Teetering on overexposure, Swift’s “New Heights” episode keeps the pop star lovable and marketable

Maybe it’s the dire state of the housing market lately, but I can’t seem to find a rock that’s suitable to live under. This stone is too porous, that boulder is too jagged; none of them has a square footage large enough to crush me so flat that an airtight seal will form between myself and the ground. Every rock I could conceivably live under has been compromised, and that’s just how Taylor Swift wants it.

Even if you’ve been living under a rock, it surely hasn’t been enough to shelter you from the news of Taylor Swift’s upcoming new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” After all, you’re a human moving about the earth, and that means you’ve had this information disseminated through one of millions of T.S.-branded channels and firmly planted in your prefrontal cortex. It’s not just that there are headlines written every time Swift so much as breathes, it’s that there are headlines written that speculate when Swift will breathe and how long her breath will be. Will the breath be deep or shallow? Wheezy if, God forbid, the pop star has been stricken with a laryngeal malady? Or is she going to release a re-recording of her breath, along with a set of new, exclusive breaths from the vault? The constant theorizing about these breaths alone is enough to send the world into a frenzy. Naturally, when the breaths are strung together between lyrics and put to music in the form of an album, it’s a seismic event, one that no rock forged is strong enough to withstand.

But when Swift announced “The Life of a Showgirl” earlier this month, the news came in stark contrast to how the pop star revealed her last two original albums. While 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and 2022’s “Midnights” were respectively announced during the Grammys and VMAs, the earth-shattering news about “The Life of a Showgirl” dropped on . . . a podcast. Swift didn’t just pop up on any old podcast, though; she appeared on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Wondery network show, “New Heights,” which Kelce hosts alongside his brother, Jason. Still, compared to the live-television spectacles that accompanied Swift’s last two album announcements, or the jaw-dropping surprise releases of “Folklore” and “Evermore” just five months apart, her latest move was decidedly low-key for the most famous woman in the world — or, at least it seemed that way. In mere hours and without any of the singer’s usual pomp and circumstance, Swift’s episode of “New Heights” smashed viewership records and became global headline news. After wrapping up her eye-poppingly successful Eras Tour and reaching the brink of celebrity overexposure in her public relationship with Kelce, Swift needed a way to forge forward with her latest record in a manner that wouldn’t deter sales or skew coverage. “New Heights” didn’t just give Swift the opportunity to humanize herself to those teetering on Taylor Swift fatigue; the show also allowed her to cleverly capitalize on a booming medium while remaining in control of how the latest chapter of her story will be shaped.

To understand the built-in hype that Swift leveraged by appearing on “New Heights,” one must remember that, in this period of late-stage Swiftian world domination, everything the pop star does should be considered a marketing move. Global supremacy doesn’t happen by chance, which means Swift can leave nothing up to the fates. Her art is her business, and Swift herself is a brand. More than any of her contemporaries, Swift has made herself synonymous with modern consumerism. A post teasing the new era on the fan club account managed by Swift’s team, Taylor Nation, was immediately inundated with corporate accounts in the replies, with businesses like Crumbl Cookies, Dunkin’ and Walmart hurrying to comment so their brands could be aligned with Swift’s monolithic capitalist image. Cringey corporate memes and a swath of orange-hued profile pictures followed, with Adweek publishing a guide to the consumerist chaos. After the organic success of Charli XCX’s “Brat” led to brand accounts co-opting that album’s lime green color scheme and sans-serif typeface, it’s no surprise that the trend is continuing with Swift.

But Swift and these corporations are symbiotic. Swift’s enormous fanbase has proven time and again that they will follow her wherever she goes, and more importantly, buy whatever she puts out. She has commodified herself to such an extent that brands leap to associate themselves with her. And because Swift’s fanbase is its own controlled revenue stream, corporations stand to make a buck if they can successfully make their image synonymous with Swift’s.

