Taylor Swift Details Falling in Love With Travis Kelce: 'New Heights' Revs

Taylor Swift’s debut appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast did not disappoint.

The pop star, 35, joined the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, also 35, and his cohost brother, Jason Kelce, during the Wednesday, August 13, episode of the podcast.

“This podcast has done a lot for me,” Swift, 35, said in the opening moments of the episode. “This podcast got me a boyfriend ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app two years ago.”

She recalled Travis going on “New Heights” to express his disappointment about not meeting her at Arrowhead Stadium during her Kansas City Eras Tour stop, telling Jason, “It was such a wild romantic gesture to just be like, ‘I want to date you!’ At first when I looked at it, I was like, ‘This dude didn’t get a meet and greet and he’s making it everyone’s problem.’ He didn’t even reach out to our management! When this podcast came out I was like, ‘Did he ever reach out to be in the tents or did we know he was in the building?’ He came with Patrick Mahomes and he thought that becuase he knows the elevator lady that he could just talk to her about getting [backstage]. That’s how it works in 1973.”

She explained that after she processed things her perspective changed. “I’m not an online person at all, I’m not on social media like that, I’m genuinely terrified to open my DMs. There’s smoke coming out of my DMs. If you have, like, 20 million unread DMs, you’re just like, ‘Ahh!’ This was more like I was in an ’80s John Hughes movie and he was just standing outside of my window with a boombox just being like, ‘I want to date you! Do you want to date me!?’ So I was like, ‘If this guy isn’t crazy, which is a big if, this is sort of what i’ve been writing songs about what I’ve been wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”

Swift’s recollection made Travis blush as he added with a laugh, “And I was sitting there at the Eras Tour listening to all those songs thinking, ‘This is what she wants me to do.'”

The pop star noted it was a “wild” move but. it “worked,” as Kelce replied, “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Earlier this week, fans began speculating that Swift would finally appear on “New Heights” for the first time after the podcast’s social media accounts teased a mystery guest.

“92%ers, we’re coming back early for a special episode with a VERY special guest,” a post shared via Instagram on Monday, August 11, hinted. “New episode Wednesday 7 p.m. ET.”

The accompanying image featured a silhouette that resembled Swift alongside photos of Travis and Jason, 37, who appeared to be wearing merch with the singer’s face on it.

Later that day, “New Heights” confirmed Swift as the mystery guest with a clip of her and Travis flirting while recording the episode.

On Tuesday, August 12, Swift announced the title of her upcoming 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, in a teaser from her “New Heights” appearance.

“Posted at 12:12 on the 12th. ❤️‍🔥 Tay’s 12th album is called …………,” the accompanying Instagram post read.

Swift’s “New Heights” debut is a full-circle moment in her relationship with Travis. The couple began dating in the summer of 2023 after he shared a story on the podcast of his failed attempt to meet her at one of her Eras Tour concerts in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Well, I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” he explained during a July 2023 episode. “So I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”

Travis added that he wanted to give Swift a bracelet “with my number on it.”

Two months after going public with their romance in September 2023, Travis revealed that Swift contacted him after hearing his story about their missed connection on his podcast.

“She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out,” he recalled in a November 2023 WSJ. Magazine interview.

The following month, Swift reflected on Travis shooting his shot via his “New Heights” platform, telling Time in December 2023, “This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell.”

Keep scrolling for all the biggest moments from Swift’s “New Heights” appearance:

Her Side of the Story

Swift was able to give her perspective on Travis publicly expressing he wanted to date her, explaining that her perception of it changed over time.

“It was such a wild romantic gesture to just be like, ‘I want to date you!’ At first when I looked at it, I was like, ‘This dude didn’t get a meet and greet and he’s making it everyone’s problem.’ He didn’t even reach out to our management! When this podcast came out I was like, ‘Did he ever reach out to be in the tents or did we know he was in the building?’ He came with Patrick Mahomes and he thought that becuase he knows the elevator lady that he could just talk to her about getting [backstage]. That’s how it works in 1973.”

She continued, “I’m not an online person at all, I’m not on social media like that, I’m genuinely terrified to open my DMs. There’s smoke coming out of my DMs. If you have, like, 20 million unread DMs, you’re just like, ‘Ahh!’ This was more like I was in an ’80s John Hughes movie and he was just standing outside of my window with a boombox just being like, ‘I want to date you! Do you want to date me!?’ So I was like, ‘If this guy isn’t crazy, which is a big if, this is sort of what i’ve been writing songs about what I’ve been wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”

Travis’ response? “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s 1st Date

Swift recalled asking Travis on their first date together what it was like when his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, faced off against Jason’s Philadelphia Eagles in the 2023 Super Bowl, not understanding how football worked.

“He didn’t even look at me. I know now what an insane quesiton that was,” Swift said. “I thought everyone was on the field at the same time.”

Swift noted that she continues to learn. “I’m not ready to be an analyst right now, but give me 16 months.”

