October 25, 2022
Jeremy Smith/imageSPACE/Sipa USA
Taylor Swift appeared as a guest on Monday's episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" where she discussed the process of creating "Midnights," directing its accompanying music videos, and her hopes to tour again soon. During the episode, Fallon also showed videos of Phillies fans celebrating the team's victory over the Padres Sunday night to earn a spot in the World Series.
Taylor Swift fans have been kept busy lately, between the two-part release of her 10th studio album "Midnights" and two accompanying music videos so far.
The Berks County native provided fans with even more content as a guest on Monday's episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," where she discussed the process of creating "Midnights." Much to fans' delight, Swift also teased an upcoming tour.
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Fallon started the show by discussing some recent news, but before Swift even took the stage, the mere mention of her name sent the crowd into frenzied applause. This caused Fallon to remark upon his own excitement at the show's guest.
"All I can think about is Taylor Swift being on the show tonight, so..." Fallon said, which was met with more cheering.
Fallon then hosted a segment called "The News (Taylor's Version)," in which he commented on the news using titles of songs by Swift.
With Swift, Fallon discussed the smash-hit release of "Midnights," which became the top selling album of the year in just one day and broke Spotify's record for most streams in a day. The 13-track album was released at midnight on Oct. 21, and three hours later a surprise "Midnights (3 a.m. Edition)" with 7 more tracks was released. As of Monday, the top 10 songs on Spotify and Apple Music were from the album.
Swift noted that "Midnights" was a return to more personal storytelling, whereas her last few releases were either re-recordings, like "Red (Taylor's Version)" and "Fearless (Taylor's Version)," or experiments in fictional storytelling, like "Evermore" and "Folklore."
"It's my first directly autobiographical album in a while," she said. "I'm feeling very overwhelmed by the fans' love for the record. I'm also feeling, like, very soft and fragile."
Swift also expressed gratitude for positive reactions to her album because of society's dismissal of stars as they get older.
"It's like, you know, I'm 32," Swift said. "So we're considered geriatric pop stars ... They start trying to put us out to pasture at age 25. I'm just happy to be here."
Holding up a copy of the "Midnights" album, Fallon replied: "Oh, you're just getting started, buddy."
After discussing Swift's storytelling process and collaborating with famous friends like Zoe Kravitz, Lana Del Rey and Dylan O'Brien on her latest album, Fallon brought up the fact that Swift has not toured in a while.
"You've done the albums, you've done the re-recordings," Fallon said. "But also, you haven't toured in like four years."
With a smirk at the crowd, Swift replied: "I think I should do it."
Swift hasn't toured since the 2018 Reputation stadium tour, which made a stop at Lincoln Financial Field. A tour was planned for her 2019 album, "Lover," but had to be scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She told Fallon that the tour will happen "when it's time."
The pair also discussed Swift's honorary doctorate from NYU and how the singer joked that she is not a medical doctor, but is somewhat of an expert on cat breeds. To see whether this was true, Fallon challenged Swift to name as many cat breeds as possible in 30 seconds. She named 24.
.@taylorswift13 names as many cat breeds as she can in 30 seconds! #TaylorOnFallon pic.twitter.com/xhOdv2QoNI
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) October 25, 2022
Fallon asked Swift about the process of directing her own music videos. The singer, who recently won VMAs for the "All Too Well (10 minute version) (Taylor's version)" movie, directed the music video for "Anti-Hero," the first single off "Midnights."
While the "Tonight Show" was airing, the music video for "Bejeweled," which Swift also directed, dropped at midnight.
The music video is a re-telling of the classic "Cinderella" story, with a star-studded cast and tons of "Easter Eggs" or hints that Swift sprinkled in for fans. Oscar-winner Laura Dern stars as the evil stepmother; Swift's longtime collaborator and friend Jack Antonoff plays the prince; famous burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese plays the fairy godmother; and Swift's friends Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, of the band Haim, play the ugly stepsisters.
While Swift knew that "Anti-Hero" would be the first single from the album, she also wanted to release a video that was made especially with fans in mind.
"I was like, 'I want to make a video that is just for the fans who like certain things, like glitter and Easter eggs and lots of little cameos,'" Swift said. "We have a PDF file for the Easter eggs in this video, because there are so many that we could not keep track."
Fans on Twitter have already begun hypothesizing that the music video alludes to the fact that "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" would be Swift's next album to be released as part of her project to re-record her catalogue of music.
At the start of the episode, Philadelphia-area "Swifties" watching the show got a special surprise when Fallon shared videos of rowdy Phillies fans celebrating the team's Sunday night win over the Padres to clinch the National League and secure a spot in the World Series.
Our own Profitt and Amber are making @jimmyfallon laugh like it's an #SNL skit in 1999. #Phillies | #WorldSeries | #RedOctober | #Marriage | @FallonTonight | @theroots | @nbcsnl | #Delco pic.twitter.com/x3eeWiNgcZ
— Delco Live (@delco_live) October 25, 2022
When Fallon mentioned the Phillies' win, Questlove – a Philly-native and part of Jimmy Fallon's house band the Roots band – was all smiles for his home team. One especially funny clip in the montage showed a newlywed groom saying that the best part of the weekend in which he got married was the Phillies' win.
With the mention of the Phillies and Swift as a guest, it's a shame Fallon didn't ask the singer whether she'd like to sing the national anthem when the World Series comes to Philadelphia next week starting Monday.
Swift previously sang the national anthem at Citizens Bank Park during the 2008 World Series, the same year that the Phillies won it all, and fans have started a campaign of sorts to have the singer do it again.
Don't want... NEED Taylor Swift to sing the national anthem at Game 3pic.twitter.com/qnbwheCdjS
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) October 24, 2022
With fans also calling for Calum Scott, the singer of the 2016 "Dancing On My Own" remix that has become an unofficial Phillies anthem, to perform at Citizens Bank Park, the World Series could shape up to be a star-studded musical event if fans' hopes are answered.
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