Oct. 19, 2025

👑 ROYAL WEDDING GUESTS?: Taylor wants William & Kate - friendship includes "private letters" during difficult year!

Show Notes
Transcript

💿 1.334 MILLION VINYL: Breaks own record - 4.5% of ALL US vinyl sales this year in ONE WEEK!

👑 ROYAL WEDDING GUESTS?: Taylor wants William & Kate - friendship includes "private letters" during difficult year!

💔 "RUIN THE FRIENDSHIP" REVEALED: Susan Lang confirms song about son Jeffrey who died in 2010!

📊 106 YEARS OF LISTENING: If you played all vinyl copies back-to-back - $40M in sales!

👗 MULTIPLE DRESSES PREDICTED: Vera Wang says "not just one" - Siriano predicts lace!

🖼️ GERMAN MUSEUM SURGE: Families driving 5 hours to see "Ophelia" painting from video!

💍 RING TURNED AROUND: Taylor hid engagement at Selena's wedding - "This is her day"!

💡 "WRONG ROOM" ADVICE: Selena reveals Taylor's business wisdom at Fortune summit!

🎤 JASON DENIES QUOTES: Fake Bad Bunny defense statements going viral - "not real"!

🎵 4.002M TOTAL UNITS: Biggest debut EVER since electronic tracking began in 1991!

💐 "KEEPING HIS NAME ALIVE": Mom touched Taylor remembers Jeffrey after 14 years!

🏰 2013 FRIENDSHIP ORIGIN: William got up "like a puppy" when Taylor asked him to sing!

🎪 BAD BUNNY CONTROVERSY: Trump calls it "ridiculous" - rapper tells critics learn Spanish!

📈 BEATS ALL 2025 ARTISTS: More vinyl than Bad Bunny, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina combined!

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Caalarugashawk Media.

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Hey Swifties, Welcome back to Taylor Swift Today. It's Sunday,

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our regular weekly episode, and we have so much to unpack,

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from Taylor breaking her own vinyl record with absolutely mind

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blowing numbers that are reshaping the industry, to possibly inviting

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actual royalty to her wedding, to causing an international museum

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surge in Germany. Plus the heartbreaking story behind Ruin the

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Friendship has finally been revealed and it's even more emotional

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than we imagined. Let's dive into everything. First, let's talk

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about these insane vinyl numbers that just hit the Billboard charts.

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The Life of a Showgirl sold one point three million

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vinyl copies in its first week. That obliterates Taylor's own

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previous record of eight hundred and fifty nine thousand for

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The Tortured Poets Department, and the album hit four million

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total equivalent album units, the most ever since electronic tracking

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began in nineteen ninety one. With SoundScan now luminate to

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really understand how massive this is, Showgirl's vinyl sales account

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for nearly four point five percent of all US vinyl

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sales for the entire year so far, that's just one week,

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representing almost five percent of annual sales. Luminate puts total

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US vinyl sales at thirty million units this year, and

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Taylor grabbed one point three to three four million of

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those in seven days. Let's compare to other major artists.

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In twenty twenty five, Bad Bunny, who's doing the Super

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Bowl halftime show, sold just fifty one thousand vinyl copies

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of his January album, Morgan Wallen sold ninety thousand vinyl

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copies of I'm the Problem, released in May, and even

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Sabrina Carpenter, who features on Showgirl, only sold one hundred

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ninety seven thousand vinyl of Man's Best Friend from August.

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Here's a wild comparison that really puts it in perspective.

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The Minneapolis record store Electric Fattus, a sprawling emporium, has

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about thirty two thousand vinyl LPs in stock.

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To match Taylor's sales, you'd have.

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To buy their entire inventory, wait for them to completely restock,

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then buy it all again, and repeat this process forty

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two times. The vinyl sales are more than what's housed

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in some of the world's biggest collections. If you Combine

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the New York Public Libraries, Rogers and Hammerstein archives over

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two hundred thousand vinyl with the BBC's Sound Archive approximately

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three hundred seventy thousand, you still wouldn't reach Taylor's one

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point three million. If each LP sold for twenty nine

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dollars and ninety nine cents current price on Taylor's web store.

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That's over forty million dollars in vinyl sales alone. That

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money could buy six point six million Big Macs at

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six dollars each, seventy seven rolls Royce Phantoms at five

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hundred seventeen thousand dollars each, or over twelve thousand, five

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hundred competition grade basketball hoops at three thousand, one hundred

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ninety nine dollars each for that driveway with a basketball

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who she dreams about in wish list.