Jason, meanwhile, said Swift asked the ‘best questions” and has a genuine “competativeness” he appreciates.

Taylor Swift on Reclaiming Her Masters

Swift gave insight into buying her masters earlier this summer, explaining that she’s been “saving up money” since she was a teenager to own her own music. “It’s usually the label that owns it, but I’ve always wanted this to happen,” she explained.

The “Anti-Hero” singer shared that when her music was sold to Scooter Braun in 2018, it “ripped her heart out of her chest,” which led to her rerecording her first six albums. “Rerecording my music, it was so exciting to get to have that opportunity but I thought about owning my music every day. It was an intrusive thought I had every day.”

Swift said that after the Eras Tour wrapped in December 2024, they approached the then-current owners, Shamrock Capital, who she knew were “above board people.”

“I”m in the business of human emotion. I’d so much rather lead heart first in something like this,” she explained, noting that she wanted to own her music because it is her “handwritten diary entries through my whole life. … everything that i’ve ever done is in this catalogue.”

Swift began to cry as she recalled sending only her mom, Andrea, and brother Austin to sit down with Shamrock. She said that when she found out the sale went through, she “hit the floor” and was “weeping.”

Then it was time to tell Travis. “I’m trying to say it in a normal way and he’s playing video games and he like, puts his headset down and I think he thought something as wrong, and I just absolutely started heaving crying. Dropped, had no power in my legs to support myself. This changed my life. I can’t believe it still.”

“I’m just so glad you were there when it happened,” she told Travis, who replied, “I started weeping too! … I was blown away that you had been doing this your entire life and for your six albums, you weren’t given the rights to all of that. I know how much that burned you.”

Taylor Swift Thanks Her Fans — And Don’t Worry, Listen However You Want

“They were like, ‘We ride at dawn,’” she said of Swifties reacting to her rerecordings. “And they’re the reason the rerecords worked out, it’s why iI was able to purchase my music back because they came to the Eras Tour and I also want to note that the other people who are like, ‘We ride at down,’ my live band? They played on the rerecords. they’re session musicians, too. “

When it comes to what fans should listen to now that Swift owns all her music, she said it’s all up to the person. “Whatever you want. I would not have put out the rerecords if I didn’t think they held up or were better. I think a lot of the vocals I did on the rerecords are better than the originals. But if you found a nostalgia in the originals and that’s what you were listening to at 12 years ol bopping around in your bedroom, go crazy.”

Travis, for his part, said he’s found multiple playlists that combine both. “You’ve been streaming?” Swift asked, to which Travis replied, “I’ve been streaming for about two years!”

Swift did pick a favorite rerecorded album, noting Red (Taylor’s Version) was particulary special to her, and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” is her favorite song she’s ever written.

How the Eras Tour ‘Mesmerized’ Travis Kelce

Travis said that while Swift credits “New Heights” for their romance, he sends all his thanks to the Eras Tour. “If I hadn’t been so mesmerized, and just been captivated, and then left with such a desire to meet you, I would have never went on here and told everybody how butthurt I was,” he said.” I had never just been so engulfed in the curiosity of who you were.”

“Aw, that’s so wonderful,” she replied. “Thank you for saying that.”

“No, but you see you on the stage and how crazy you can get an entire stadium going but then I get you in a room and it’s like I’ve known you forever. It was just the easiest conversation I ever had. And it was so much fun it just knocked my socks off. I had never experienced something so mesmerizing on stage and then so real and so beautiful in person.”

“Should I leave?” Jason asked after a pause. “I think everyone should leave!” Taylor joked in response.

Thinking About Jason Kelce’s Kids

Swift said she’s been “workshopping” different sourdough bread, especially funfetti for Jason and his wife Kylie Kelce’s four daughters. “Because you know they love sprinkles and we put sprinkles in everything when we hang out!”

Taylor Swift Details Art of the Easter Egg

Swift joked about her Easter egg hints becoming a little “zodiac killer” before detailing her “parameters” when she teases things. “There are dos and donts. I’m never going to plan an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life,” she said. “It’s always going to be toward music or something that I have coming up. A plan I have coming together. Something that you don’t know I’m saying for a specific reason that you’ll hear later and go back and go, ‘Oh my god.’”

She added that she loves numerology and dates, explaining that she likes to keep them so they don’t disrupt the average listener but “if you know you know you know you know.”

Travis Kelce’s Eras Tour Moment

Swift said Travis’ appearance at her London Eras Tour show came out of a joke between them and snowballed into something else.

“You were so good. His comedic timing is crazy. And when the lights are bright, that’s when he slows down time, that’s when he thrives,” she explained. Travis, however, recalled how nervous he was. “I rose from that stage and I saw how many people are looking at you and I was just like, blackout.”

Swift said it was the “loudest scream” she heard the entire 2-year tour. “I felt like an ant,” Travis confessed. “I felt like the smallest piece of life ever.”

He remembered being worried about picking Swift up, to which she replied, “Why were you worried about that?! You could throw me over a mountain, climb that mountain and catch me on the other side.”

