Interview Quotes

Album Release and Success

"Life of a Showgirl is out now. It went to number one. It is the biggest streaming day for any album released this year across all platforms, including Amazon, Apple, Spotify. Every platform, number one. Congratulations."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:01:15

"I'm so excited about, like... This was sort of a surprise and a secret that I had been carrying around for a year, and I was so excited. It's like when you're like, I got a really great Christmas present from my brother. And I like... But you have it for a year."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:01:35

"And so it's really exciting that, you know, they have opened the present, and they are playing with the toy. And it's fantastic. Like, this has just been, like... I think the most well-matched era in terms of where my life was when I wrote it and then where I am now when it's out in the world. I feel exactly the same way as I did when I wrote and recorded these songs."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:01:45

"Like, Torture Poets Department, my last album, was really highlighting the facets of me that are, like, a writer that's, like, earnest and stoic and raw and sort of, like, the sprawling part of it where the part of me that wants to just be like, I'm just gonna write everything and give you everything I wrote. Raw. Right? Raw and, like, pain and just excruciating detail. And then there's this, like, that was the character of the poet, and this I wanted to be the character of the showgirl, which is, like, other aspects of a person's personality where you're, like, you're, like, funny and feisty and, like, having a blast and flirty and sort of tongue-in-cheek and a little scandalous and, like, friendly."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:02:26

Engagement and The Ring

"By the way, I have to say, because I'm getting blinded, congratulations on your engagement."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:03:03

"He did. He did, and he had it for a really long time before he gave it to me, too. Yeah, so he had it, like, he custom did this and designed it with this amazing jeweler who he made it with."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:03:30

"It's gorgeous. Even the sides are beautiful. I know. I know. I look at it constantly. Like, it's not... It doesn't feel in any way normal for me. I'm just sort of like, oh, man! Whoa! But it's, like, it's more than that. It's, like, I just, like... He's just my favorite person I've ever met. No offense to everyone else."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:03:42

"But the fact that this is the person that I get to hang out with every day forever is just, like... That's the whole thing of it. You look at that, and you're like, I get to hang out with him forever, and this represents that."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:03:57

Podcast, Engagement Ruse, and Secret Garden

"Well, I think for Travis, the podcast was just sort of like a distraction sort of ruse to keep me not looking out the windows of the house."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:05:14

"He is so serious about this, and I really appreciate that. Um, but then, um, afterward, I kind of realized, like, he's... He's walking around sort of nervous about the podcast. He's like, my heart is racing. I just really want... I know how much this means to you. Like, really want this to be what you hoped it would be. Because we've been talking about doing the podcast and announcing the album."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:05:45

"And so he was like, do you want to go and just walk around the backyard and have a glass of wine? I'm like, I'm always going to want to do that. And then I realized exactly why all of the windows were curtained and why he was nervous. It was the best possible case scenario. That's what he was turning the backyard into. Like a secret garden oasis. Beautiful."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:06:25

Owning Masters and Artistic Control

"The hard work. That's a lot of... We're all just out here in this crazy, insane music industry. And the fact that this happened still feels absolutely outlandish to me. Because I kind of had made peace with the fact that I was going to rerecord my music. I was going to try to replicate these songs as accurately and exactly as possible. And that was just what I was going to do. Because nobody had ever given me the opportunity to bid on my work before."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:07:08

"So it's actually... I've had to reroute my entire absorption system of my own work to be just stoked whenever I see any of it. And it is the best feeling in the world. Thank you guys for caring about this at all."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:07:50

"And it was like... I know that these are not conversations that have typically been had outside of, you know, behind closed doors, conference room, contract negotiations, sort of inside the music industry type spaces. And the fact that when I did say to the fans, like, this is something I care about. I know you don't have to care about this. It may not be something that you have really, like, absorbed yourselves in or like... But the fact that the fans cared, it means the world to me."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:08:30

"Every artist doesn't have to care about owning their music. But I just wanted them to, like, know that this is a thing. And if you do care about it, negotiate to have it."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:08:49

"And it's really cool that you did that and that you were honest and led us in kind of a little peek behind the curtain of what the business is."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:09:10

"Four Lies and a Truth" Game

"Okay, so what I'm going to do is... No. I'm going to read some rumors that I heard about Taylor Swift."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:09:40

"So you're going to say things that are true and false and you're going to... Is this like two truths and a lie where you guess?"

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:09:56

"This is called Four Lies and a Truth."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:10:18

"Taylor Swift, you turned down the Super Bowl halftime show because the NFL wouldn't allow you to own your performance footage."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:10:34

"Your close friend, Ed Sheeran, learned about your engagement like everyone else did on Instagram."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:10:52

"In your speech at Selena Gomez's wedding, you joked that Selena beat you to the altar."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:11:09

"You've been spotted walking a mystery dog in Florida. This is true. This is on the Internet. You are walking a dog that's not your dog. And it's a mystery dog. And by the way, I think that might be the true one. But who knows?"

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:11:27

"Travis Kelsey can be heard harmonizing on Opalite."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:11:43

"I'm going to say Selena Gomez is true, that you were at Selena Gomez's wedding, and you joked, hey, you beat me to the altar."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:13:37

"It's false."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:13:39

"Well, so I got to see her be the most elegant, gorgeous, not only bride, but just vision that I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen anything so beautiful as her on her wedding day. I love her. And she deserves all of this happiness. Benny, he is him. He is so funny. He's the best. So I did make a speech, but I actually made a point not to mention anything about my engagement."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:14:02

"And mine was that I just always looked like I was, like, late for the cowboy-themed junior prom. And so I talked a little bit about 2008. I talked about, you know, how happy I am for her and how just beautiful it's been to get to be a part of her life. But I did not make it about me."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:15:22

"That's so true. Perfect explanation. Oh, no! I have... He doesn't... But he doesn't have one that works. Yes, true. That is true. So he doesn't have a phone. And this is, like, one thing I love about him. It's very eccentric."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:15:51

"Because you have to, like, you have to, like... You have to e-mail him. And then if you want to set up a FaceTime, he has to find an iPad. They have to give it to him like he's a child that they give the iPad to."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:16:19

"And then when the news came out, I was like, oh, my God, we forgot to call Ed! Oh, no! Yeah, he's like family. Like, I love him, but he doesn't own a phone."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:16:39

"So you didn't turn down the Super Bowl because of performance footage? No. No, no. Well, here's the thing. Like, Jay-Z has always been very good to me. Our teams are really close. Like, they sometimes will call and say, how does she feel about this world? And that's not like an official offer or like a conference room conversation. It's just a feeling out. Our teams are really close. How does she feel about it in general? And we've been... We're always able to, like, tell him the truth, which is that, like, I am in love with a guy who does that sport on that actual field. Like, that is violent chess. That is gladiators without swords. That is dangerous."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:17:08

"Can you imagine if, like, he's out there every single week, like, 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. Like, oh, my gosh, honey, let me have one thing! Let me have one thing."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:17:36

"Travis is not harmonizing on Opelight. No."

— SPEAKER_00 • 00:18:07

"And you've not been spotted walking a mystery dog in Florida. That was an odd one. I have never walked a dog in Florida, or maybe ever. But the Internet is saying that you have."

— SPEAKER_03 • 00:18:16