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The time statistics are equally staggering.

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If you listen to all one point three million albums

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back to back with the forty one minute, forty five

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second run time, it would take nearly one hundred and

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six years of continuous listening, Since it takes about thirty

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seconds to press each final, the eleven one hundred seventeen

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hours to physically produce all those copies equals the time

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to fly from New York to Tokyo about seven hundred

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ninety times. The streaming numbers were also massive, six hundred

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eighty million on demand streams, making her dominant across all formats.

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This success is literally rewriting what's possible in the music industry.

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Now for some major wedding tea that has everyone talking.

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According to Fox News Digital, Taylor wants to invite Prince

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William and Kate Middleton to her wedding with Travis.

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A source reveals.

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Taylor and William have maintained their good friendship over the

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years through private letters, inspirational cards, and good wishes to

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Princess Catherine and during her difficult eear battling cancer. The

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source explained, Taylor is planning the wedding of all weddings,

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but this is what makes her unique. She wants to

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use the wedding not just as a celebration of love,

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but also to thank people who have made the journey

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to this point along the way, and that will include

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all manner of people from all manner of backgrounds. Their

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friendship dates back to twenty thirteen at a Center Point

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gala dinner at Kensington Palace, where they performed live in

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on a Prayer with bon Jovi. William later shared the

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hilarious story on Apple Fitness's Time to Walk series in

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twenty twenty one, revealing Taylor put her hand on his

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arm and said, come on, William, let's go and sing.

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William admitted to this day, I still do not know

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what came over me. Honestly, even now I'm cringing at

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what happened next. But frankly, if Taylor Swift looks you

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in the eye, touches your arm and says come with me,

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I got up like a puppy and went, yeah, okay,

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that seems like a great idea.

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I'll follow you.

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They've stayed friends since, with William celebrating his forty second

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birthday in June by attending the Eiras Tour at Wembley

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with Prince George and Princess Charlotte, resulting.

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In that iconic backstage photo.

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Having the future King of England at your wedding, that's

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a whole different level of guest list. Fashion designers are

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already predicting Taylor's wedding look. Vera Wang exclusively told E

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News at the DKMS nineteenth Annual Gala. I kind of

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had a feeling that was going to happen. I'm so

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happy for her. I don't think there will be just

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one dress that would be my guess. Multiple dress changes

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would be very Taylor. Christian Siriano added his prediction, Taylor,

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I think will be in lace of some sort. He

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noted how often she incorporates lace into her looks, including

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her notable date nights with Travis, like the lace trimmed

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black dress at the twenty twenty five Super Bowl and

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the lace corset top during their NYC outing. Taylor confirmed

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on Graham Norton she wants a big guest list, explaining,

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I'm so excited about it. I know it's going to

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be fun to plan because I think the only stressful

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weddings are the ones where you have a small amount

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and people are on the bubble. At Fortune's Most Powerful

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Women Summit this week, Selena Gomez revealed brilliant business advice

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Taylor gave her that shaped her career. When asked what

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they've learned from each other, Selena called Taylor one of

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the most brilliant people I've ever met, and shared she said,

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if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in

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the wrong room. And that's why I surround myself with

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really incredible people. There's no dumb questions. You have to

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learn and not be afraid of all the things that

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you might lose out on. Taylor spoke more about being

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at Selena's wedding on The Tonight Show, revealing she deliberately

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avoided mentioning her own engagement. Nobody wants you to be like, hey,

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I know this is your wedding day, but I'm engaged,

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you know. I was like, don't mention it. Maybe turn

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it around, you know what I mean? This is her day,

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She shared sweet details. I got to see her be

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the most elegant, gorgeous not only bride, but just vision

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that I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen

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anything so beautiful as her on her wedding day. She

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deserves all this happiness. Benny is He's him, He's so funny,

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He's the best. Taylor revealed she did some light teasing

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about the way that we used to dress in two

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thousand and eight, the year that we met, because you know,

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we were teenagers and two thousand and eight was quite

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a year. She focused on how happy I am for her,

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and just how beautiful it's been to get to be

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a part of her life. Now for the emotional revelation

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that has fans in tears, Susan Lang confirmed Ruin the

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Friendship is about her son, Jeffrey, who attended Hendersonville High

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School with Taylor, but died suddenly in twenty ten while

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studying biology at ut Chattanooga. Susan told the Tennesseean they

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were really good friends. That's rare these days. They hung

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out at her house a lot. They were always joking

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around with each other. The songs devastating third verse finds

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Taylor singing about Abigail, calling with the news, flying home

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for the funeral, and.