Taylor Swift Remembers Meeting Jason and Kylie Kelce

“Did you know I was told to be on my best behavior?” Jason asked Swift about their first interaction at the Buffalo Bills vs. Chiefs game. Swift said she didn’t, but did hear him say to Kylie, “I was just shotgunning beer with the Bills mafia, and I really want to go through one of the fire tables. I want to jump through it and onto the flaming table. And she goes, ‘OK, can we not do that right now?’ And since then, I’ve heard her say that exact thing to your 4-year-old.”

“So I meet you, and you’re exactly as I thought you would be. Kylie is exactly how I thought she would be. Just the realest, smartest, coolest,” Swift continued. “You’re fantastic, obviously, you know that. And then I swear the god, Jason, you flew through the window. I’ve never seen someone so big move so fast.”

Swift remembered Jason handing children to her through a window. “It was your best moment, and I’m very lucky to have gotten to see it.”

Did Andy Reid Set Up Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift?

Swift confessed that after Travis made his confession on the podcast about wanting to date her, everyone who “likes” Travis — “which is a lot of people,” she pointed out — started reaching out to everyone who knows her.

“I think Andy was vouching for you, my relatives, my cousins were like, ‘Please, please please, he’s amazing.’ There were friends who were like, ‘He’s an amazing guy, he’s so great.’ There were a lot of people whispering in my ear about you. And that’s not normal!”

Update on Scott Swift After Heart Surgery

Taylor said her father, Scott Swift, is doing “incredible” after his quintuple bypass heart surgery earlier this year. She noted that things happened “really fast” as he had historically had a “perfect EKG” in his physicals over the years.

Eventually, five blockages were found in a stress test. “[Doctors we’re like], ‘We gotta do this tomorrow. We don’t know how you walked in here,” Taylor recalled, saying that she and Travis, as well as her mom and brother moved in with him for the summer to help him heal.

Taylor added that mom Andrea is also doing “great” as well after a knee surgery, calling both her and Scott her “best friends” who she wants to live until they are “186 years old.”

Introducing ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Swift introduced her new album, sharing the front and back cover artwork and revealing there are 12 songs, which Travis called “all bangers.” She also announced that the entire album was exclusively produced by Max Martin and Shellback, who she contacted after the Eras Tour. “It felt like catching lightening in a bottle.”

As for why she chose orange for her new era color, Swift said, “I just like it. Energetically, it kind of feels how my life has felt. And this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my life during this tour which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant.”

She teased that Folklore and Evermore were folky explorations for her, which helped her when she got back into the studio with Martin and Shellback for The Life of a Showgirl.

“We knew that we had to bring the best ideas that we’ve ever had, and I also know that I’m putting pressure on this record by saying that but I don’t care because I love it that much. I’m so proud of it. … It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life. And so that effervescence has come through on this record.”

Swift added that there are no extra songs coming beyond the announced 12, adding that it’s the record she’s wanted to make for a “long time.” The album hits shelves on October 3. “Still annoying,” she quipped of the date adding up to her lucky No. 13.

Taylor Swift Got Jason Kelce’s Kids to Love Cats

Swift called Jason telling his daughters that cats are “poisonous” a “great challenge,” saying, “Because as soon as I got the kids around the cats, it was my goal to prove to them that they weren’t poisonous And there’s no better way to prove that than to just hand them Benjamin, my rag-doll cat who lets humans hold him like he’s a baby.”

She continued, “The cats are so good with kids. They’re just like, ‘Meredith is here.’ I’m like, ‘Yup and you know what, she didn’t bite you at all, did she? And if she did bite you, she wouldn’t be poisonous.’ They’re like, ‘That’s not what our dad said.’”

Jason, meanwhile, said he can not “confirm nor deny” that he and Kylie are planning a cat addition to their clan.

Taylor Swift Addresses Riding in a Cleaning Cart

“Mine,” Swift said when asked who came up with the idea to have her ride to the stage in a cleaning cart to shield herself from fans’ view. “That’s my type of weird idea. When you’re putting a show like that, you’re not just performing for the entire stadium you’re performing for the entire internet,” she said. “So I wanted to curate and really romanticize the images they were seeing first. So I didn’t want them to see my first outfit and my first look, which would have given away what my first era was, when i’m walking up behind the stage.”

She confessed that she considered only riding in the cart for night one of the show, but got “attached” to the concept. “There’s a thing inside of me that likes sneaking around,” she quipped. “Why did I make it look like a mop cart?”

The AFC Championship

Swift revealed that she and Travis hadn’t discussed her coming onto the field after the 2024 AFC Championship because he doesn’t like to “jinx” anything, but his mom, Donna Kelce, told her, “Trust me, he wants you there.”

“Basically i’m experiencing this heightened scenario that I had no idea I would be experiencing, and it’s one of my most cherished memories because I was so proud of you. It was so magical. It was so fun. It’s crazy to see someone you love work that hard and then have that kind of euphoria payoff.”