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Home » Transcript: Taylor Swift’s Interview on BBC Radio 1 with Greg James

Transcript: Taylor Swift’s Interview on BBC Radio 1 with Greg James

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s interview on BBC Radio 1 with Greg James on “The Life Of A Showgirl, Eras tour, Travis and… a loaf of bread called Doughphelia”, October 3, 2025.

A Long-Awaited Reunion

GREG JAMES: Taylor…

TAYLOR SWIFT: Buddy.

GREG JAMES: I just, do you know what? I just knew a few weeks ago, I said, I just feel like it’s going to happen again.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah.

GREG JAMES: I just was like, I think she’s going to want to do a chat.

TAYLOR SWIFT: I was like, we got to. We got to call Greg. We got to do something. It’s been too long.

GREG JAMES: It has. And I’m so pleased that you’re up for chatting and just chat. Just we overdo a catch up.

TAYLOR SWIFT: It’s nice. It’s nice. We’ve… Oh, I see what’s happening now. The ASMR of the bread bag.

Doughphelia: Taylor’s Sourdough Gift

GREG JAMES: Would you like to explain?

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah. So I’ve been baking, and so I brought Greg some sourdough because it’s lemon blueberry, which I think is like a really nice variation.

GREG JAMES: Fantastic.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah.

GREG JAMES: And you put the fate of Doughphelia.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah. You know the bread puns. Like, I think the worse they are, the better.

GREG JAMES: Well, do you know what? Obviously, I listened to the New Heights podcast.

TAYLOR SWIFT: You did?

GREG JAMES: Of course I did. Oh, I’m so glad. Are you joking? Of course. So glad. And by the way, bold move to announce an album 90 minutes into a football podcast. Okay.

TAYLOR SWIFT: We are like, they’re like, weird flex, but okay.

The Surprise Album Announcement

GREG JAMES: Yeah, yeah, but not. You talked about everything. And he went, by the way, here’s a briefcase. Here’s the album.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Well, I’m always trying to surprise people with how I announce albums. I’d done a few album announcements on award shows. And so, you know when you do something one time and people are like, I know what she’s going to do next. She’s going to do the same thing she did before.

So I was like, what are people not going to expect me to do? Is to go on a football podcast and announce an album. It’s very… I love the kind of polarity of the masculine feminine there.

GREG JAMES: Well, it’s very funny. Because you are very funny, and you like silly stuff, essentially. And I mean, you did your sourdough chat and then you talked about the hour.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah, I think I talked about bread for, I think maybe three to four hours.

GREG JAMES: Well, longer than about the record.

TAYLOR SWIFT: People were like, okay, if she doesn’t stop talking about sourdough, because it’s like, I’m… it’s a danger for me to start because I cannot stop talking about bread when I start. And it has nothing to do with music. It’s the most musically irrelevant thing. It’s completely separate.

GREG JAMES: But it’s nice.

TAYLOR SWIFT: It’s nice.

GREG JAMES: And I’m so grateful because it’s got lots of cat stickers on it as well, which I really like, you know, in the…

TAYLOR SWIFT: Chosen very carefully for what your sense of humor is in my approximation of it. I’ve known you for as long as I have.

GREG JAMES: You’ve nailed it. You have nailed it. By the way, when you got doing the puns of your songs and bread.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Yeah.

GREG JAMES: You did miss Bake It Off.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Well, that… I just thought it’s too easy.

GREG JAMES: No, but you, like… I mean, Doughphelia is…

TAYLOR SWIFT: But that’s current. That’s current.

GREG JAMES: It’s current. Sorry.

TAYLOR SWIFT: That’s the one thing that makes it relevant to our conversation.

The New Album: Uncomplicated Joy

GREG JAMES: So the album’s out.

TAYLOR SWIFT: The album is out. And I have such uncomplicated feelings of joy about it.

GREG JAMES: Yeah.

TAYLOR SWIFT: I do not feel any twisty, tortured way about it, which is not how I felt about the last album, because there was such a lag time between, you know, when you make music and then you put it out. There’s oftentimes your life can make drastic changes in those times. With this album, my life is in exactly the same spot as when I wrote the record.

GREG JAMES: Yeah.

TAYLOR SWIFT: As when I wrote the record.

GREG JAMES: I’m so pleased to see you. And I’m so pleased to see you happy as well.

TAYLOR SWIFT: I feel the same way about you.

GREG JAMES: And the album reflects your mood, which is… I think you’re probably feeling quite giddy. I think you’re feeling bright and happy and sweary, which I really like in some of the tracks on the album. It’s just… it’s big, happy pop and you’re clearly… you’re in love. Yeah, you are. It’s kind of gross.

TAYLOR SWIFT: No, it’s not.

GREG JAMES: It’s sickeningly…

TAYLOR SWIFT: It’s not. It’s not.

GREG JAMES: It’s lovely.

TAYLOR SWIFT: I don’t know what you heard. No, it’s not that kind of album.

GREG JAMES: No. No. But it’s… but it’s lovely and bright and happy, but it’s got…

TAYLOR SWIFT: It’s got teeth to it.

GREG JAMES: It absolutely has.

TAYLOR SWIFT: So, like, I’m proud of that too, because it’s a full picture of the full life experience, which for me is like… there’s always some element of drama that someone is forcing into my consciousness, which is fun to write about too.

Writing from a Place of Happiness

GREG JAMES: But by the way, I love being sickeningly in love. It’s so nice.

TAYLOR SWIFT: It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. You know, it’s like I used to kind of have this dark fear that if I ever were truly happy and free being myself and nurtured by a relationship, what happens if the writing just dries up? What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain? And it turns out that’s not the case at all. And we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.

GREG JAMES: But it’s nice because from a place of happiness and love, you can go back to those places.