Taylor Swift just opened up big time for her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. Fans got a special look behind the scenes. Her twelfth album dropped on Friday, October 3. The 35-year-old pop star visited many radio stations and talk shows. She chatted on The Graham Norton Show and BBC Radio 1. Taylor shared secrets about making the record. She also talked about her personal life. She spoke freely about her recent engagement to Travis Kelce. Wedding plans were on her mind too.
The buzz for The Life of a Showgirl won’t stop soon. Taylor appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, October 6. She will also visit Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday, October 8. But the most exciting news came when she peeled back the curtain on her engagement.
Taylor’s Big Personal News: Engagement and Wedding
On The Graham Norton Show, Taylor gushed about Travis Kelce’s proposal. He went all out with flowers. "He surprised me wonderfully," she recalled. Travis built an entire garden in his backyard to pop the question. This happened while they were chatting on his podcast. "He gave it his all — a 10 out of 10," she said. Taylor also told UK’s Heart radio she was impressed. Travis remembered a jeweler she mentioned a year and a half ago. "When I saw the ring, I just gasped," she joked last Friday. "It was like, ‘I know who made it! And you listened to me!’ He did great. It was like, ‘You really know me’."
Before he even asked, Travis got creative to keep Taylor from guessing. "I think, for Travis, the podcast was just a distraction," she said on The Tonight Show. "It was a trick so I wouldn’t look out the house windows." Usually, Travis doesn’t cover windows when he records. This time, "there were blackout curtains on every window throughout the entire house." Taylor remembered Travis seemed "nervous." Then he asked a simple question. It was one he knew she’d always say yes to. "Do you want to go for a walk in the garden and have a glass of wine?" he asked.
So, when’s the big day? Taylor told several news outlets she’s focusing on the album first. The wedding will be planned next. "I want to do the album thing first," she shared with Norton. "The wedding is what comes next for planning. I think it will be fun to plan it." On BBC Radio 1, she hinted at a "destination wedding." She kept the location a secret, though.
Deep Dive into *The Life of a Showgirl*
Let’s talk about the album’s secrets. Travis Kelce’s favorite song is "Opalite." Taylor confirmed this is still true. She explained the song’s meaning and its link to Travis’s October birthstone, the opal. "I learned it’s actually a man-made opal," she told Capital FM in the UK last Friday. Opals, like diamonds, can be created by people. Travis’s birthstone is an opal. "I’ve always noticed that," she said. "I’ve always loved that stone." She found a cool metaphor in this. "Because it’s a manufactured opal, happiness can also be manufactured. The song is about those two ideas together."
What’s Taylor’s own favorite track? It’s "Wish List." This song shows her desire to settle down and start a family. "It was the song where, when we finished it, I said, ‘Ah, that’s it. We’ve got it. This is it. This is the final piece’," she explained on Heart Radio UK. "It’s a very dreamy song. It’s a very romantic song." She added that it lists "all the things people hope to have in their lives. It’s about all the wishes people make around the world." "Wish List" was the last song she wrote for The Life of a Showgirl. It’s her favorite because it fits her current life stage. "It’s very emotional," she said. "It truly reflects how I feel right now."
Another song, "Wood," got some attention. Taylor’s mom, Andrea Swift, didn’t quite get it at first. But Taylor was fine with that. "I think she thinks that song is about superstitions," Taylor said on SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up on Monday, October 6. "And that’s totally true." She added, "That’s the fun of the double meaning. You could read that track to people. It might go right over their heads. In that song, you see what you want to see." Later that Monday, Taylor shared more about the song. "I had this idea: ‘I don’t have to knock on wood,’ and I’d knock on wood. All these superstitions came up," she told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on October 6. "It actually started in a very innocent place." She laughed, "I don’t know what happened, really. I went in, we started flowing, and I don’t know, I don’t know how we got here. But I love the song."
The team for the late actress Elizabeth Taylor loved Taylor Swift’s song named after her. "They were very kind about it," Taylor said on Radio 2’s Breakfast Show on October 6.
Touring, Theories, and Halftime Buzz
Fans got it right about the album cover. Taylor confirmed a popular theory. The artwork for The Life of a Showgirl nods to a famous painting. It’s John Everett Millais’s take on Shakespeare’s Ophelia. "Thanks for noticing the album cover references the famous Ophelia painting," Taylor said. "That painting is also referenced in the music video." She teased more connections to this painting. They are in the music video for the album’s opening track, "The Fate of Ophelia." That video premiered in cinemas last Friday.
After her super busy Eras Tour, Taylor needs a break. She shared she has no immediate touring plans. "I’m going to be very honest with you, I’m actually very tired," she admitted on BBC Radio 1 last Friday. "When I think about doing it again… I’d want to do it really well, again." She still had a blast, though. The tour was "very fun."
What about fan theories? Taylor says some are close, others are way off. "Some theories are definitely not based on anything close to reality," she said on Elvis Duran’s iHeartRadio show last Friday. "But, you know what? Some are really fun when fans figure them out." She confirmed one cool theory. "If you line up all the album track titles in order," she said, "the shape of the tracklist in the center matches the Eras Tour stage."
Finally, about those Super Bowl halftime show rumors. Taylor addressed them directly. "Look, Jay-Z has always been very good to me," she told The Tonight Show. "Our teams get along really well." Sometimes, they call and ask for her thoughts. "They might whisper, ‘What do you think about [mumbles]?’" she clarified. "That’s not an official proposal or a boardroom talk. Our teams are very close. ‘What do you think in general?’ We can always tell him the truth." That truth is, she’s too busy cheering. "I’m in love with a guy who plays that sport on that very field," she stated. Taylor is "too focused" on the game itself to plan a performance.