In this second installment of TayPurring, we finally turn our sights on Taylor’s arguably most iconic feline companion: Detective Olivia Benson! From music videos to commercials, Olivia somehow manages to stay just as booked and busy as her own mom, with a sweet and loving purr-sonality to match. Tune in to hear Olivia (your host, not the cat) talk all things Olivia (the cat, not your host), and how this little kitty has clawed her way into the hearts of both Taylor and Swifties fur-ever!

It’s no secret to Swifties everywhere that Taylor pawsitively loves a cat purring in her lap because it loves her. In this first installment of TayPurring: A Taylor Swift PodCat, certified cat lover Olivia dives whiskers-first, fearless into the life of Taylor’s very first furbaby: Meredith Grey. From Meredith’s iconic cattitude to her mysterious disappearing acts, Olivia chats (and let’s be real, gushes) over the stories, moments, and quirks that make Meredith purrhaps as legendary as her mother!

“The Life of a Showgirl” may have given us one of Taylor’s most divisive tracks ever…and it’s a track 5, to boot. ‘Eldest Daughter’ has a lot of things going on, but one thing we can all agree on is that Taylor is attempting to be vulnerable on this song. She spends the track exploring themes of childhood-rooted walls, personal insecurities, and promises for the future. Because your hosts do their best work when there is a mystery to be solved, Olivia & Dani decided to place this song in the ‘Mental Cages’ miniseries to analyze it further! Hop into this episode to see if you can join us in making sense of this emotional and misunderstood tune.

It seems that whenever Taylor Swift drops a music video, she can’t help herself…she simply MUST stuff it full of Easter Eggs! Her most recent one, “The Fate of Ophelia”, is absolutely no exception. Taylor herself admits that there are over one hundred eggs embedded into this video, so your hosts went digging to find everything they could. So get out your spyglass, crack those knuckles, and join us as Dani & Olivia tear about this video - frame by frame - to find all of these eggs.

Nearly four weeks ago, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ was released into the world! During these past four weeks, it seems everyone on the earth has formed an opinion about this album…and your hosts are no different. Join us in today’s much-requested episode as Dani & Olivia break down the album’s highs and lows, track by track, to give you their full reviews. Per usual (and also by request), they also share their current track rankings! But don’t expect those to be written in stone just yet…

Back in September, you met us in the afterglow when we talked through Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn’s relationship timeline leading up to the “Lover” album. Today, we invite you to continue this journey through the music behind the muse as we dissect the 2019 album! Specifically, we follow the lyrics to see where Joe influenced these anxiety-riddled love tunes. Additionally, we talk about how we’d feel about their relationship had we been die-hard Swifties at the time, and we analyze their relationship during this era through a retrospective and analytical lens.

She’s back! Today, your hosts are again joined by Harvard University’s very own viral professor, Stephanie Burt, as she talks about Taylor through the lens of her newest book: “Taylor’s Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift.” This episode features Dani & Olivia talking with Stephanie through big Taylor questions: can she maintain her level of fame forever? How did she even get this huge? What helped Taylor more: talent or luck? All of these questions and more are addressed in today’s very special reunion between the professor and your girls!

Is this Taylor’s most divisive album ever released? The internet sure seems to think so! In today’s episode - which is unedited and unfiltered, leaving in every thought, “um”, and cold-as-ice hot take - your hosts tackle their first impressions of “The Life of a Showgirl”. With 12 tracks to go through + a movie & music video to review, Dani & Olivia are not short on content to comment on! Which song excited Olivia the most? Which one did Dani think was the weakest? What about the song that they both agreed would’ve been better on another album? Where do your hosts agree, and where do they differ? Jump in to see their immediate thoughts post-release!

The countdown is on! In less than 48 hours, we finally get to look behind the curtains of The Life of a Showgirl. In this episode, Dani & Olivia keep with tradition and share their plans for this weekend (dubbed “The Weekend of a Showgirl”). This weekend is PACKED- from the album release party to Chappell Roan in KC to a wedding, your gals are feeling like busy showgirls themselves! Plus, this episode features Q&A based on your questions from Instagram, as well as some more predictions about the album. Come pregame with us…the pregame of a showgirl! (IYKYK)

It’s frightening! It’s rapturous! It’s beautiful! And what we are referring to, of course, is the vulnerable concept of today’s show! In this episode, your hosts continue a beloved Taylearning tradition as they guess what each of the tracks on “The Life of a Showgirl” will sound like. With no lead single and no audio clips released, we know very little about the sound of this record (other than that it is full of “bangers”- thank you, Travis Kelce). But will this stop Dani & Olivia from throwing their predictions out there? Not a chance! Enjoy this silly “Showgirl” hype episode that will likely become a dated time capsule in nine short days.

So the secret is out: 2018 Taylor Swift is dating 2018 Joe Alwyn. “Reputation” is in the world, the Rep Tour is impending, and all is well with the darling couple…right? In today’s second installment of the Joe Alwyn Muses Timeline, Dani & Olivia pick up right where they left off in part 1 to talk about the relationship as it builds toward the Lover Era. “Lover” is an album that is infamously riddled with anxiety surrounding love, so join us as we talk about the events that led to the development of this divisive album!

