Taylor Swift has been opening up a lot about her life and music as she makes the rounds promoting her new album The Life of a Showgirl, and she’s also using the opportunity to clear up some rumors. For instance, she had a strong reaction to the idea that getting married to Travis Kelce would keep her from making more music, and now she’s addressed speculation that she rejected the NFL’s offer to play the Super Bowl halftime show.
Before Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer, rumors had circulated it would be Taylor Swift, thanks to some suspected easter eggs she dropped when she appeared on Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. While visiting The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Swift denied the rumor that she turned down Jay-Z’s offer, saying:
Here’s the thing. Jay-Z has always been very good to me. Our teams are really 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.
It sounds like Jay-Z may indeed have reached out to the artist to gauge her interest in playing the Super Bowl halftime show, but Taylor Swift may have been worried about impeding on her fiancé’s turf. The “Wood” singer also indicated she preferred to stay focused on her man, as she continued:
That is violent chess. 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.’ This is nothing to do with Travis, he would love for me to do it. I’m just too locked in.
What a poetic way to describe football! While Travis Kelce allegedly would have no issue with Taylor Swift playing the halftime show, Patrick Mahomes has joked that it would be tough for her to do that if the Chiefs were playing in the big game, and if he had to choose one or the other …
It’s a bit wild that Taylor Swift is saying this rumor isn’t true, because the “Mastermind”-level clues in the New Heights podcast had me pretty much convinced. For one thing, she used the number 47 a couple of different times, and Swiftie detectives were quick to suss out that the 47th show on the Eras Tour was California’s Levi’s Stadium — the site of the 2026 Super Bowl.
She also discussed her sourdough obsession at length, joking that she talks “about bread 60% of the time.” The mascot of the San Francisco 49ers (who play in Levi’s Stadium) is named Sourdough Sam, and the upcoming game is Super Bowl LX (or Super Bowl 60 for those unversed in Roman numerals).
I guess it was all just coincidence — despite Swifties being conditioned to believe there is no such thing — so now that she’s cleared that up, I guess we’ll just settle for another listen of The Life of a Showgirl.