When Taylor Swift told the world, earlier this week, that she’d be announcing her next album on two dudes’ podcast, the women of The Free Press broke down.

The vibe shift has got to her! one camp cried. She’s mad the podcast bros got Trump elected, so now she’s coming for them! 

It’s not that deep, another camp insisted. After all, the podcast hosts are her boyfriend and his brother!

The argument escalated. No one could agree: Which Swift fan in the office should write the hot take? Would we flip a coin? Or would we agree that because all the Swifties wanted to write the piece, none of them would?

Would we, instead, force the token straight, male writer in the office to tackle the subject—even though he professed no interest, no desire, even though he actively begged not to do this?

I didn’t want to watch the interview Taylor Swift did last night with her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason on their YouTube show New Heights. Let’s start with the fact that it’s two hours long. That’s too long for a podcast. Hell, that’s usually too long for a movie. And I don’t know any of these people. I could name perhaps five Taylor Swift songs. I don’t care about the NFL. I don’t care about the Kansas City Chiefs, the team Travis plays for. And I only dislike Jason’s team, the Philadelphia Eagles, because I never want Philadelphia to win anything. 

I was glum when I started watching. So why was I smiling five minutes in?

Gosh, I thought. I think I like these people. ...