelry designer Kindred Lubeck, according to myriad media reports.
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While experts who talked to People put the size of the stone at between 5 and 10 carats and guesstimated its value as anywhere from $125,000 to $5 million — which is quite the range — folks who talked to Page Six said it likely came with a $1-million price tag. Basically, nobody knows the value of a custom-made, vintage-style ring with a one-of-a-kind hand-etched diamond that is currently sitting on the ring finger of a global pop star. Go figure.
“It’s my engraved pieces that put me on the digital map,” Lubeck told VoyageJacksonville in 2024. “I started making reels showcasing my work and people started noticing. Eventually, I started getting requests for me to make engagement rings.”
The Neptune Beach, Fla., native has described herself as a goldsmith specializing in hand engraving who got started working part time with her jeweler dad in her hometown during the pandemic lockdown.
“Basically, I take very small, sharp instruments and cut away bits of metal, usually on the sides of rings, into a particular design,” she said. “People just go crazy for it when I post it online.”
No kidding: On Friday, Lubeck appeared to be sold out of every big-ticket ring she had been offering on her website, though a handful of sub-$20,000 designs were still in stock. (Swifties, where you at? A bunch of them can be had for less than $5,000! And they’re not even “distressed.”)
The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end announced the beginning of their engagement era on Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement, which actually took place a couple of weeks earlier.
Kelce’s dad told a Cleveland news station the same day that Travis had popped the question at home in Lee’s Summit, Mo., after months of planning, right before the two headed out for dinner. Before they left, Travis told Taylor, “‘Let’s go out and have a glass of wine.’ … They got out there, and that’s when he asked her, and it was beautiful,” Ed Kelce said.
He added with a happy shrug, “I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say, but I don’t care!”
But Vice President JD Vance definitely cares — about the effects this pairing might have on the NFL this season.
“I will say as a football fan — as a Cincinnati Bengals fan — I hope that the NFL does not put a thumb on the scale for the Kansas City Chiefs just because Travis Kelce is now getting married to maybe the most famous woman in the world,” the veep told USA Today this week.
“You guys can’t sort of have this, ‘I’m worried they’re going to have a Super Bowl wedding’ thing this season. Can’t do it. The Kansas City Chiefs have to follow the same rules as everybody else.”
So in the case that the NFL’s “deep state” turns romantic and favors the Chiefs in this pigskin-tinted love story, Vance is urging fans to be ready to act.
“I think all football fans should be willing to push back on the NFL,” he said, “and say, ‘Look, you guys got to be fair.’”
Fair enough.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
Kansas City Chiefs fans sure are excited about the upcoming season.
Fanatics, the official online sportswear retailer for the NFL, reports that sales of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce jerseys jumped a whopping 200% on Tuesday.
Clearly, fans were doing some early packing for the team’s season opener against the Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 5. Those fans simultaneously realized they didn’t have enough gear to properly represent the reigning AFC champions at Corinthians Arena.
What other possible explanation could there have been?
Haha, wrong — at least, it would seem that way, based on the typical behavioral patterns of Swifties.
Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce kisses pop superstar Taylor Swift after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
Kelce and Swift’s romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce was able to pass along a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp at an Eras tour concert in Kansas City. They officially became an item that fall.
Swift attended her first Chiefs game on Sept. 24, 2023. Fanatics reported at the time that sales of No. 87 Chiefs jerseys experienced a 400% boost over the previous day, placing Kelce among the top five NFL players in jersey sales for that day.
On Aug. 13, Swift made her first-ever podcast appearance on “New Heights,” which is hosted by Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center. A total of 1.3 million people tuned in simultaneously after the episode dropped, setting a Guinness World Record for most concurrent views for a podcast on YouTube.
Kelce and Swift’s joint Instagram post regarding their upcoming nuptials has received more than 33.4 million likes. Billboard reported Wednesday that it has been reposted more than any other in the site’s history, passing the 1-million mark in its first six hours.
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So, yeah, it would seem pretty on-brand for Swifties to celebrate by purchasing large volumes of Travis gear.
By the way, if you think those numbers are impressive, just imagine what the jersey sales will be like if the couple decides to hyphenate their names after saying “I do.” What self-respecting Swiftie would want to be without a “Kelce-Swift” (“Swift-Kelce”?) jersey as part of their wardrobe?
