The audience cheered so loudly during Jimmy Fallon's introduction of Taylor Swift, it felt like an Eras Tour in Studio 6B.

For three full blocks, Fallon asked about her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, speaking at Selena Gomez's wedding and the inspiration behind "Wood." And Swift answered the hard questions.

Before she came out, Fallon did a bedazzled tap dance with Bob Mackie-esque showgirls. After the show's intro rolled, his monologue was riddled with Swift jokes.

"This is the hottest ticket in town," he said. "Today I was on the phone with Pope Leo and said, 'I'm sorry your holiness there is no more room.' I just want to thank all the Swifites around the world watching us tonight."

The jokes kept flowing: "Even though it's October, like everyone else, I spent the weekend looking for Easter eggs. I listened to the album so many times this weekend. I think that I'm in love with Travis. ... 'The Life of a Showgirl' is full of Shakespeare references and math, at this point, Taylor is basically the Department of Education. ... Taylor broke multiple Spotify records. ... Shakespeare was like, 'I doth slayeth again.'"

Fallon's band chirped in when he tried to make a non-Swift joke, "Just stop wasting time and bring her out already."

As the audience erupted, she emerged from the blue curtains glistening in a silver Giuseppe Di Morabito dress.

"I'm getting blinded; congratulations on your engagement," Fallon said. As the camera zoomed in on the rock designed by Kindred Lubeck, Swift explained how Kelce proposed after the taping for the Aug. 13 podcast when she announced her 12th era.

"He had it for a really long time before he gave it to me," Swift said flashing the "old mine brilliant cut" diamond. " He's just my favorite person I've ever met. No offense to everyone else, but the fact that this is the person that I get to hang out with every day."

Fallon transitioned into the rumor mill reading off five rumors that made gossipy headlines about the singer. At least one was true:

  • Turned down the Super Bowl halftime show, because the NFL wouldn't allow her to own her footage.
  • Your close friend Ed Sheeran learned of her engagement like everyone else did. (Which was true. "He doesn't have a phone," she said.)
  • In your speech at Selena Gomez's wedding you joked that Selena beat you to the alter. (She mentioned she did speak about the way her and Gomez dressed in 2008 when they met.)
  • You've been spotted walking a mystery dog in Florida.
  • Travis Kelce can be heard harmonizing on "Opalite."

Out of the commercial break, the two engaged in a rapid-fire game.

  • The last person you texted? "Selena."
  • The last movie you saw? "'One Battle After Another'...  We are so lucky to be alive at the same time as Paul Thomas Anderson."
  • The last fall related activity you did? "I baked cinnamon rolls the other day."
  • The last song of your own that you listened to not on the new album? " So I listened to 'The Tortured Poets Department' to say goodbye to it."
  • The last song of any artist that you listened to? "Tate McRae's got a brand-new song, 'Tit for Tat.'"
  • The last person you said, "And, baby, that's show business for you?" Without having an answer, she said it to Fallon.

To end her portion of the show, Swift sat at a round table with Fallon who asked about the inspiration behind some of her tracks. They started with "Opalite" and transitioned to her provocative song "Wood."

" I brought this into the studio and I was like, 'I wanna sort of do a throwback kind of timeless sounding song,'" she said of the song that has made listeners blush and clutch their pearls. "It really started out in a very innocent place. I dunno what happened, man, once I got in there, we started vibing and I don't know."

Swift and Fallon have shared more than a decade of memorable late-night moments.

Early appearances

Oct. 6 marks her seventh time on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Swift has been sipping coffee on the late night show since Aug. 13, 2014, when the 24-year-old told Fallon she would be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards. He pressed her to divulge details on an upcoming project she was teasing — her fifth album "1989" — but she remained tight-lipped. Swift also appeared on Fallon's sketch "Ew," where he played a teenager with braces who spelled her name Sara "with no 'h,' because h's are ew." Swift had her hair done up in colorful scrunchies and wore a Scramble letter necklace with her character's name Natalie.

"This is a drawing that I made of a pegacorn, that is a unicorn and Pegasus in one. That is my invention of a drawing I made," Swift said showing a glittery mythical creature.

"I do feel this bond," Fallon said gesturing to himself and Swift when she returned in February 2015. He held up a Vogue cover of the singer posing with model Karlie Kloss and explained how the two women played a game where they drew each other's faces without ever looking down for Vogue.com. He asked Swift if they could do their own version.

Also in the interview, Fallon played a bit where he and Swift would dance on New York City jumbotrons. In the skit, a camera catches fans at a game dancing and cuts to the two who dump their popcorns, do the robot and then turn back-to-back and pose.

Two years later, Swift returned for her "Reputation" era and performed an acoustic piano version of Fallon's favorite song off the album, "New Years Day."

In his monologue to open the Nov. 13, 2017, show, Fallon admitted that his mother, Gloria Fallon, used to hold his and his sister's hand and squeeze it three times for "I love you." Swift performed an acoustic version of her song, invoking tears.

'My mind is alive'

On Oct. 3, 2019, Swift's mother, Andrea Swift, sent footage of Swift's recovery from laser eye surgery to Fallon. Groggy, the singer almost cries trying to grab a banana to eat. The video cuts to her lying in bed chewing the banana. Her mom warns, "Don't fall asleep eating it, OK?"

Swift hilariously responds, "I'm not asleep, my mind is alive."

Fast-forward to Nov. 11, 2021, when Swift teased the release of "Red (Taylor's Version)," explained her Easter egg process (and planted a clue for "The Tortured Poets Department" three years ahead of time) and faced off in a round of "Box of Lies," where they attempted to thwart each other about odd items concealed inside a mystery box.

Her sixth appearance was on Oct. 24, 2022. Swift wore a black-and-white three-piece Dorothee Schumacher chevron-patterned suit. She announced that she would be touring soon (what became the Eras Tour), discussed her music video turned short film for "All Too Well (10-minute version)" and previewed her "Bejeweled" music video.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift tackles rumors, rapid-fire questions and explains 'Wood' on Jimmy Fallon

Reporting by Bryan West, USA TODAY NETWORK / Nashville Tennessean

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