Taylor Swift may be swinging open the doors to an opulent era.
The singer was announced as a surprise guest on this week’s “New Heights” podcast. In a teaser video, what appears to be an album sits on a shelf behind her. It’s black with an orange outline. In front of it is an orange square with “T.S.” printed on it.
Swift turns to Travis Kelce in a light blue sweater and says, “Such a nice color on you.”
He replies, “Yes I know, it’s the color of your eyes, sweetie. It’s why we match so well.”
“We’re about to do a f***ing podcast,” Swift responds.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The full podcast will air at 7 p.m. ET on Aug. 13. Listeners can subscribe to watch here.
New era?
A countdown clock appeared on her website three hours before 12:12 a.m. on Aug. 12 sending fans into a spiral. A new album would be Swift’s 12th.
Swifties suspected the singer’s next act was imminent after her in-house marketing account, Taylor Nation, shared an Instagram post the morning of August 11: “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’ ❤️🔥.” A photo carousel of 12 photos showcased her orange bodysuits and dresses from the Eras Tour and included one shot of her and Sabrina Carpenter from the surprise set section in New Orleans.
Shortly before the Taylor Nation post, Travis Kelce’s account and the “New Heights” podcast page shared a joint tease to a “VERY special guest” on an upcoming episode. A silhouette that looked like Swift sent her fandom into a tailspin of excitement. The image background was glittery orange, the same texture seen on her website with her letter reclaiming her entire catalog.
Coming full circle, the podcast is where Travis told his brother Jason he tried to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number. “This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she said during her Time Magazine Person of the Year article. The two dated in secret before she appeared in an NFL suite at a Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears game in September 2023.
Kelce has become a conduit for Swift news
She changed her lyrics for Kelce at the close of Eras Tour. Every time he was in the audience, she’d switch up the tune to “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.” When she won video of the year at the Video Music Awards, she thanked him in her speech.
“When I’d finish a take, and I’d say cut, and we’d be done with that take, I’d always just hear someone like cheering and like ‘whoo’ from across the studio,” she said in the speech. “And that one person was my boyfriend Travis. Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic.”
When he co-hosted Tight End University in May, she crashed the stage with Kane Brown to close out the night with “Shake It Off.”
‘The drought was the very worst’
It’s been 555 days since Swift’s last album announcement, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which she revealed at the 2024 Grammy awards.
Swift has been laying low with music news except for in May when she announed she had purchased the master recordings of her first six albums.
In an open letter, she hinted at a new era of sequins and rhinestones worthy of Elizabeth Taylor. The “TS” letterhead was framed by a diamond. She spelled “thiiiiiiiiiiiis” with 12 i’s.
In her Eras Tour book, she began with a shot from her Paris concert where she debuted the orange body suit and finished her opening letter with “See you next era…” Fans noticed the countdown in France also turned orange before the opening sequence, and they clocked the “Karma” door appearing orange at the end of her show.
