Last year, when Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department, she really didn’t do much dedicated press or media for the album or the singles. It was a Beyonce-esque move, a power move to say that she doesn’t need to hustle her album for it to be successful. So what do we make of Taylor’s promotional tour for The Life of a Showgirl? She’s been on a tour of British radio stations, she’s been doing TikTok dances and last night, she made her first appearance on the Tonight Show in years and years. Jimmy Fallon obviously didn’t ask Taylor any hard questions, because he knows how to stay on Taylor’s good side. He did ask her about the Super Bowl and whether she has been offered the Halftime headliner gig before. She said something really interesting about Roc Nation and Jay-Z.
Taylor Swift, 35, appeared on the Monday, Oct. 6 episode of The Tonight Show for a conversation with host Jimmy Fallon, where the pair went through a list of rumors, with Swift confirming or denying them. One of the revelations from Swift’s appearance was her explanation for why she will not do the Super Bowl halftime show. When asked by Fallon about the “rumor that [she’s] turned down the Super Bowl ‘because of performance footage,’” Swift replied “No.”
She then launched into a lengthy explanation. “Here’s the thing,” she began. “Jay Z has always been very good to me. Our teams are very close. They sometimes will call and say how does she feel about… and that’s not an official offer or a conference room conversation. We’re always able to tell him the truth, which is that I am in love with a guy who does that sport on that actual field.”
Swift reflected on how stressful it is to watch her fiancé Travis Kelce play on the field — and how that plays into her consideration of potentially doing the halftime show. “That is violent chess,” Swift said. “That is gladiators without swords. That is dangerous. The whole season I am locked in on what that man is doing on the field. Can you imagine if he’s out there every single week putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high-pressure, high-intensity sport, and I’m like, ‘I wonder what my choreo should be. I think we should do two verses of ‘Shake it Off’ into ‘Blank Space’ into ‘Cruel Summer’ would be great.’”
The music star clarified, “This is nothing to do with Travis, he would love for me to do it. I’m just too locked in.”
During the segment where Swift debunked rumors, she was also asked if she joked to Selena Gomez on the actress’ wedding day, “Hey you beat me to the altar.” Swift shared that the answer is another no. “I got to see her be the most elegant, gorgeous — not only bride but just — vision that I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful as her on her wedding day,” she said of Gomez’s Sept. 27 wedding to music producer Benny Blanco.
“And she deserves all of this happiness. Benny is so funny. He’s the best. I did make a speech. But I actually made a point not to mention anything about my engagement. No one wants you to be like, ‘Hey, I know this is your wedding day but—’” with a raised hand showing off her ring. “I was like, ‘Don’t mention it.’”
People always forget, and Swifties always forget that Taylor is legitimately really close to Beyonce and Jay-Z. They’ve all been close for many years. Still, I’m surprised by Taylor’s description of her team’s closeness to Roc Nation. We didn’t know until now that Rox Nation, who produces the Halftime show, has periodically gone to Taylor to take her temperature about the Halftime show. That’s interesting. Anyway, Taylor seems to be saying… I’ll do the Halftime show when Travis retires. Fair enough. Here are the videos from the Tonight Show – Taylor’s sparkly dress is from Giuseppe Di Morabito.
Screengrabs courtesy of NBC/Tonight Show.