How does it feel to get played by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Turns out the couple didn’t get engaged this week after all, according to Swift’s FFIL — future father-in-law — Ed Kelce.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end actually popped the question “not quite two weeks ago,” his dad told News 5 Cleveland on Tuesday.
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“He was going to put it off till this week. I think she was getting maybe a little antsy, but he was going to put her off till this week, to, you know, make some grand thing, to make it a big special event,” Ed Kelce said. “And I told him repeatedly, you know, you could do it on the side of the road, do it any place that makes it a special event … when you get down on one knee and ask her to marry you.”
Apparently it happened at Travis Kelce’s home in Lee’s Summit, Mo., Ed Kelce said, before the two headed out for dinner. Before they left, Travis told Taylor, “‘Let’s go out and have a glass of wine.’ … They got out there, and that’s when he asked her, and it was beautiful.” No word on whether they made it to a restaurant after all that.
Interesting that Ed Kelce described the proposal as beautiful, given that he wasn’t actually there to see it — he said he was taking in a Philadelphia Eagles preseason football practice that was open to the public. His younger son called him on FaceTime to share the news while he was watching the team that his older son Jason Kelce played with for years.
“I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say, but I don’t care!” Ed Kelce said with a happy shrug.
Travis Kelce, on the other hand, knew exactly how much tea he could spill in public without his future wife’s OK: nada. The KC Chief told his dad the announcement would happen “whenever Taylor says so.” Of course, Swift and her beau announced Tuesday, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift announced their engagement Tuesday.
(Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
(KillaTrav seemed equally “Excited to finally share what we’ve been cookin’ up!!” on Wednesday when he launched his new AE x Tru Kolors clothing collaboration on social media. For those who are interested, the collection looks like a preppy, a jock and a member of the “Duck Dynasty” cast got together and brainstormed. In other words, kinda like something Travis Kelce would wear to the stadium on game day.)
Meanwhile, the rest of the Kelce clan is just delighted, delighted, delighted by recent events, because, according to a People source, Swift is still the bomb.
“She goes out of her way to show the whole family how much she cares for not just Travis, but all of them, down to Jason’s kids,” the source said Tuesday. That entails “sweet, thoughtful gifts,” flowers and baked goods for everyone.
“Taylor gets along so well with the family and they’re just her biggest fan,” said the source, who apparently is “close to the newly engaged couple” and whose first name might be Brittany or Kylie — just a guess, of course, on that last part.
Two stories dominate Wednesday’s front pages: Nigel Farage’s plan to deport 600,000 migrants and the engagement of Taylor Swift to Travis Kelce. The Taliban is “ready and willing” to work with Reform UK to accept Afghans that deported by the UK, reports the Daily Telegraph. The paper quotes a Taliban official as saying it “may be easier” to deal with Farage than the current UK government.
The Metro also leads on the unveiling of Farage’s “shock” plan, dubbed Operation Restoring Justice. Reform said it would cost about £10bn over five years, but would save the government money it spends on asylum hotels and other costs over the long term.
Under Farage’s plan, immigration enforcement teams would introduce “US-style raids” to track down illegal migrants in Britain, according to the Daily Mail. Women and children who arrive in the UK on small boats would be detained and removed as well as men, Farage said, to mitigate what the paper calls “mounting public anger and despair”.
“Britain is better than this” is the headline for the Daily Mirror, which warns against politicians “playing the migrant card” to win support. It call on public figures to “look to their consciences before speaking – for the sake of decency and humanity”.
Farage’s plan also makes the Daily Express splash. Also featured is a picture of newly-engaged Swift and Kelce, with the caption “Baby just say yes!”, a line from the US popstar’s 2008 hit Love Story.
Opponents of Reform describe its plans as “ugly” and “divisive”, according to the Guardian. Also with a top slot is the news that the UK has “almost certainly” had its hottest summer on record, according to provisional statistics from the Met Office.
Plans for the French coastguard to intercept migrant boats could be “in jeopardy” because of the possible collapse of France’s government, according to the Times. UK officials hailed changes to French maritime law in June as a “gamechanger” in stopping small boat crossings, but they could be at risk if the French government loses an upcoming confidence vote, it says.