Because she’s made herself the big, blonde sun we all orbit around, Swift was free to let the hype roll in while she readied her next move. There were two days between Swift revealing the album title (with the cover art blurred) in the initial “New Heights” teaser and the episode itself. In that time, a countdown appeared on her website that corresponded to the episode’s release. In the meantime, fans could preorder the album in various formats, or click an “add all to cart” button to simplify the process for hoarders — sorry, collectors. When the full, two-hour episode of “New Heights” dropped August 13, the album’s standard cover art was revealed, and three additional vinyl variants were made available for preorder. At the same time, viewership of the episode’s live premiere soared past other popular podcasts and smashed the show’s previous records in less than a day. What was a relatively modest announcement for Swift became a boon for the Kelce brothers, with the “New Heights” YouTube channel growing its subscriber base by hundreds of thousands in just over a week. Swift’s appearance in the “New Heights” studio was not just a casual drop-by, but a joint marketing effort intended to benefit multiple parties.

For her part, Swift played coy. “I think we all know that if there’s one thing male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me,” Swift joked at the top of the show. And while that quip might reflect the boos that Swift received at this year’s Super Bowl, it doesn’t exactly echo her impact on the sports world at large. Since Swift and Kelce began dating in late 2023, television ratings spiked whenever Swift was in attendance at a game, as did sales for game-day tickets and merchandise like official team jerseys. Though Swift might incur some ire from football traditionalists, her entrée into the sports world has grown her audience and popularized the NFL on a global scale, unlike ever before. When Swift dated actors and musicians, those were areas of culture that she and her fanbase were already steeped in. But in her high-profile relationship with arguably the most famous football player in the country, Swift has made the sectors of culture she was once absent from into her domain. What’s profitable for Swift — either in terms of literal money or cultural notoriety — is just as lucrative for Kelce. In hindsight, it should’ve been easy to see that the only thing the all-American singer needed for the next stage of her ascent was a football-playing homecoming king.

But it wasn’t just the news that Swift was on “New Heights” that made waves; it was that Swift was doing a podcast at all. As fans quickly pointed out, Swift has never been a guest on any other podcast throughout her long career. (Though, it is worth noting that the medium began to take off right around the time Swift started to shy away from doing formal press, coinciding with the 2017 release of “Reputation” and a public reckoning with her image.) The closest thing Swift had done to a podcast was the livestream event announcing 2012’s “Red,” which has a paltry two million views compared to the “New Heights” episode’s 19 million and counting. No matter how strange it might seem for a star of Swift’s caliber to announce her new album on a podcast of all places, it’s an undeniably savvy marketing play. YouTube is quickly becoming one of the top media destinations for viewers, and Swift understands that a video podcast is far less ephemeral than a mere press release or Instagram post.

The decision to appear on “New Heights” also fits into another Swiftian trope: the desire to remain in control of the narrative. Since the “Reputation” era, Swift has made martyrdom into a billion-dollar industry, a smart move further aided by her public enemy, Scooter Braun, purchasing her master recordings in 2019. In the years-long struggle to regain control of her masters, Swift played up her role as the target of a cruel plan, concocted by a man who wanted to govern a woman’s art. This stretch of her career was capped by the Eras Tour, a live celebration of Swift’s life’s work, during which she put out multiple re-recordings of her music. The tour might’ve been a gargantuan success, but it also exhausted a sect of the public who didn’t care about 24/7 Swift-mania. As a result, “The Tortured Poets Department” only spawned one moderately successful single and received subpar reviews (at least by Swift’s standards).

Though not a stumble by most people’s measure, Swift doesn’t like her footing to be unstable. She’s quietly looking to regain an appealing level of accessibility, one that requires a low lift and looks down-to-earth, like being on a podcast. She’s not taking a step down from the world’s biggest stages; she’s simply pivoting to face the camera. “I’m in the business of human emotion,” Swift says during the show, cunningly nodding to the way she’s commodified her feelings and made a profit on relatability. And at this point in her career, a two-hour podcast talking straight to fans only fuels the parasocial relationship that she’s built with them, thus bolstering her star back into the stratosphere without forcing anyone to watch it rise.

