 |
| Taylor Swift is set to make a rare podcast appearance on the "New Heights" show. XNY/Star Max/GC Images |
Taylor Swift’s influence has reshaped everything from music sales to NFL viewership — and now, it appears, the podcast industry. The global pop icon is making a rare guest appearance on New Heights, the podcast co-hosted by her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and the announcement alone has already sent social media metrics into overdrive.
On Tuesday, Swift leveraged her enormous Instagram following of 280 million to cross-promote the show, pairing her own reach with that of New Heights, which Kelce co-hosts alongside his brother, retired NFL player Jason Kelce. At exactly midnight, Swift posted a teaser revealing that she would join the Kelce brothers to talk ahead of her upcoming twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. Within less than 12 hours, the post on the New Heights Instagram account had amassed 4.5 million likes — a staggering figure for a podcast promotion — and generated an eye-popping engagement rate of 145%, according to social media analytics firm Metricool.
Metricool calculates engagement by comparing the combined number of likes and comments to the account’s follower count at the time of posting. With New Heights holding roughly 3.1 million followers, the response to the Swift teaser was astronomical. For context, the average Instagram post — whether a reel, video, or carousel — sees an engagement rate between 0.5% and 0.69%. The Swift-Kelce announcement didn’t just exceed those averages; it obliterated them.
Another teaser post from New Heights, which did not directly benefit from Swift’s massive following, still pulled in over 1.7 million likes and more than 60,000 comments by Tuesday afternoon. That post alone scored a 54% engagement rate — a performance that most content creators could only dream of. The numbers underline the sheer power of Swift’s brand halo effect: even tangential content associated with her name can drive massive spikes in online engagement.
The “Swift bump” wasn’t confined to New Heights. Alex Cooper’s popular Call Her Daddy podcast also hinted at a mystery guest just hours before the Kelce-Swift announcement. The vague teaser post sparked speculation among Swift’s devoted fans, known as Swifties, many of whom flooded the comments with guesses and hopes that it was their idol. The post’s engagement rate climbed to 2.46% — a noticeable surge compared to standard averages — though the show has yet to reveal the guest’s identity.
Swift’s upcoming appearance is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, and anticipation is already reaching fever pitch. While New Heights has hosted its fair share of celebrities — including NBA superstar LeBron James, whose January episode announcement received more than 600,000 likes — no previous guest comes close to matching Swift’s ability to dominate cultural conversation and drive audience engagement.
Unlike many artists who actively seek podcast appearances as part of their promotional strategies, Swift is famously selective about interviews, making her decision to join New Heights all the more noteworthy. This rarity factor, combined with her close relationship with Kelce, has only heightened fan excitement. For the podcast, it’s a marketing windfall: a chance to tap into a global audience that extends far beyond its usual NFL and sports-centric listener base.
The caption for the teaser summed up the moment perfectly — and with characteristic boldness: “Taylor’s about to do a f*cking podcast.” It’s a sentiment that captures both the novelty and magnitude of what’s about to unfold. If the teaser alone can generate this kind of social media frenzy, the actual episode’s release could propel New Heights into record-breaking territory for downloads, streams, and cultural reach.
With Swift’s name attached, even a single podcast episode has the potential to transcend its medium, becoming a viral event that fuels headlines, fan theories, and reaction videos for weeks to come. For New Heights, this isn’t just a big guest — it’s the kind of crossover moment that can redefine the trajectory of a brand.
