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On December 9, in a private screening room in downtown Manhattan, Us Weekly was among a small group of select journalists gathered to see the first two installments of Taylor Swift’s new six-episode Disney+ docuseries, The End of an Era. Before it began, Swift — dressed in a dark top, pleated miniskirt and maroon tights with her long hair swept to the side — spoke to the crowd, which included her dancers, family members — mom Andrea, brother Austin and dad Scott — and former Today show host Hoda Kotb and CBS Mornings star Gayle King. “It’s so fun for us to get to relive this,” Swift said before eventually taking her seat. While watching, she bobbed her head, laughed and wiped away tears during an especially emotional scene.
The End of an Era gives an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the blood, sweat and tears that went into Swift’s mammoth, record-breaking 149-date tour. In video footage and confessionals, Swift, 36, opens up about everything from her motivation to embark on the tour to the trauma of canceling three shows in Vienna after authorities discovered a terrorist attack plot. She also offers insight into her romance with fiancé Travis Kelce, calling it “the most meaningful relationship” she’s ever had.
While Swift has always been fairly transparent in her lyrics, her public persona remained somewhat reserved — until recently. Fans began to see a new side of the singer during the press tour for Life of a Showgirl, kicking off with her August 13 appearance on Kelce’s New Heights podcast, where she recounted her emotional reaction to getting her masters back, candidly talked about her parents’ recent health issues and exchanged plenty of sweet banter with her soon-to-be fiancé. (The Kansas City Chiefs tight end got down on one knee with a custom-designed old mine-cut diamond engagement ring in his backyard shortly after recording.)
In October, Swift giddily discussed details of Kelce’s romantic proposal and her obsession with sourdough bread on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and as a guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on December 10, she gushed about her “good year” and getting engaged “to the love of my life.” It’s a new, less guarded version of Swift. “Taylor used to be super type A, but she’s become more spontaneous,” says a source. “The armor is off. She’s trying to live a more unfiltered life.”
Many credit her two-year romance with Kelce, also 36, with helping her let go and lighten up. (She described Kelce as a “human exclamation point” on New Heights, and likens him to a vitamin infusion in the first episode of The End of an Era. Her mom also says the NFL star “brings a lot of happiness” in the series.) “Taylor is visibly lighter and laughing a lot more,” reveals the source. “Travis gives her a fearless playfulness and the confidence to take up space unapologetically.” The relationship, says the source, has allowed her “to be softer and more vulnerable in front of the world.”
She can be herself with Kelce. “Travis has given Taylor a sense of calm,” says a second source. “He supports her in ways that she could have never imagined, and he never expects her to perform or curate a persona around him. That kind of ease has given her permission to be her real self.” The public nature of her romance with Kelce is telling. “We’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she told Time in her 2023 cover story. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone.”
They bring out the best in each other. “It’s always light between them, and although they have serious life conversations, they really don’t argue or fight,” says the second source. During the December 3 episode of New Heights, Kelce told guest George Clooney he and Swift have “never once” gotten into an argument. “He’s just my favorite person I’ve ever met, no offense to everyone else,” Swift told Jimmy Fallon in October, noting she’s thrilled “that this is the person that I get to hang out with every day forever.”
She intends for The End of an Era to be a celebration of all the hard work that went into the tour, and a “thank you” to her loyal legion of fans. (“When I leave [the show] there’s just, like, this magic in the air,” she says in the docuseries. “All these particles of shimmer and glitter and confetti and girlhood and friendship bracelet beads.”) “There were so many incredible personal, behind-the-scenes memories that she wanted fans to see,” says a music industry insider. “She knew [the tour] would be a moment, but never could’ve predicted how colossal it’d actually become, which is why she decided to celebrate it with the docuseries.”
The first source adds that Swift wanted fans to experience the “creative emotional arc” behind the tour. “Fans will see how her team collaborates and how much her team really is like a family.” During her December appearance on The Late Show, she credited the beloved fans who turned out for the Eras Tour (which grossed over $2 billion) with helping her buy her masters, saying, “[they] are why I was able to get my music back.”
Swift also doesn’t hold back about the effort she puts into giving audiences 100 percent, no matter what. The doc shows the aftermath of two harrowing incidents that occurred during the tour’s run: a knife attack at a Swift-themed dance class that claimed the lives of three girls and a thwarted terrorist attack on the singer’s Vienna concerts. In the doc, Swift compares herself to a pilot, explaining she has to remain “cool, calm, collected” despite turbulence ahead.” During her Late Show appearance, she revealed she was sick multiple times while on the road but that “when I’m on tour, especially the Eras Tour, I just make a decision at the beginning of the tour that there’s no option to not go on stage.”
The series shows more of Swift’s goofy and irreverent personality, and the unedited version of the polished, 14-time Grammy winner people love. A scene from the first episode captures an August 2024 phone call from Kelce in which they exchange “I love yous” and joke about having “basically the same” job. “You have Coach Reid,” the singer tells Kelce with a laugh. “I have my mom.”
In her new era, Swift is stopping to smell the roses after an incredibly busy stretch. “This is her favorite time of year with the holidays and her birthday, and she has been intentionally slowing down,” says the second source. “She’s been nesting, cooking, spending time with family and carving out space to enjoy being engaged.”
Swift and Kelce have been splitting their time between his $6 million Leawood, Kansas, mansion and her NYC home. (She was spotted on a girls’ night out in Manhattan with longtime pal Este Haim on Dec. 9.) “Taylor wants the lead-up to her wedding to Travis to feel grounded and not chaotic,” adds the second source. In October, an insider told Us that with both Swift and Kelce’s high-profile careers, “it feels good to have simplicity and normalcy together.” Explains a second insider: “On a typical night in, they’re usually having dinner and figuring out what to stream. It’s very domestic and calm.”
The second source says that while Swift “always has ideas percolating,” she’s not “locked into” another big tour for Life of a Showgirl. “There have been ideas floated, but right now she is enjoying her break.” The industry insider says they aren’t “aware of any Showgirl tour plans,” adding, “the Eras Tour was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so she’s not going to put pressure on herself to make everything that big and ambitious. She’ll make sure the next one is special in its own right, but she’s also realistic about it.”
She also has a wedding to plan. “She’s being so quiet about the planning,” says the first source, adding that the pair are aiming to tie the knot next summer and that she’s “starting to think about” her dress and possible venues. (In early December, it was reported that Swift and Kelce had reserved the luxe Ocean House hotel in Rhode Island on June 13, 2026. Swift has owned a vacation home in the state for over a decade.)
The second source says Kelce is involved in the process, but letting Swift take the reins. “Taylor thinks it’s cute, and it’s something they have been bonding over,” says the source, adding that they’re not going for something with an elaborate or pretentious vibe. (The source also says it “won’t be a super huge wedding as far as guest count.”) The couple is thinking further ahead as well, with the second source noting they are talking about starting a family after they tie the knot. Says the source: “Taylor and Travis are both very excited about their next chapter.”
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