What’s more, “New Heights” is a controlled environment where Swift can manage the questions, framing and larger narrative to ensure nothing strays from the story she’s built, something that’s not always possible in traditional interviews. When Swift says, for example, that industry trades said her re-recordings were “a bad idea” that “nobody would be interested in,” neither Kelce balks despite the statement being unfounded. It does, however, fit neatly into the story Swift has been peddling about the project since 2022, as does her claim that she never thought about partnering with Shamrock Holdings, which purchased her masters in 2020, despite posting an open letter that same year stating otherwise.

But all cynicism and nitpicking aside, it is admittedly fascinating to see Swift sit down for an extended period to talk about her life and career. The level of fame she’s attained might translate to enormous financial success, but it’s also kept Swift frustratingly isolated from the vulnerability in her art. Whether “New Heights” marks a change in the way Swift chooses to do interviews, or if it’s solely another brilliant business move designed to resemble marketable candor, remains to be seen. But one can only hope for the former. I want feathered hats, scraping the “Call Her Daddy” studio ceilings, and Terry Gross counting the number of sequins on a bodysuit during a very special episode of “Fresh Air.” If we’re all going to be forced to live the life of this showgirl forever, delivering a bit of that promised glitz outside of a football podcast would be a good place to start.

Source Fears Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Relationship Is ‘Doomed’ Because of His Reputation

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s future goals might reportedly differ, which could result in trouble in paradise. According to sources, the NFL player’s “party guy” image could create problems in his relationship with the singer, who seemingly prioritizes family. They further mentioned that their love appears to be “doomed” because of his reputation.

Travis Kelce’s party boy nature might clash with what Taylor Swift wants to do, says source
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have been dating for a while now. Lately, they do not shy away from flaunting their love in public. Both have attended several events related to their respective professions. Despite being the power couple, some sources raised concerns. They told RadarOnline that the two might not be on the same page about their future.

In an episode of “Today with Jenna & Friends,” host Jenna Bush Hager and her guest, Erin Andrews, referred to something Kelce had once said. He claimed that he wanted to change his image of a “party guy” and wished to be portrayed differently. To this, the ladies remarked, “Once a party girl or boy, always a party girl or boy.”

On the other hand, an NFL insider mentioned that Kelce “thrives on structure.” However, things have allegedly changed for him since he became a part of Swift’s world. “He’s haunted by how their constant travel, public appearances and the party scene pulled his focus last season,” they stated.

The 35-year-old footballer might seemingly find it “hard to balance” in the future. “That’s why people around him fear the relationship is ultimately doomed,” the source added. Their relationship would reportedly face difficulties because the athlete enjoys “being a party boy.” Meanwhile, Swift, who will soon release her “The Life of a Showgirl” album, apparently wants to “settle down.”

The outlet also quoted sources close to Kelce and his team, who said similar things. They revealed that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has promised to put all his energy and focus into the upcoming NFL season. “Whether that means less time in the public eye – or less time with Taylor – is the big question,” one of the friend’s concluded.

Did Taylor Swift just reveal she and Travis Kelce are cohabitating?

It’s one of so many New Heights podcast moments fans are wringing out for intimate details.

 

Taylor Swift may have just let slip a big detail about her relationship with Travis Kelce — and she did it right on his podcast.

The 14-time Grammy winner made her New Heights debut on August 13, joining her NFL star boyfriend and his brother, Jason Kelce, for a chat that was equal parts playful and revealing. (Perhaps you’d heard about the most anticipated podcast appearance ever?)

When Jason asked Swift what her favorite segment on the show is, she said she’s partial to “New News” — not just for the content, but because she hears Travis enthusiastically shouting it “from across the house.”

“I hear him screaming ‘New News!’ from across the house constantly,” she laughed. “He’ll be like, ‘New News! New News!’ And I’m in the kitchen like, ‘New News!’”

The casual mention of “the house” — plus Travis’ later comment about what Taylor gets into “around the house” — had fans buzzing about whether the superstar couple are now officially sharing a home.

Swift also opened up about life after the Eras Tour, saying she’s been enjoying “homey” hobbies like sewing and baking sourdough bread. “It’s kind of great because I’m getting my hobbies back,” she said.

