Taylor Swift will finally make ‘New Heights’ debut with Travis and Jason Kelce after unveiling her new album

“New Heights” has returned from hiatus early to welcome Swift and her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Taylor Swift performs during the first of three Eras Tour performances at Lincoln Financial Field in Phila., Pa. on May 12, 2023. Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

Updated Aug. 12, 2025, 12:12 a.m. ET

Published Aug. 11, 2025, 4:30 p.m. ET

Update [Tuesday, 12:12 a.m.] — It’s official. Taylor Swift officially announced her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” early Tuesday morning, and the New Heights account shared a video of her revealing the album cover to Jason Kelce as Travis Kelce looked on in glee.

There hasn’t yet been an official release date set for the album, but fans can preorder now on taylorswift.com. The podcast will air Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Update [Monday, 10:15 p.m.] — After two years, it’s finally happening. New Heights has baited Swifties before, prompting speculation that Taylor Swift would appear on the show, but this time, it’s the real thing. Swift will be the surprise guest on Wednesday’s episode of New Heights, the show announced on Monday night.

Swift and Travis Kelce met nearly two years ago thanks to Travis calling her out on an episode of the podcast post-Eras Tour in Kansas City, Mo., and now, it’s coming full circle. The episode is set to drop on Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. ET.

From earlier…

A female silhouette, a glittery orange backdrop, and a concert shirt. This was enough to create a frenzy among Taylor Swift fans across social media.

On Monday morning, the X account for the New Heights podcast — hosted by Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is also Swift’s boyfriend, and his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce — posted a photo teasing “a VERY special guest.” The photo, featuring a woman’s silhouette, sent fans down a rabbit hole, speculating whether Swift would be the latest podcast guest.

A number of Swift fan accounts responded to the post, with comments ranging from, “sooooo excited …. this is the MAIN event,” to “I am about to throw up,” to “if this is Taylor I will [expletive] my pants.”

Let’s keep the bodily fluids to a minimum, Swifties.

And the hype has taken over the internet. Could Swift be the next guest on the popular podcast? Is she planning to make a big announcement? Or are Swifties getting baited — again?

A representative for Swift did not immediately respond to request for comment confirming the appearance. Here’s everything we know about the potential Swift guest appearance.

What’s the evidence for a Swift appearance?

The photo itself has a few indications that the special guest could be Swift, including Jason Kelce wearing what appears to be a long-sleeve navy blue Taylor Swift Eras Tour T-shirt, and an orange glittery backdrop.

To fuel the fire, just 12 minutes after New Heights posted, the official fan engagement page of Taylor Swift, Taylor Nation, posted four photos of the singer in orange Eras outfits with the caption “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era …’”

The New Heights social media post aligns with fan theories that her next album will have an orange theme. Not to mention, the episode drop is on Aug. 13, which happens to be the 14-time Grammy winner’s favorite number. Could this be a bit of a stretch? Maybe.

Or, maybe not.

One or two clues on their own might be a coincidence, but there are more — like Swift’s record label liking the New Heights post teasing its special guest.

And that’s only adding fuel to the throngs of fans absolutely losing their mind at the possibility of Swift announcing new music.

“If Taylor announces TS12 on New Heights, I will die dead. My life will be made. This will be the best thing everrrrrrr. When my two favorite worlds collide,” one fan wrote.

“If she announces new music, I’m going to lose my [expletive],” another user wrote.

And if you really want to go down the rabbit hole, some fans have even taken it upon themselves to decode the silhouette from the New Heights photo, revealing an image of Swift from her “Directors on Directors” interview with Variety.

That’s some serious detective work from Swifties, but we would expect nothing less. Swift has reputation for leaving well-hidden Easter eggs — or secret messages — to tease her new albums. Case in point: Fans were able to clock when Swift was planning to release an album called Midnights by noticing some odd spacing in an old Instagram caption, so Swifties have been right about subtler teases.

If that wasn’t enough to convince fans, perhaps the biggest, albeit circumstantial, piece of evidence is that the Kelce brothers recently wrapped up their New Heights season, and are returning from hiatus early to release this special episode. That means this guest has some serious pull.

The last time New Heights made such a big preshow announcement — and also caused the Swiftie rumor mill to go crazy — was when Caitlin Clark joined the show. But even the Indiana Fever star is looking forward to Wednesday’s episode.

The evidence against a Swift appearance?

However, there is evidence against a Swift appearance.

Swift’s team has quite the reputation for baiting fans. Swifties have constantly been fooled by teases for the release date of Swift’s Reputation (Taylor’s Version), starting with the “Karma” music video in 2023. The video contained a number of references indicating Rep (TV) would soon be on its way, with a hint that it could be released February 2024.

The teasing continued, from her Time’s Person of the Year cover story and her bait-and-switch Grammys acceptance speech to a very snakelike bodysuit on tour in Miami to the end of her Eras Tour in 2024. Yet, there’s still no sign of the rerecorded version of Reputation, which she said wasn’t even a quarter done.

There has been a lot of teasing and speculation surrounding the album, dating back to May 2023. That speculation continues with the latest New Heights episode, but at least Swifties won’t have to wait that long to find out the special guest for Wednesday’s show. And if it’s not Swift, it’s about to be a “Cruel Summer” for Swifties.

Three resident Swifties weigh in

Of course, The Inquirer had to ask some of our resident Swifties about their opinions on the matter. Here’s what they had to say …

Gabriela Carroll, staff writer

It’s happening. I understand the arguments that it doesn’t make sense for the brand or with her message, but there’s no other way to read the clues as presented. The combination of Taylor Nation’s post, the orange background, and New Heights’ post, plus the interactions from Swift’s friends and record label on the New Heights post, plus the fact that Travis and Jason are ending their hiatus early to release a podcast at night, on Aug. 13, suggests to me there’s no other option. Yes, Swift has a history of baiting her fans, but she gets a lot more credit for her Easter eggs than she probably deserves — they’re usually pretty obvious. Maybe I’m getting baited, but as probably the foremost New Heights scholar at the Inquirer, they haven’t gotten me before with their surprise guests. It’s going to be Taylor.

Emily Bloch, staff writer

“Covering Taylor and the fandom for several years now, we know Swifties love to make mountains out of molehills. It’s not that it’s unwarranted — Swift herself has admitted that she leans into the Easter eggs. But we’ve gone down this road before. It seems like too much of an easy button for the billionaire pop star to rely on her boyfriend’s podcast to announce her first album since buying back her masters. I guess we’ve surely seen weirder — like Travis’s surprise Tortured Poets Eras Tour performance — but I remain unconvinced. And I implore the Swifties to take their clown noses off (but I know they won’t). To quote the songstress herself: “I think I’ve seen this film before.”

Beatrice Forman, staff writer

As The Inquirer’s foremost Swiftie scholar, I’m going to break with the fandom and go with a hard, hard no. Besides the fact that it’s too obvious, I can’t imagine that Swift would use something as monumental as her first album announcement post-masters acquisition to juice her boyfriend’s podcast for views (not that he even needs them). Swift has spent the better part of her career railing against the media’s view that she’s just a boyfriend girl who only exists in relation to her relationships, and announcing TS12 on New Heights would run antithetical to that. And while Swift and Travis have been photographed plenty at weddings and dinners and charity functions, they have not yet mixed business with pleasure, even amid PR relationship accusations. Why would they now? There’s also another blonde with bangs with a release on Wednesday, and she even collaborated with Jason on a Christmas song. She’s also a fan of Swift and Travis, to boot. Stevie Nicks is my pick for New Heights.

Staff writers Emily Bloch, Beatrice Forman, and Gabriela Carroll contributed to this article.