'Good kind of crazy': What Taylor Swift said about her boyfriend and new album

Taylor Swift revealed details about her new album and offered a rare glimpse into her relationship with boyfriend Travis Kelce during a highly anticipated appearance on his podcast.

The pop superstar took advantage of the interview on New Heights, co-hosted by Travis' brother Jason Kelce, to announce that her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl , will be released on October 3.

She also talked about how she and Travis met and what their life is like, as well as topics ranging from recovering the rights to her first albums, the hidden clues she leaves in her songs for fans and the record-breaking Eras Tour, to her passion for baking sourdough bread.

Participating in the podcast represented a change for the artist, who tends not to give interviews, preferring to share news about her life through the lyrics of her songs, which are meticulously analyzed by obsessed fans.

More than 1.3 million people watched the livestream. The football star brothers called Swift "Tay Tay" and listed their many awards.

Video clips from the New Heights podcast went viral before the episode aired, including one in which Swift revealed her new album.

Below is a little of what we learned from the singer's participation in the podcast.

What we learned about the new album

Swift's 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl , will be available on October 3.

The cover features the singer in a diamond-adorned outfit. She appears submerged in water, with only her face and wrist above the surface.

The album was simultaneously made available for pre-order on their website, which began crashing as soon as the podcast began.

Swift explained that she wrote the album during the Eras Tour, and frequently returned to Sweden while performing shows in Europe to record it.

"I was basically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating," she says.

Travis added: "Literally living the showgirl life."

Swift went on to read off the names of the 12 tracks, including the title track with Sabrina Carpenter.

Travis stated that the album is "upbeat" and will make people dance. He said it is a 180-degree turn from her last album, The Tortured Poets Department .

"Life is more exciting," Swift replied, smiling and looking at Travis.

Swift said the album tells the story of "everything that was going on behind the scenes" of her tour.

The color orange was chosen because it is a color she likes and makes her feel energized, she added.

Swift says the podcast 'got me a boyfriend'

At the beginning of the show, Swift was asked why she decided to participate in the podcast, which is primarily aimed at sports fans.

"This podcast got me a boyfriend," she said, accusing Travis of using the show as his "personal dating app" to connect with her.

Before they even met, Travis spoke on the podcast about going to one of Swift's shows and being disappointed when they couldn't meet.

He mentioned making her a friendship bracelet, which were popular during the Eras Tour, and said he wanted to give her his phone number.

She said the video, which went viral, almost looked as if "he was standing outside my apartment, holding a boom box and saying, 'I want to go out with you.'"

She said this was exactly the moment she had "been writing songs about, wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager."

"It was crazy, but it worked... He's a good kind of crazy guy," she said, calling her boyfriend "a human exclamation point."

Mocking male sports fans

Sitting next to Travis, Swift teased the "male sports fans" in the audience.

"As we all know, you have a lot of male sports fans who listen to your podcast," she said.

"I think we all know that if there's one thing male sports fans want in their spaces and on their screens, it's more of me," she said with a straight face, looking directly into the camera.

Swift's presence at Kansas City Chiefs games has caused a frenzy over the years. But some football fans weren't happy.

She was booed when she appeared on the Super Bowl screen last February, prompting social media posts from US President Donald Trump.

Despite the criticism, Jason assured that she was the "most requested guest on the podcast."

Other recent guests on the show include basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James, and actors Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray and Adam Sandler.

How she creates hidden messages

Swift also opened up about all the ways she uses secret messages to fans to promote her music.

She said she has rules for these hidden clues in her songs and performances.

"I will never put a hidden message that relates to my personal life. It will always be related to my music," she said, joking that some fans are so good at deciphering her messages that it almost became a little "creepy."

Secret messages are "something you don't know I'm saying for a specific reason, but you'll come back and think, 'Oh my God!'"

She said her favorite example was a speech she gave when she received an honorary doctorate.

"I put so many hidden lyrical messages in that speech that when the Midnights album came out after that, fans were like, 'The whole speech was a hidden message!'"

She also talked about her passion for numbers and dates.

"I love math," she said, revealing that 13 is her favorite number.

Travis's, she added, is "87" — the number he wears on his jersey on the field — and she noted that 13 plus 87 equals 100.

Some of her hidden messages are so complex, she says, that they are created "upside down, backwards, in braille."

Swift knew nothing about football — until Travis

Swift said she knew nothing about American football before they started dating.

"I didn't know what a first down or a tight end (the position Travis plays) was," she admitted.

Swift said she recognized the patience Travis had when they first started dating, and introduced her to his world.

Now she's personally involved, citing a time when she took an interest in a recent player trade.

Travis said he will be "eternally grateful" for her embracing his world "wholeheartedly."

In May of this year, it was announced that she had purchased the rights to her first six albums, ending a long battle over ownership of her music.

After selling her original recordings, she promised to re-record all six albums, which became known as "Taylor's Versions".

Swift became emotional as she explained the process by which she acquired her master recordings after a decade of trying to secure the rights.

She said she wasn't interested in the financial rewards the albums would bring.

"I want this because it's my handwritten diary entries from my entire life," she explained.

She said her mother and brother spoke with Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, about purchasing her music.

When her mother called her, saying, "You got your songs," she recalls:

"I just fell to the ground very dramatically. Seriously."

"Crying a lot, sobbing. It changed my life."

Which version of her albums should fans listen to?

She also thanked her loyal fans for listening to her re-recorded albums.

And she remembered that it was thanks to her fans that she was able to buy her music back.

"The reason I was able to buy my music back was because they came to the Eras Tour," she stated.

Swift was also asked which versions of her albums her fans should listen to now that she owns both versions.

"I think a lot of the vocals I did on the re-recordings came out better than the originals," she said, adding that she especially likes the remake from her 2012 album Red .

Naturally leavened bread with hairs

She and Travis spoke fondly about their love, describing how they make sourdough bread together.

His dough ends up with chest hair, while hers ends up with cat hair, the artist joked.

"I've never experienced something so mesmerizing on stage, and so real and beautiful in person," Travis said.

Jason then joked that maybe he should leave the room and give the couple some privacy, as Swift melted down.

"Yes, I think so, really," the singer replied. "At this point, I think everyone should leave."

While Swift has sometimes been reserved about her relationship in public, Travis has been more open. Before the podcast aired, he told GQ magazine in an interview: "I love being the happiest guy in the world."