While the two haven’t publicly confirmed a move-in, they’ve been spending plenty of time together this year. From Florida training sessions to dinner dates in West Palm Beach, the pair have made it clear they’re keeping close — on and off the field.

 

Taylor Swift and Blake Lively ‘Aren’t Speaking’ as Fans Speculate About Singer’s Song ‘Ruin the Friendship’ (Source)

Swift’s new song ‘Ruin the Friendship’ will feature on the singer’s upcoming album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Taylor Swift and Blake Lively are currently not in communication.

Their longtime friendship has been under public scrutiny since Swift’s name was brought into Lively’s ongoing legal battle with her It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni, which began in December 2024.

Now, a source close to the situation tells PEOPLE, “Taylor and Blake aren’t speaking.”

Swift, 35, has come up several times during the actress’ legal war with Baldoni, 41. The superstar’s name was first brought into the mix when Baldoni’s legal team alleged that Swift had pressured him to accept Lively’s rewrites on the movie in a complaint Baldoni filed in January that has since been dismissed.

Later, in May, Baldoni’s legal team dropped the subpoena they’d issued to Swift. Swift’s rep claimed the subpoena was “designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”

On Aug. 13 Swift announced the upcoming release of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which will include a song titled “Ruin the Friendship,” that fans are speculating is about her relationship with Lively, 37.

Swift revealed during her recent appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast that she recorded the album while on the European leg of her Eras Tour before she became embroiled in the It Ends With Us drama.

In April, a source told PEOPLE that Swift “was really hurt” after she was implicated in Lively and Baldoni’s legal case, and in May a source told PEOPLE that her friendship with Lively “has halted.” At that time, another insider said that while the pair were “taking some space,” they were “not no longer friends.”

Two months later, a source told PEOPLE that Lively and Swift were working toward being “on good terms,” though their friendship “isn’t the same as it was before.”

 

The pair’s friendship can be documented going back to 2014. Swift, who is godmother to the actress’ daughters she shares with husband Ryan Reynolds, has even featured the couple’s kids in her music. Lively and Reynolds’ daughter James has a voice cameo in Swift’s Reputation track “Gorgeous,” while James, Inez and Betty are all named-dropped in Folklore.

 

Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez Became ‘Best Friends’ ‘Bonding’ Over Jonas Brothers Breakup: ‘Best Thing We Got Was Each Other’

The pair first crossed paths in 2008 while Gomez was dating Nick Jonas and Swift was dating his older brother Joe Jonas

 

Selena Gomez is looking back on her enduring friendship with Taylor Swift.

During an appearance on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast on Aug. 7, the singer and actress, 33, opened up about how she met Swift, 35, and how they subsequently “bonded” over their respective breakups with Jonas Brothers stars Nick Jonas and Joe Jonas.

“Taylor [Swift] and I dated the Jonas Brothers,” Gomez told host Shane, 25, of how she and Swift first met. “I dated Nick and she dated Joe. And everything was, it was cute, we were young. We all know and love each other now and it’s so cute. We don’t know what we were doing — She and I like to say the best thing we got out of those relationships was each other because it was really sweet.”

The Only Murders in the Building star went on to share that she was around 15 and Swift was around 18 when they dated Nick, now 32, and Joe, now 35, and reflected on how it was a time “when it was the crazy curly Taylor and she had all these bracelets that went all the way up.”

Gomez said the pair went on to become “best friends” as they “bonded over the breakup, as girls do.”

“And then we just stuck around for all the ups and downs that came after and here we are now 16 years later,” Gomez added.

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The Emilia Pérez star, who first crossed paths with Swift in 2008, also went on to detail how the pop superstar played her 2008 hit “Love Story” for her before it was released to the public.

 

“I believe ‘Love Story’ was the first song she had ever played me and it wasn’t released yet,” Gomez explained. “Yeah, I was in a hotel room and I remember it vividly, it was just one of those songs I instantly heard and thought this is one of the most beautiful songs ever.”

Shane then commented, “Wow, ‘I can’t believe you heard Love Story before it was released,” to which Gomez responded, “I know, it was so sweet. She was like, ‘Okay I just want to play you this song but just like you know, I don’t know it’s going to be the first single, I think, I think.’ And just hearing her say those little thoughts and just listening to it. Yeah, she is a chameleon, she’s incredible.”