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Whispering at the grave. Should have kissed you anyway.

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Susan marveled at how, after all this time, Taylor hasn't

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forgotten about him. She's keeping his name alive. A photo

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circulating online shows teenage Taylor in a Camo shirt with

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flat ironed hair next to Jeffrey in a backward baseball cap,

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A snapshot of young friendship frozen in time. The fact

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that Taylor wrote this deeply personal song fourteen years after

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his death shows how profoundly his loss affected her. In

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completely different but equally fascinating news, the Fate of Ophelia

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video is causing an unprecedented museum surge in Germany. Hundreds

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of Swifties are traveling to the hesssha Lands Museum in

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central Germany to see Friedrich Heiser's Ophelia painting from the

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turn of the twentieth century that inspired the video's opening scene.

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Museum spokesperson Suzanne Hirschmann told German news outlets that one

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family made the journey from Hamburg, a five hour drive, specifically.

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To view the painting.

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The oil canvas shows Ophelia in a flowing white gown

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in an Art Nouveaux setting, which Taylor perfectly recreated in

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her video. The museum, previously lesser known internationally, is now

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experiencing a tourism boom thanks to Swifties. The song references

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Shakespeare's tragic character who drowns herself in grief, but Taylor

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flips the narrative, singing that her lover saved her heart

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from the fate of Ophelia.

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The track is currently.

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Number one on Billboard Hot one hundred and dominating Apple

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Music charts globally, including the German top one hundred. In

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other news, Jason Kelsey had to address fake quotes going

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viral about Bad Bunny's controversial super Bowl halftime selection. People

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were falsely attributing statements to him, like if Bad Bunny

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is a bad fit for the super Bowl, then maybe

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the people making these comments are a bad fit for

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America's future. Jason posted on x Tuesday, I normally don't

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comment on things like this, but I feel I need

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to address that there are a number of accounts posting

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fake quotes and attributing them to me. I will not

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address the other accounts specifically because I do not want

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to amplify their engagement. But please know, unless you hear

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something directly from me via one of my platforms, it

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is not real. The Bad Bunny controversy continues escalating, with

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a petition for George Strait to replace him, amid fears

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the anti Trump rapper will make it a political stunt.

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Trump told Newsmax, I have never heard of him. I

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don't know who he is. I don't know why they're

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doing it. It's crazy. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Trump

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ally Corey Lewandowski called it shameful and confirmed Ice agents

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will patrol San Francisco during the Super Bowl, warning there

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is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who

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are in this country illegally. Bad Bunny addressed his haters

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on SNL, joking that Fox News loves him, while speaking

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Spanish and telling critics, if you did not understand what

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I just said, you have four months to learn In Spanish.

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He thanked Latinos who pave the way, calling it a

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win for all of us.

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More in a moment.

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Looking at this incredible week, Taylor's vinyl dominance isn't just

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breaking records, it's completely reshaping what's.

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Possible in the music industry.

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She's potentially having actual royalty at her wedding, keeping her

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late friend's memory alive through beautiful songwriting, and causing international

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museum pilgrimages. The fact that she literally turned her engagement

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ring around at Selena's wedding to avoid stealing focus. That's

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the definition of true friendship and class, and Susan Lang's

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revelation about Jeffrey adds such profound depth to an already

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emotionally devastating song from one hundred and six years of

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potential vinyl listening time to German families planning five hour

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pilgrimages to see a painting. The Life of a Showgirl's

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cultural impact is literally everywhere. With multiple wedding dresses predicted,

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Prince William potentially attending, and a guest list that will

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span entertainment royalty to actual royalty, this wedding is shaping

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up to be the event of the century. Taylor Swift

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Today now has an official Facebook community. Share your thoughts

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on the record shattering vinyl sales, potential royal wedding guests,

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and the heartbreaking Jeffrey Lang story. Search Taylor Swift Today

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on Facebook or check out Instagram to join thousands discussing

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every detail. We'll keep tracking wedding plans, album milestones, museum pilgrimages,

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and the ongoing cultural phenomenon of the life of a Showgirl.

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Make sure you're following on your favorite podcast player for

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breaking news as it happens. This is Ali absolutely stunned

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by these vinyl sales, emotional about ruin the friendship, excited

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for royal wedding updates, and watching Taylor continue to redefine

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what's possible in music. The showgirl era is making history daily.

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Stay fearless, Swifties