The i leads on Farage’s promise to strikes deals with “fundamentalist regimes”, including the “Taliban and Iran’s Ayatollah”. Downing Street hasn’t ruled out a returns agreement with Afghanistan, but would not hand over asylum seekers to the current regime, the paper reports.
Swift’s engagement splashes the Sun, which features a close-up picture of her “enormous” engagement ring. “Look what you made me.. I do,” is the headline.
The US is prepared to provide “intelligence assets and battlefield oversight” as part of a European-led air defence shield for Ukraine, reports the Financial Times. The US offer to assist the so-called “coalition of the willing”, led by the UK and France, is “contingent on commitments by European capitals to deploy tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine”, according to European and Ukrainian officials cited by the paper.
“Wedding Tay,” declares the Daily Star, which lifts a quote from the couple’s engagement post on Instagram: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are taking their love story to the next chapter.
The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end are engaged, the couple announced Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement.
Weeks before getting engaged, the pair hit another personal milestone: They finally finally appeared together on Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce. The podcast was also where Travis Kelce took his shot at a romance with the singer-songwriter back in 2023.
During the “New Heights” episode, which marked Swift’s podcasting debut, she said her relationship with Kelce “is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
With marriage on the horizon, it seems Swift and Kelce have come a long way since officially becoming an item in fall 2023. Their romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce attended an Eras tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ house. The NFL star managed to get a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp and the two eventually got in touch.
Their rumored romance quickly became commentary fodder for NFL broadcasts (sometimes to sports fans’ chagrin). Then things took a turn when Swift seemingly accepted Kelce’s personal invitation to a home game in September 2023 and was seen cheering for him in a private box alongside his mother, Donna Kelce. Soon enough, Swift became a staple in the Chiefs audience.
Swift and Kelce’s relationship dominated the news cycle and most coverage of the NFL season. Feeding into the obsession, both Swifties and sports fans on social media created memes, TikTok videos and other social media content dissecting nearly every detail of the couple’s interactions and public appearances.
From late 2023 to early 2024, their blooming relationship also proved to be a boon as Swift carried on with her blockbuster, career-spanning Eras tour and Kelce prepared for Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs faced the San Fransisco 49ers. When the Chiefs won, Swift joined Kelce on the field, kissing and hugging her athlete boyfriend.
Swift and Kelce’s love didn’t just play out on the field. During a November 2023 show, Swift changed lyrics to her hit “Karma” to mention “the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” sending fans and Kelce into a frenzy. Then in June 2024, as Swift‘s tour continued, Kelce joined his superstar girlfriend on stage in London.
When the 2024-25 NFL season began in September, Swift returned regularly to Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs home games.
Swift brought her Eras tour to an end in December 2024 and hosted a private wrap party to celebrate her musical marathon. As photos from the party went public, eagle-eyed fans noticed more than Swift, Kelce and their VIP attendees. Social media sleuths claimed photos of Swift’s hands had been Photoshopped to conceal the presence of an engagement ring, Page Six reported at the time.
Watch: Taylor Swift appears in Travis and Jason Kelce’s podcast ‘New Heights’
Taylor Swift made her highly anticipated podcast debut on New Heights, hosted by boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce.
The pop superstar used the appearance to announce her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, and give some updates on her life since the Eras Tour, which ran almost two years and spanned five continents before ending in December.
More than 1.3 million tuned in live for the programme as Swift offered insights into her relationship with Travis, the notorious easter eggs she plants in music for fans and even titbits on her sourdough-bread-baking hobby.
It marked a change for megastar, who is notorious for not giving interviews and instead sharing updates on her life through song lyrics, which frenzied fans analyse and piece together.
The American football star brothers offered a warm welcome to Swift, calling her “Tay Tay” and running through a list of her many awards.
Teaser clips of the New Heights podcast went viral before her episode aired, including one video clip where Swift unveils a briefcase with “TS” on it and pulls out her new 12th studio album, which will be available 3 October.
The record was simultaneously made available for pre-order on her website – which also had a countdown clock to the moment when she would appear on the podcast.
Here is some of what we learned from her appearance.
What the cover of her new album looks like
As the countdown clock ran down on her website and the podcast started, Swift’s website updated with the cover of her 12th studio album.
The Life of a Showgirl features Swift wearing a dress emblazoned with diamonds lying in turquoise green.
