Taylor Swift clapped back at critics who think she should “go away” while stopping by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote her upcoming Eras Tour docuseries, The End of an Era.
The pop superstar, 35, appeared on the Wednesday, December 10, episode of Stephen Colbert’s CBS late night show, stepping onstage in a burgundy velvet mini dress by David Koma. She paired the festive look with pointy heels (also in burgundy velvet) and a sparkly necklace. Swift’s hair was pulled into a sleek chignon and, naturally, she sported her signature red lip to match the outfit.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Colbert, Swift addressed her goal to keep singing, writing songs and performing for as long as possible.
“I think what I look up to the most in people is career longevity,” she told Colbert. “Career longevity, friendship longevity, longevity in their relationships — you know, how do you keep a good thing going? I think there are certain corners of our society that really love that and look up to longevity. There’s also corners that are like, ‘Give someone else a turn! Can’t you just go away so we can talk about how good you were?’ And I’m like, I don’t want to.”
Taylor Swift’s ‘The End of an Era’: Date, Episodes, Songs, Trailer and More
Elsewhere, Colbert, 61, asked Swift whom she turns to for career advice, she replied, “I have Stevie Nicks in my life in a way that, like, affects me positively, constantly.”
Swift added, “Being able to talk with her and have a phone call with her, and hear what she’s been through. She paved the way for me and any other artist to get to do this on this level, so I feel very lucky that [Nicks, 77,] has lended her very, like, magical, wonderful, wise approach to life to me.”
She also mentioned songwriter Max Martin, her collaborator on her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, as well as her fiancé Travis Kelce, whom she called the “love of my life” and someone she can “talk to about any of this” — meaning her music and global stardom.
Swift also predicted Colbert’s future after he leaves The Late Show in May.
“You’re gonna be podcasting,” she said. “You’re gonna be an influencer. You’re gonna make TikToks.”
She also thinks he’ll write an “amazing mystery thriller,” and gave him some plot ideas when revealing the elements of the books she likes to read, including Daphne du Maurier‘s Rebecca.
“If you’ve got, like, an old rambling shambles-old British mansion covered in moss or ivy, and there’s, like, a mysterious relationship, and he may not be what he seems, and there is a murder that has happened in the past — but you hear whispers of it,” she said, riffing. “There’s the idea of a ghost, or an actual ghost. If you present me with a plot line where there’s, like, a family compound on an island off the coast of Maine. There’s secrets in this family. What’s going on with him — this brother? Why don’t we know where he’s been for 10 years? Why did he just show up?”
Swift continued, “If there’s a marriage and the marriage isn’t what it seems, and it seems like this dude is clearly … like why are you with him? He’s horrible with you. Oh, plot twist: Unreliable narrator, she’s the psycho.”
Inside Taylor Swift’s Friendship With ‘Hero’ Stevie Nicks
At one point, Colbert asked for Swift’s professional advice on making the transition from hosting his high-pressure late-night show five days a week to living, well, a normal life comparatively.
Swift called Colbert and herself “workaholic, passionate, hyperactive people,” to which Colbert added a new description: “work opportunists.”
“We like [to work],” she said. “So I think when I take time off, it’s almost like I can’t slow down the fact that I need to get up and do a lot of things today. But I can change what those things are. Like, I can figure out how to chill out, but I’m never going to be a chill person.”
The End of an Era is set to premiere on Disney+ on Friday, December 12, with two episodes of the six-installment docuseries scheduled to drop each week through December 26. Swift’s new concert film, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show — which for the first time includes the Tortured Poets Department set — will also be released on the streaming platform on Friday.
Stevie Nicks Hopes Taylor Swift Marries Travis Kelce ‘If She Wants That’
Swift announced the Eras Tour retrospectives in October, nearly one year after her record-breaking tour concluded.
“It was the End of an Era and we knew it,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “We wanted to remember every moment leading up to the culmination of the most important and intense chapter of our lives, so we allowed filmmakers to capture this tour and all the stories woven throughout it as it wound down. And to film the final show in its entirety.”
The Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023. During the nearly two-year tour, Swift performed 149 concerts in 51 cities across five continents, with her final show taking place in Vancouver in December 2024.
Earlier this year, Swift reflected on the tour during her “New Heights” podcast debut.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Interviews: Everything She’s Revealed So Far
“I miss it, but it’s like, it was perfect for what it was,” she told Travis, 36, and his brother, Jason Kelce, during the August episode. “I miss it because I miss the fans and I miss that connection. It was the most formative time of my life. I learned so much about how far I can push myself.”
She added: “Coolest thing in the world, I had some really lofty goals I wanted to reach conceptually.”
Since wrapping up The Eras Tour, Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October. She previously revealed on the podcast that the record was inspired by her experiences while on tour.
“This album was about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour,” she explained, “which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant.”
Outside of her career, Swift also has a lot going on in her personal life after getting engaged to Travis in August. A source exclusively told Us Weekly in October that the couple’s wedding plans are “coming along.”
“They are both [very] involved, and Taylor thinks it’s cute that Travis wants to help,” the insider said, adding that the pair “don’t want a long engagement” since they “very much want to start a family in the next year or so.”
