“She’s been making the rounds on interview shows to promote her new hit album The Life Of A Showgirl in recent days.”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
But Taylor Swift enjoyed some much-needed downtime on Tuesday night when she was spotted on her way to dinner in New York City with her close friend comedian Jerrod Carmichael.
The 35-year-old pop superstar – who recently addressed the many critics of her divisive new album – put on a stylish display in a plaid miniskirt when she arrived at the restaurant, the buzzy steakhouse The Eighty Six.
Notably, her fiancé Travis Kelce appeared to be missing from the dinner after he inspired some of the most controversial lines from The Life Of A Showgirl.
His Kansas City Chiefs had narrowly lost an away game against the Jacksonville Jaguars just the day before, and he’s set to play against the Detroit Lions at home in Kansas City on Sunday, October 12.
Taylor didn’t let his absence keep her from enjoying a night on the town, though.
She looked sleek in a thin black sweater that highlighted her trim figure.
Taylor contrasted the sweater with her short plaid skirt, and the 5ft10in beauty put the spotlight on her long legs with a pair of tall tan leather boots.
She matched her top with a small Christian Dior handbag, and she added some extra sparkle with gold bracelets and a slim luxury wristwatch with a rectangular face that appeared similar to the Cartier Tank Américaine that she has worn in the past.
The Eras Tour star wore her long blond hair styled straight and swept down over one shoulder, and she wore a splash of crimson on her lips.
Jerrod meanwhile looked smart in a black jacket and white top.
Last year Jerrod spoke about his friendship with Taylor on Jimmy Kimmel.
‘That’s my best friend, Taylor’s my best friend,’ he said at first while smiling to a photo of the pair during the NFL postseason game this past winter, later adding: ‘Like I’m not her best friend but she’s my best friend.
‘Can you think of a better friend to have than Taylor Swift? I called my former best friend, and I was like ”you’re out, Taylor’s in”. You never invited me on your jet to a game. She’s very smart and interesting.’
Intrigued by the way their friendship came about, Kimmel then asked: ‘She called you and said, ”Hey you want to come to the game with me?’ to which Carmichael replied: ‘Yeah, yeah and she knows more about football more than I do.’
She even shared some of her knowledge about tactics on the gridiron to Carmichael, leading to the On the Count of Three actor to joke, ‘Yeah, I’m the girlfriend in that situation.
‘And please — I know cause this will be on YouTube I can already see it – the headline underneath is going to be like, ”Jerrod Carmichael says Taylor Swift’s his best friend,” the stand-up comedian continued.
‘Actually you know what, I won’t even get top billing, it will say, ”Taylor Swift, Jerrod Carmichael’s best friend.” Like don’t do that to me, it gotta be something else. I do love her though.’
Taylor’s outing came after she recently revealed the fate of another major musical project.
After the releases of rerecorded versions of several of her early albums, Taylor’s fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version), which would have been the final album that was original part of a batch of her master recordings that were bought by her nemesis Scooter Braun.
But Taylor hasn’t seemed to be in a hurry to release a rerecorded version of Reputation, and she signaled that fans may be waiting quite awhile as she focused on new music.
During an appearance on the Roula & Ryan Show, Taylor at first basked in the newfound love for the divisive LP.
‘It’s pretty exciting because that always was the album where I was like, “That was my favorite that I felt like didn’t really get a fair swing of it,”‘ Taylor gushed. ‘So now that they’re like, “We love that album, we want more of it,” it’s lovely. It’s wonderful.’
But Taylor then crushed many of her fans’ hopes by adding, ‘There’s nothing coming from Reputation any time soon.’
She added that she was trying to live in the moment, rather than focusing on the past.
‘This is so funny because we just had a new album come out, and I am so in that moment, and like, I think that this moment is a pretty fantastic one,’ Taylor said. ‘So what I would invite my fans to do is just be here with me. Be here with me on this album because this album is fantastic and we’re all having so much fun.’
Since it’s release, The Life Of A Showgirl has broken streaming records and had Swift’s best debut to date.
However, the album has also been hit with heavier criticism than usual for her lyrics, which some fans have likened to a first draft, and the compositions, which some listeners have found more generic than her most adored pop tunes.
Taylor also managed to turn off some of her fans with sexually suggestive lyrics appearing to describe her fiancé Travis Kelce’s member, which scared off some of her more prudish fans and embarrassed others who thought the lyrics were cringey.
The hitmaker gave her fans hope that a rerecorded version of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) might appear back in May, when she debuted Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version) on an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale.
However, it’s unclear how much of the album Taylor has rerecorded, and she has previously expressed apprehension about rereleasing it.
Notably, she selected several songs from Reputation to form a playlist of her own inspirations before the release of The Life Of A Showgirl.
The song that she had already rerecorded, Look What You Made Me Do, because it was one of a handful of Reputation songs that Swift made with her regular producer and songwriter Jack Antonoff, who went on to work with her on several subsequent albums but was absent from her latest work.
However, the majority of Reputation was recorded with pop superproducers Max Martin and Shellback, who sat out the rerecordings of earlier material they produced for Taylor but returned to the fold after Reputation to record The Life Of A Showgirl.
Now that they are back in Taylor’s orbit, it might offer an opportunity for them to collaborate with her to rerecord the songs they worked with her on for Reputation.