She is seen submerged in the water, with only her face above the surface.
The website to pre-order the album started crashing as soon as the podcast began, with some users receiving error messages. It will be released 3 October, according to her website.
Swift explained that she wrote the album while on her Eras Tour and said she would frequently return to Sweden while doing concerts in Europe, in order to record it.
Wondery/Taylor Swift
“I was basically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating,” she said.
Travis added: “Literally living the life of a showgirl.”
Swift went on to read out all 12 track names, including the title track which features Sabrina Carpenter.
Travis said the album is “upbeat” and will make people dance – a true pop album. He called it a 180 degree difference from her last album, The Tortured Poets Department.
“Life is more upbeat,” Swift said in response, smiling and looking at Travis.
She said it’s also unlike her last album due to the number of tracks – making clear it will only include 12 tracks and that is it.
Swift said the album tells the story of “everything that was going on behind the curtain” of her time on tour. The colour orange was chosen because it’s a colour she likes and felt energised by, she added.
Swift says the podcast ‘got me a boyfriend’
Toward the beginning of the show, Swift was asked why she chose to appear on the podcast, which caters primarily to sports fans.
“This podcast has done a lot for me. This podcast got me a boyfriend,” she said, accusing Travis of using the podcast as his “personal dating app” before he met her.
Before they started dating – or even met – Travis famously gushed on the podcast about attending one of Swift’s concerts and being saddened when they couldn’t meet. He talked about making her a beaded friendship bracelet, which were popular during the Eras Tour, and said he wanted to give her his phone number.
She said the clip, which went viral, felt almost like “he was standing outside of my apartment, holding a boom box saying, ‘I want to go on a date with you'”.
She said this was exactly the moment she had “been writing songs about, wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager”.
“It was wild, but it worked… He’s the good kind of crazy,” she said, calling her boyfriend “a human exclamation point”.
She said she was circling back to the podcast show as a way to say thank you.
Poking fun at male sports fans
The episode began with a screaming introduction from Jason, the former Philadelphia Eagles player, who runs through a long list of his brother’s girlfriend’s accomplishments, including being the only artist to win the album of the year Grammy four times.
Swift sat beside Travis, chuckling along before thanking Jason for his enthusiasm.
She then went on to poke fun at her appearing on a podcast that typically caters to American football fans.
“As we all know, you know, you guys have a lot of male sports fans that listen to your podcast,” she said.
“I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me,” she deadpanned, looking straight into the camera.
Swift’s appearance at Kansas City Chiefs games caused a frenzy over the years. In 2023 when the pair started dating and she started making appearances, game cameras looked for the singer in the stands – cutting to her more than a dozen times during some games.
The NFL promoted her appearances at games heavily on social media, posting videos and tweets about the singer and her celebrity entourage that often accompanied her.
Some football fans weren’t happy with the new focus.
Swift was booed by NFL fans during her appearance on the jumbotron screen at the Super Bowl last February, which drew headlines and even social media posts by President Donald Trump.
But despite the criticism, Jason assured her that she has been the “most requested guest on the podcast”. Other recent guests on the show include basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James, and actors Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray and Adam Sandler.
Insights into how she crafts her hidden easter eggs
She also spoke about all the ways she uses easter eggs to tease her music and plant hidden clues for fans.
She said she has rules for the hidden clues in her music and performances.
“I’m never going to plant an easter egg that ties back to my personal life. It’s always going to go back to my music,” she explained, joking that some of fans have gotten so good at decoding her that it’s almost gotten a bit “zodiac killer”.
The hidden clues are “something that you don’t know I’m saying for a specific reason, but you’ll go back and be like ‘Oh my God!'”
She said that her favourite example was a speech she gave when she received an honourary doctorate.
“I put so many lyrical easter eggs in that speech that when the Midnights album came out, after that, the fans were like, ‘The whole speech was an easter egg!'”
She spoke about her love of numbers and dates. “I love math stuff,” she said, calling out 13 as her favourite number. Travis, she said, is “87” – the number he wears on his jersey during games – and she noted that 13 plus 87 equals 100.
Some of her hidden messages are so complex, she said, they are crafted “upside down, backwards in Braille”.
She added one of her biggest clues for fans came at the conclusion of the Eras Tour.