Gomez’s comments come after she shared a new snap of the BFFs together as she declared the past year of her life the “most beautiful.”

The photo was shared in a July 20 Instagram post that featured a carousel of images of Gomez and her loved ones, including her fiancé, Benny Blanco.

 

In the new picture of the friendship duo, Gomez posed alongside Swift as they sat surrounded by a pile of metallic balloons. While Gomez stretched her hand toward the camera, Swift lay her head to the side as she leaned toward her bestie and stared up into the lens.

Over the years, the two have shown their support for one another on various occasions, from cheering each other on at award shows to Swift celebrating Gomez’s engagement to Blanco, 37, and declaring that she’ll “be the flower girl” at their upcoming nuptials.

 

Taylor Swift Just Announced a New Song Called ‘Ruin the Friendship’: Is It About Blake Lively?

A source told PEOPLE in June that Lively and Swift were working toward being “on good terms,” though the pair’s friendship “isn’t the same as it was before”

 

One newly announced song on Taylor Swift‘s new album The Life of a Showgirl has fans wondering if the megastar has written a song about Blake Lively.

Swift, 35, unveiled the title of her new album and its 12 new songs on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The album releases on Oct. 3, giving Swifties everywhere ample time to speculate over the titles of tracks like “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Elizabeth Taylor,” and most notably in the aftermath of the album’s announcement, “Ruin the Friendship,” the sixth track on The Life of a Showgirl.

Lively and Swift’s longtime friendship has been under public scrutiny in the months since Lively’s ongoing legal battle with her It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni began in December 2024, when Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, Heath and Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, as well as its co-founder Steve Sarowitz, claiming sexual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation, which they deny.

Swift’s name was brought into the mix when Baldoni’s legal team alleged that Swift had pressured him to accept Lively’s rewrites on the movie in a complaint Baldoni filed in January that has since been dismissed.

 

Baldoni’s team later attempted to subpoena her. Although that subpoena was later withdrawn, Baldoni’s legal team continued to allegedly “demand” access to records of Lively’s communications with Swift. Most recently, Judge Lewis J. Liman denied Lively’s motion for a protective order to keep her communications with Swift regarding It Ends with Us out of Baldoni’s hands. Documents obtained by PEOPLE on June 18 suggested that Baldoni alleges to have never received access to Swift’s communications with Lively.

As Swift fans responded to the news of The Life of a Showgirl‘s track list on Aug. 13, X user @mynerdyhome was one among a number of fans who quickly suggested that the song “Ruin the Friendship” — and perhaps also the album’s 10th track, “CANCELLED!” — are about Lively.

“Who else thinks Ruin The Friendship and CANCELLED! are about Blake Lively👀🍿Taylor Swift…please…,” the user wrote in a post that has over 10,000 impressions.

Didi Effe, a Brazilian television host and presenter, wrote on X on Aug. 13, “I am CER-TAIN that Ruin The Friendship on Taylor Swift’s new album is about Blake Lively.”

Billy Bush even spoke to the notion that Swift may discuss or hint at her friendship with Lively on his podcast Hot Mics on Aug. 13. “Now that is an interesting question – I think so,” he said in a clip from the podcast. “I do think that she will shade Blake Lively on her album. Why? Because Blake Lively is, after all, an ex. And she likes to talk about her exes. She’s an ex. She’s an ex bestie. Her greatest regret has nothing to do with Justin Baldoni, ruining his career, giving him anxiety for life. That’s not her regret. Her regret is falling out with Taylor Swift. Everybody wants to be in that Swiftie entourage.”

 

Back in April, a source told PEOPLE that Swift “was really hurt” after she was implicated in Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle, and in May a source told PEOPLE that her friendship with Lively “has halted.” At that time, another insider said that while the pair were “taking some space,” they were “not no longer friends.”

In June, though, a source told PEOPLE that Lively and Swift were working toward being “on good terms,” though the pair’s friendship “isn’t the same as it was before.”

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