During her wide-reaching conversation with boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce on the New Heights podcast Wednesday (Aug. 13), Taylor Swift opened up about her new album, The Life of a Showgirl — which she says is a deep dive into what was going on “behind the scenes” of her life while she was on The Eras Tour.
After more than an hour of discussing reclaiming her masters, falling in love with Travis and taking care of her father after heart surgery, Swift finally pivoted to the subject of her 12th studio LP (arriving Oct. 3) toward the end of the new episode. Revealing that she crafted all 12 songs on the project while she was on her global Eras trek, the 14-time Grammy winner said she would fly to Sweden to work with producers Max Martin and Shellback — her only collaborators on Showgirl — whenever she had a few days off from performing.
“I was so mentally stimulated and excited to be creating,” she gushed. “[The album is] a lot more upbeat, and it’s a lot more fun pop excitement. My main goals were melodies that were so infectious, you’re almost angry at it.”
“We’ve made songs that I’m so proud of,” she continued of herself, Martin and Shellback. “We’ve never actually made an album before where it was just the three of us, there’s no other collaborators. It felt like catching lightning in a bottle. These guys, they’re just geniuses. Working with them again was absolutely incredible.”
Swift added that all 12 songs are “bangers” — akin to past hits she made with the Swedish pop pioneers, such as “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” — and that they detail “what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour.”
The premise of Showgirl documenting Swift’s life over the course of her two-year Eras Tour will certainly intrigue fans. In addition to setting numerous records and captivating millions of fans each night on the road, the pop star went through several changes in her personal life — from breaking up with longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn to sparking up a romance with Travis.
And, as opposed to last album The Tortured Poets Department, which spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Swift asserted on the podcast that Showgirl will feature no bonus tracks (but the “crisp” and “vivid” lyrics on the 12 songs that are featured, plus a Sabrina Carpenter duet on the title track, will surely keep fans satisfied regardless). “There’s no other songs coming,” she emphasized. “This is 12. There’s not a 13th … there’s not other songs coming. This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time.”
As Travis nodded excitedly, Swift added, “I care more about this record more than I can even overstate.”
Watch the full podcast below.