Every performance of the tour ended with Swift leaving the stage by descending through an elevator. But for the final show, she took stairs and walked through an orange-coloured door – which she admitted was one of her easter eggs.
“I wanted to give a little subliminal hint that I may be ending the Eras Tour era, but I may be entering a new era,” she said.
The new vinyl record, she showed, is a sparkly shade of orange.
Swift didn’t know about football – until Travis
Wondery/Taylor Swift
Swift said that she knew nothing about football before their romance began.
“I didn’t know what a first down was,” or a “tight-end,” (which is the position Travis plays), she said.
She said she appreciated Travis’ patience and understanding when they started dating and introducing her to his world.
She’s now found herself personally invested – citing an episode where she found herself interested in a recent player trade. She recalled thinking to herself: “Who body snatched me?”
Travis told her that he will be “forever grateful” that she dove fully into his world “wholeheartedly”.
After her original masters sold, she vowed to re-record all six albums, which became known as “Taylor’s Versions”.
Swift grew emotional as she explained the process by which she purchased her master recordings, after trying for an entire decade to secure the rights.
She said she was not interested in the financial “returns” the albums would bring.
“For me it’s not ‘I want to own this asset because of its returns’,” she said. “I want this because it was my handwritten diary entries from my entire life.”
She said that her mother and brother talked with with Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, about purchasing her music.
When her mother called her, saying “You got your music,” she said: “I just very dramatically hit the floor. For real.”
“Bawling my eyes out, and just weeping. And just like ‘Really? Really? What do you mean?'”
“This changed my life,” she continued. “I can’t believe it still.”
Which version of her albums should fans listen to?
She also thanked loyal fans for listening to her re-recorded albums, saying they reacted to the dispute over rights to her music with the Western cowboy expression, “We ride at dawn”.
She also said that it was through her fans that she was able to buy back her music.
“The reason I was able to purchase my music back is, they came to the Eras Tour,” she said.
She was also asked which versions of her albums her fans should listen to – now that she owns both versions.
“I think a lot of the vocals I did on the re-records were better than the original,” she said, adding that she is especially fond of the remake of her 2012 album Red.
Speaking about her Eras Tour, which ended in December, she immediately drew comparisons to football.
“It was a lot of physical therapy. It was a lot of being in a state of perpetual discomfort,” she said.
“I’m not getting hit by huge 300-pounders. But the heels!” she said.
She also talked about life after the tour. She and Travis spoke fondly about their love, describing how they bake sourdough bread together.
His dough winds up with chest hair in it, while hers has extra cat hair, she joked.
“I had never experienced something so mesmerising on stage, and then so real and beautiful in person,” said Travis.
Jason then joked that maybe he should leave, and give them some privacy, as Swift swooned.
“Yeah I think so, honestly,” Swift responded. “At this point, I think everyone should leave.”
While Swift has at times been shy about discussing her relationship in public, Travis has been more outspoken. Before the podcast aired, he told GQ in an interview, “I love being the happiest guy in the world”.
He also praised Swift for her athleticism, comparing her three-hour long concerts to his football games.
“That is arguably more exhausting than how much I put in on a Sunday, and she’s doing it three, four, five days in a row,” he said.
Travis Kelce is done fighting for his right to party.
Or at least the 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end is ready to start toning down his party-hearty image — which is kind of big news for a dude who is known for his wild, celebratory, off-key renditions of the Beastie Boys classic “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)” and is often seen out enjoying life with superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Kelce made the revelation during a lengthy interview with GQ that was published Tuesday morning.
“I’m starting to phase out of wanting to be known as the party guy,” the three-time Super Bowl champion and 10-time Pro Bowl selection said.
“When you see me hanging out at the US Open with Taylor, it may look like the two of us are partying. But I’m just enjoying the fun of being at this really cool event that I always wanted to go to with the person that I love.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend the men’s singles final match at the 2024 US Open last September.
(Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
He added: “I’ve become way more strategic in understanding what I am portraying to people.”
Following the Chiefs’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX in February, Kelce didn’t immediately commit to returning for his 13th NFL season and the final year of his contract with the Chiefs. He acknowledged to GQ that he has been thinking about his life after the NFL, although he didn’t offer any details on what that might look like.
