Taylor Swift Interview Goes Viral After New Album Announcement
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A resurfaced Taylor Swift interview has gone viral online following the pop star's new album announcement.
The singer appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in November 2021 and spoke out about the subtle hints she drops to tease an upcoming project.
Newsweek reached out to Fallon's representative via email for comment on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
Swift is the world's richest female musician, per Forbes, with a net worth of $1.6 billion. The 35-year-old wrapped her record-breaking Eras Tour in December, which was the highest-grossing concert tour in history.
On Tuesday, Swift announced her highly anticipated 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in a teaser for boyfriend Travis Kelce's New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce.
Taylor Swift performs during the Eras Tour at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on May 29, 2024 in Madrid, Spain.
Taylor Swift performs during the Eras Tour at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on May 29, 2024 in Madrid, Spain.
Xavi Torrent/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
What To Know
On August 12, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon shared a segment of Swift's 2021 interview on their official Instagram and TikTok accounts. In the clip, she tells host Jimmy Fallon that she has "fun" teasing her fans, affectionately known as Swifties.
"I started to realize that it wasn't just me that had fun with this, that they had fun with it too, and I should never have learned that because then I couldn't stop," Swift said. "And then all I started thinking was, 'How do I hint at things?' Like, 'How far is too far in advance? Can I hint at something three years in advance? Can I even plan things out that far? I think I'm going to try to do it!'"
Swift added: "The first time we did a crazy video like that was a video called 'Look What You Made Me Do,' and I started playing with doing nods to former musical eras I've been in in my career and all kinds of weird stuff for them to just go through the video and be like, 'That over there! What's that? What's that? What's that? Does this connect to that? What does that mean?'"
"I do that!" Fallon said, to which she replied, "Really?"
"Yes! I did that with Folklore," he shared.
"I think that it is perfectly reasonable for people to be normal music fans and to have a normal relationship to music, but if you want to go down a rabbit hole with us, come along," Swift said. "The water's great, jump in. We're all mad here."
At the time of publication, The Tonight Show's Instagram post racked up 3.1 million views and 167,000 likes. On TikTok, it had an additional 1.5 million views and 212,600 likes.
The "Cruel Summer" artist is known for plotting Easter eggs, or hidden messages, in her music videos, lyrics, clothing and more. For The Life of a Showgirl, fans pointed out many of these Easter eggs online.
On August 12, 2024, exactly one year before Swift's album announcement, she was photographed in an orange and mint green miniskirt and cropped jacket—which matches the color palette of the album, X user @CourtneySong_ shared on the social media platform.
In October, the 14-time Grammy Award winner posted a video to her Instagram and TikTok standing in front of section A12 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. X user @corneliastagain called her "diabolical" for the move, which seemingly hinted at the August 12th announcement for her 12th studio album.
As Swiftie @lexs_version said: "TS12 was basically slapping us in the face, [and] we had no idea."
What People Are Saying
In the comments underneath The Tonight Show's Instagram post, fans praised Swift's creativity.
@sashatheunicornmom wrote in a note with 5,525 likes: "Love her or hate her she's a creative genius. And not just in her music or lyrics, but in her marketing, her life, her persona, her financials, her future and planning - she really is a brilliant mind."
@allanpachino said in a message with 2,171 likes: "She's as big as she is for a reason. A good reason. Great artist."
@oddly_audrey_1 shared in a reply with 1,570 likes: "Taylor is truly a mastermind."
@paige.allbooked added in a remark with 770 likes: "I think she's a d*** genius. To have that kind of smarts."
@n.t.9193 posted in a comment with 164 likes: "She is so amazing to make this fun for her fans, like playing a clue game finding out about her new albums!"
What Happens Next
Swift's New Heights episode airs Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on platforms like the Wondery App, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
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