5 things we learned from Taylor Swift's appearance on the ‘New Heights' podcast
Teasers released ahead of her inaugural appearance on 'New Heights' revealed the singer would be talking about her new album, 'The Life of a Showgirl' and opening up about her historic Eras Tour, which concluded in December 2024.
She hit on both subjects at length in the episode, but some of the most exciting moments came from conversations that were less anticipated – like when she got emotional speaking about the moment she learned she was going to once again own her entire catalog of music or when she opened up about her parents' health struggles this summer.
Here are some of the highlights from their conversation:
'The Life of a Showgirl' will be released on October 3 and will include 12 tracks – a nod to this being the pop superstar's 12th studio album — including a final song featuring Sabrina Carpenter.
'This is the record I've been wanting to make for a very long time,' Swift said.
The album marks a reunion between Swift and legendary producers Max Martin and Shellback, who worked with her pop-heavy hits 'Red,' '1989' and 'Reputation.' These albums also feature several of her top songs, including 'Shake It Off,' 'Delicate,' 'Blank Space' and 'I Knew You were Trouble.'
Swift said her goal for the new album was to have 'melodies that were so infectious that you're almost angry at it' and lyrics that were 'just as vivid but crisp and focused and completely intentional.'
Swift said the album's theme is 'everything that was going on behind the curtain,' later saying she wanted the cover to communicate the same idea. It's 'the life beyond the show,' she said.
Asked of the significance behind the album's orange iconography, Swift explained that it is 'energetically how my life has felt,' she said, describing it as 'exuberant and electric and vibrant.'
Jason Kelce, a retired center for the Philadelphia Eagles and Super Bowl champ, then asked if he'd get to hear the album ahead of time, to which Swift said no.
'We don't trust you at all,' she said.
He replied: 'Honestly, smart.'
How Travis Kelce and Swift came to be one of the most famous power couples around is now well-known lore, and Swift joked that the podcast 'got me a boyfriend.' But her beau said he actually gives the Eras Tour credit for their relationship.
'If I never would have 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 have never went on here and told everybody how butthurt I was (when he didn't get a chance to give her a friendship bracelet he'd made for her). I had never been so engulfed in the curiosity of who you were,' he said.
Swift made an audible 'aww' and added 'that's really beautiful.'
His brother quipped in response: 'The best part of that statement is that you didn't know what the word 'engulfed' meant before you met Taylor.'
Swift and Travis Kelce appeared incredibly comfortable with one another throughout the episode, often sitting with arms intertwined.
At another point in the episode, Swift revealed the 'green flag' she saw early on as she got to know Travis Kelce was his ability to maintain friendships.
'Travis has had the same friends since he was probably four years old,' she said. 'He's incredibly good at maintaining friendships and is so loyal and his friends are equally loyal and the funniest, most hilarious group of people.'
Travis Kelce described Swift's 'reclaiming' of her master recordings as one of his favorite things that happened this summer, launching Swift into a detailed account of how it came to be.
Swift said she sent her mother and brother to Los Angeles to discuss acquiring her music catalog with the private equity company Shamrock Capital that previously owned her music.
'They sat down with Shamrock Capital and they told them what this meant for me,' she recalled. 'They told them the whole story of all the times we've tried to buy it, all the times it's fallen through.'
Swift said she received news that she acquired her master recordings a few months after the Super Bowl.
'I get a call from my mom and she's like, 'You got your music,'' Swift said while tearing up. 'It's literally been so long since this happened, and it's every time I talk about it….I just like very dramatically hit the floor for real. Honestly, just started like bawling my eyes out, and I'm just like weeping.'
Travis Kelce admitted he started crying, too.
'You were weeping,' she echoed.
In May, Swift became the owner of her entire catalog of music, roughly six years after she protested the sale of the master recordings of her first six albums by her former record label.
Swift announced the news in a letter posted to her website at the time, writing that 'all of the music I've ever made… now belongs… to me.'
The Grammy-winner specified that she owns all her music videos, concert films, album art and photography, along with unreleased songs and that she purchased her music 'outright with no strings attached, no partnership, full autonomy,' from Shamrock Capital.
Her schedule might appear perpetually packed, but Swift actually does have free time and hobbies, which include painting, cooking and 'a different baking obsession every six months.'
Travis Kelce joked: 'I'm the luckiest man in the world.'
'Right now, we're very deep in a sourdough obsession that has taken over my life,' she added.
Travis Kelce says he is very grateful to be running and training as much as he is right now, because 'I am getting the caloric intake.'
Taylor Swift said he asked her to send him two loaves of sourdough at training camp.
'I'm talking about bread 60% of the times now,' she said.
Meanwhile, she has been perfecting a 'funfetti sourdough' for Jason Kelce's children 'because they love sprinkles.'
'It's gonna blow their mind,' Jason Kelce said.
Work hard, recover harder – that's a principle both Travis Kelce and Swift seem to follow dutifully.
Swift opened about about the grueling toll her three-hour performances would take on her.
'It was a lot of physical therapy and it was a lot of being in a state of perpetual discomfort,' she said.
She told Travis Kelce, '(It's) kind of like when you're in season. I'm not getting hit by huge 300-pounders, but the heels…'
Travis Kelce recalled seeing what he called 'the recovery station' at the hotel.
'S**t, I'm telling you, dude, the similarities were crazy,' Kelce said. 'I was like, 'Oh my Gosh. She does more than I do.''
He added: 'We related on how much torture we put our bodies through.'
CNN's Alli Rosenbloom, Megan Thomas and Dan Heching contributed to this report.
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