Kelce already has a high profile off the field, thanks in large part to his relationship with Swift but also from his appearances in countless TV commercials and on his successful “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with older brother Jason. Incidentally, that podcast is sure to hit, uh, new heights in its number of listeners this week when Swift makes her first appearance on the show.
Part of Kelce’s new outlook on his image seems to have been influenced by Swift and the way she interacts with her immense fan base.
“People gravitate towards how she performs and how she makes it feel like the entire stadium is in a little room with her,” Kelce said. “She is so good at mesmerizing everybody and making everybody feel like it’s an intimate situation. I think that alone — there is so much calm and coolness. She’s beautiful. She’s up there making everyone feel at ease.
“Whenever I get in front of a crowd, I feel like I’ve got to be like, Woooo! Like, excited, bringing the energy. Then I saw that coolness and that calmness and that relatability that she is so good at presenting. I really grabbed that. Like, Man, I can use that side of entertainment as well. It’s not just always being the guy that brings the energy and creates these exciting moments.”
Kelce added that he and Swift share similar outlooks when it comes to their respective legacies.
“Nowadays I just want to be respected and loved by the people that I’m surrounded by in my work,” he said. “I want to leave it better than where it was when I started. And I see her having those same values.”
That could change in a couple of days, based on a tease posted on the “New Heights” social media accounts Monday — and on Swifties’ interpretations of the tease. The text is straightforward, simply informing fans of the special nature of the episode and the guest and noting it will drop Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT.
The real juicy bits, though — if Swift’s fans are to be believed — are apparently found in the post’s graphic. Over the years, Swifties have become pretty good at spotting and deciphering Easter Eggs, so here’s what jumped out at the “You Need to Calm Down” singer’s diehard fans (based on observations they posted on social media and Reddit):
1. A silhouette of a slender person with long hair appears between images of the Kelce brothers, and naturally fans are convinced it can only be that of one particular slender woman with long hair. One commenter on X insists they can see Swift’s bangs in the completely darkened image.
2. Jason Kelce appears to be wearing a shirt bearing Swift’s image. Swifties are noting that the garment is from the Eras tour and that Travis is wearing one from that tour as well. This reporter, who did not attend the Eras tour, has no reason to doubt them on this.
3. The graphic’s background color is orange and sparkly. This apparently is seen as a reference to a particular dress Swift wore during the Eras tour. (Although didn’t she famously change her outfit more than a dozen times during each performance? Or so we’ve heard.)
4. Travis Kelce has a giant smile on his face. OK, sure, he has probably smiled numerous times during his life — like, say, maybe after at least one of the three Super Bowls he won with the Chiefs. But apparently he has a special grin reserved for the “Lover” singer, which one X commenter refers to as his “Tay smile.”
There are many other observations — including several that involve numbers, math and calendar dates — all of which clearly add up not only to Swift being the podcast’s “VERY special guest” but also that she will be there to announce something else very special, like perhaps a new album. (Reminder: This is only a fan theory; please remain calm.)
It wouldn’t be the first time this summer that Swift has made an appearance during one of her boyfriend’s projects. In June, she gave a surprise acoustic performance of her hit “Shake It Off” at a concert linked to Kelce’s Tight End University camp.
Come to think of it, Swift was introduced onstage that night by singer Kane Brown as a “really, really, really special guest.” That’s pretty darn close to “VERY special guest,” don’t you think?
Travis d’Arnaud hit a pinch-hit RBI single down the left-field line in the ninth inning to give the Angels a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Zach Neto and Yoan Moncada each hit home runs in the first inning for the Angels, while Nolan Schanuel and Rengifo each had three hits as the Angels improved to 7-3 against National League West teams.
Randal Grichuk hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs as the Diamondbacks dropped to 3-7 since July 2.
Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson gave up four runs on seven hits with four walks over four innings, while Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson gave up four runs on eight hits with two walks over five innings.
Neto and Moncada powered a four-run first inning for the Angels, while the Diamondbacks followed with a four-run second that included Grichuk’s home run and a two-run double from Alek Thomas.
After Rengifo gave the Angels a 5-4 lead with a double in the fifth inning, Grichuk tied it with another home run in the eighth.
Kenley Jansen (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Angels.
Neto has seven leadoff home runs, all this season, and tied the franchise record previously held by Brian Downing (1987).
