Taylor Swift appears on the cover of her upcoming album, "The Life of a Showgirl."
Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," will drop Oct. 3.

As far as celebrity romances go, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have got that special alchemy.

The Grammy-winning pop superstar and NFL player, who've generated headlines and fan fervor with their high-profile romance, peeled back the curtain on their relationship during Swift's appearance on Kelce's "New Heights" podcast, which dropped on Wednesday, Aug. 13, after the couple teased the interview earlier this week.

"This podcast got me a boyfriend, ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app about two years ago," said Swift, referring to Kelce's comments about not meeting the singer after her Eras Tour show at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The sentimental collaboration comes after Kelce gushed about his "Love Story" with Swift in a September cover story for GQ magazine, in which he affectionately compared Swift to his mother, Donna Kelce, and described the emotional dynamics of their celebrity relationship.

"When there is not a camera on us, we're just two people that are in love," Kelce told the magazine. "It can be perceived as something else because of how much it is talked about and how much we are tracked whenever we do go out, but I would say that it's as normal of. … It happened very organically, even though from a media standpoint it was being tracked."

However, Swift and Kelce's podcast PDA wasn't all play.

The couple's joint interview is part of the rollout for Swift's upcoming 12th album, "The Life of a Showgirl," which is slated for an Oct. 3 release. Swifties can preorder the album on Swift's official website.

Swift started teasing the new project in April 2024 when she debuted "The Tortured Poets Department" at her Paris concert. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that her show countdown turned orange before the opening sequence, and her "Karma" door at the close of the show was orange. She also debuted a fiery bodysuit seen on the first page of her official Eras Tour book next to a letter that read: "See you next era..."

Orange appears to be a significant color for the next Swift era. Ahead of the "New Heights" interview, the podcast shared a teaser photo of Kelce and brother, Jason Kelce, against a glittery orange background, next to a silhouette of Swift. The color is the same background seen in a letter Swift addressed to fans in May, announcing the ownership of her masters.

Taylor Swift pokes fun at Travis Kelce's podcast callout after Eras Tour concert

Swift and Kelce's whirlwind romance began unexpectedly in July 2023 after Kelce expressed his frustration about not getting to meet Swift at the Eras Tour on an episode of the "New Heights" podcast.

"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Kelce said at the time. "So, I was a little butthurt I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her … I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it."

In a December 2023 interview with Time magazine, Swift described the podcast callout as "metal as hell." But the "Karma" singer poked fun at her boyfriend's gesture on the Aug. 13 "New Heights" episode.

"He threw a man tantrum. It's so funny," Swift reflected. "It was such a wild romantic gesture to just be like, 'I wanna date you!' This dude didn't get a meet-and-greet, he's making it everyone's problem."

In retrospect, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end defended his vocal stance, telling Swift, "Sweetie, that's what it does when you're on the stage and you perform. ... You come to Arrowhead, I get to meet you. That's the perk of playing for the Chiefs."

Taylor Swift gushes about 'vibe booster' Travis Kelce

Despite Kelce's unconventional courtship method, Swift opened up to Jason Kelce about what made her fall for the football player.

"He's the good kind of crazy. I knew that he wasn't crazy the first couple of times that we talked," Swift explained. "He's truly getting to know me in a way that's very natural, very pure, very normal. Like, the way that he could make me laugh so immediately about normal things."

Swift went on to affectionately describe Kelce as a "vibe booster in everyone's life."

"He's like a human exclamation point," Swift added, telling Kelce: "When you take a picture on your phone and you push the enhance color button, that's what you do to everyone's life."

How Travis Kelce turned girlfriend Taylor Swift into football fanatic

Swift confessed during her "New Heights" appearance that she had no knowledge of football prior to dating Kelce: "I didn't know what a first down was. I didn't know what the chains were. I didn't know what a tight end was."

After going public with her relationship, the singer made headlines — and drove up TV ratings — after appearing at several of Kelce's games throughout the NFL season.

Kelce thanked his girlfriend for "diving into the football world wholeheartedly," with Swift adding that she became "obsessed" with the sport.

"I became a person who was running through the halls of my house screaming, 'We drafted Xavier Worthy,' " she said, referring to the Chiefs' first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. "My friends were like, 'What? Who body snatched you? What do you mean?' "

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce bonded over 'torture' of Eras Tour strain

For Swift, the Eras Tour was her Super Bowl.

The pop star, who wrapped her record-setting tour in December 2024, reflected on the physical strain of the global trek, which saw Swift perform a series of taxing three-and-a-half-hour shows.

"It was a lot of physical therapy, and it was a lot of being in a state of perpetual physical discomfort, kind of like when you're in season," Swift told Kelce. "I'm not getting hit by huge 300-pounders, but the heels for that long?"

Kelce agreed: "The similarities were crazy. I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, she does more than I do!' ... We've related on how much torture we've put our bodies through."

Despite the tour's strenuousness, Swift said the tour was the "most formative time of my life": "I learned so much about how far I can push myself. ... It's really just prioritizing the fans' experience before anything else."

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Contributing: Olivia Munson and Ayrton Ostly, USA TODAY; Bryan West, USA TODAY Network

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift gushes over whirlwind Travis Kelce romance on 'New Heights' podcast

Reporting by Edward Segarra, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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