Taylor Swift surprised the music and fandom world when she announced that TS12, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, would be produced exclusively by Max Martin & Shellback. This dynamic pop duo worked with Taylor on albums ‘Red’ through ‘Reputation’, but they have not been seen in her discography since. But they are indisputable hitmakers, so will they take Taylor’s next album to Pop Bible status? Listen in as your hosts talk through Martin & Shellback’s iconic musical histories, including highlighting their collaborations with Taylor herself. Additionally, Dani & Olivia give their takes on the “controversies” already surrounding the new album…and its variants.

A couple of weeks ago, you joined us as we went through the beginnings of Taylor Swift’s relationship with Joe Alwyn. The first year-and-a-half or so of their trysts inspired a lot of music from Taylor, and a good chunk of that music finds its home on 2017’s “Reputation.” In today’s episode, Dani & Olivia go through Rep, track by track, to hunt for Joe-inspired moments. Taylor has been quite forthcoming about this album being inspired by the actor, but how much of it has “Joefluence”? Tune in to hear us shake it all out!

UM??? HELLO??? WTF??? OMG!!! Yesterday, we got the biggest Taylor news about her personal life to EVER hit the TL: TAYLOR IS GETTING MARRIED. married. MARRIED?? MARRIED!! That’s right! Tayvis made it officially official when Travis proposed a couple of weeks ago, and the pair shared the news in a joint post just hours ago. Join us in today’s emergency State of Swift installment - which will also serve as our actual episode for this week - as we share our immediate reactions, sentiments, and some surface-level analyses about what makes Travis “the one” versus those from her past.

The time has finally come. In what was initially slated to be our Season 5 premiere (pre “Showgirl” era), your hosts at long last return to The Muses miniseries to kick off the story of Joe Alwyn! In this highly anticipated episode, Olivia & Dani take you through the beginnings of Joe & Taylor’s lengthy relationship. Where did they meet? When did it become official? Did Taylor cheat? What moments from this time inspired specific songs in Taylor’s discography? We go through all of that and more during this hefty return to your regularly scheduled Taylearning programming!

In the words of Jason & Travis Kelce…we have some NEW NEEEEEWS! A week ago, we were preparing for the premiere of our fifth season, blissfully unaware of the imminent announcement of TS12. But then, the world shook at the beginning of this week when Taylor Swift announced “The Life of a Showgirl” on New Heights. This meant one thing: we had to start our season a few days early to react to this breaking news! Join us in today’s de facto season premiere/breaking news update/reaction episode as we cover our candid immediate reactions and thoughts to the news (and longtime friend of the show, Rebecca, joins us, too)!

THREE YEARS!!! In today’s bonus episode, which is also our longest episode ever, your hosts finally work through the first ever Taylearning Listener Mailbag. Over the past few months, you have submitted your best questions for us to answer. Some are about Taylor, some are about us, some are somehow about both! What songs would we erase from existence? Is THAT situationship over for good? What makeup brands do we swear by? If Taylor’s songs were people, who would be friends and who would be enemies? We had the best time recording this lengthy, confessional, and zesty episode. Join us as we use your input to celebrate Taylearning’s first three years, and be sure to listen all of the way through to hear about perhaps our biggest giveaway item yet!

The post heard ‘round the world: Taylor Swift now owns the masters to her first six albums! This contentious battle, which resulted in the birth of the “Taylor’s Version” project, waged on for six years before finally officially coming to a conclusion on May 30, 2025. In this bonus emergency episode, Dani & Olivia return from their seasonal break to bring to you immediate thoughts, some fun stats about the initial impact of the announcement, and what we might be looking to in the future for Taylor.

For literally years now, we’ve been quoting Rob Sheffield on this podcast. Rob, who is perhaps best known for his work writing for Rolling Stone, is both a long-time fan and professional critic of Taylor Swift. He also is a self-proclaimed fan of Taylearning…so we had to get him on the podcast! Tune into this hefty TL4 Season Finale to hear us interview Rob about his life, opinions, observations, and his new book - “Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music.” The novel, which is a kaleidoscopic and passionate look at Taylor’s life through Rob’s eyes, has received acclaim and has quickly become a staple piece of literature in the Swiftie fandom. Hot tip- listen all the way through the end to see how you can get your hands on a signed copy!

Taylor Swift has had many fellow famous “BFFs” in her years of being in the public eye. However, one of them has been there since almost the very beginning - Selena Gomez: actress, pop star, philanthropist, producer, and businesswoman. Since meeting in 2008, Taylor and Selena, or “Taylena,” have been mostly inseparable, as far as public friendship connections go.  They consistently bring up one another, post each other on social media, and support one another’s projects. In this penultimate episode of Season 4 of Taylearning, your hosts talk through the full Taylena friendship timeline, including all of its public (and not-so-public) ups and downs. Tune in as we tackle this massive friendship and continue The Squad miniseries!