Taylor Swift closed out “The Life of a Showgirl” press tour with a final stop on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Appearing on Tuesday’s show — Meyers’ 1,713th episode, a number that fittingly stands at 12, corresponding to Swift’s 12th studio album (and nodding to her lucky 13) — was appropriate for the numerology that has followed her entire career.
Swift and Meyers covered her new record release, which became the most consumed album in a single week hours before recording began, as well as the self-directed “Fate of Ophelia” music video that reunited her with the dancers and backup singers of the Eras Tour.
Known for keeping her songs locked with click tracks, she revealed that she played the top secret version for her dancers before filming the music video. “If they were on the Eras tour, they know how to keep a secret,” she said.
Looking back on her stadium run, Swift admitted that FOMO loomed over the VIP tent each night. At one of his shows in London, then-boyfriend and now-fiancé Travis Kelce was joined by his local friends and stars Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Cruise, Hugh Grant and Greta Gerwig – Kelce’s favorite director. “He loves Greta Gerwig. He loves her movies, he loves her range,” Swift said.
After the concert — as part of what Swift described as their routine car debrief — Kelce told her he was disappointed that Gerwig didn’t laugh at her “Barbie” joke. She remembers him saying who he thought Gerwig was: “I love ‘Barbie.’ I’m just Ken, Also“, before pointing the finger at Swift. He said she “smiled politely but didn’t say anything.”
Later, after seeing videos online of Gerwig and Kelce “dancing the night away,” Swift realized it was a case of mistaken identity. “Do the math,” she said. “Is there any chance, baby, that you complimented Hugh Grant’s wife, Anna, on her movie ‘Barbie?’ And she nodded politely, because she didn’t have the heart to tell you that she didn’t direct the film?
But with the Eras tour over and the rollout of “Showgirl” coming to a close, Swift is focusing on planning her wedding. Meyers came up with ideas for invitations – from an electronic blast to a framed print, since “people will do it anyway.” “You can say it’s my idea, so no one’s saying you’re cocky or cocky or anything,” he joked.
Swift also reflected on the time her security chief called her when Zoë Kravitz’s snake was loose in her house during the Palisades fire, her recent hyperfixation while baking bread, and meeting Meyers on SNL in 2009.
“(Hosting SNL) is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me in my life at 19,” she said. The two remembered his recreated sketch in Twilight, which parodied one of the greatest films of all time. “Now that I look back, I’m so lucky that we were able to do something around something as iconic and as 2009 as ‘Twilight’.”
More than a decade later, she jokingly credits that SNL week with preparing her for the chaos of the Eras Tour. “That’s absolutely the most times I’ve changed clothes,” Swift said. “I knew I could go on the Eras Tour. I can get these costume changes. It’s the most factual thing ever.”
That same feeling of preparation has led her into this latest chapter – her 12th album, and the one she considers her favorite to date. “This has been the most joyful album release I’ve ever had,” she said.
