Sept. 13, 2026

Taylor Goes Zero for Five at the Emmys and Skips the Ceremony for Date Night, Plus a New Insect Genus Named After Her

Show Notes
Transcript

Taylor Swift's concert film went zero for five at the Creative Arts Emmys on September 5 — and she wasn't in the room. Instead she was on the East Coast, out to dinner with Travis Kelce the following night in a Stella McCartney dress that Stella herself posted about. Lyla gets into what that choice says, plus the Oscar campaign that's quietly starting, an entire genus of insects named Swiftiephylus, and Alanis Morissette on why the most-loved artists catch the most criticism.

🏆 The Eras Tour: The Final Show lost all five: Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), Directing, Picture Editing, Sound Mixing, and Technical Direction and Camerawork. The Muppet Show took Variety Special.

🎬 Director Glenn Weiss was double-nominated — he also directed the 78th Tony Awards.

🎤 Next up: an expected Oscar campaign for "I Knew It, I Knew You" from Toy Story 5.

👗 Stella McCartney called seeing Taylor in the design "an amazing early birthday gift."

🐛 Researchers in Australia named a new genus Swiftiephylus, with species honoring Taylor, Lover, Fearless and The Tortured Poets Department.

👗 Still no wedding dress photos.

Check out the new facebook chat page here. Come join the community! It's small now and we need your help growing.

Taylor Swift Today now has an official Facebook community! Connect with fellow Swifties to discuss all the incredible revelations from Taylor's New Heights appearance. Search "Taylor Swift Today" on Facebook or check out instagram and be sure to follow us to join thousands of fans worldwide. Whether you're analyzing lyrics, sharing concert memories, or just celebrating Taylor's new era, our community is the perfect place to connect with people who love Taylor as much as you do.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.250 --> 00:00:10.890
Calaroga Shark Media. Hey, everyone. I'm Laila, and welcome back

2
00:00:10.910 --> 00:00:11.970
to Taylor Swift Today.

3
00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:16.300
It has been a quieter week in Taylorland, which honestly

4
00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:18.839
is kind of nice after the whirlwind of the last

5
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.980
couple of months. But quiet does not mean empty, because

6
00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:25.269
our girls still managed to make a very telling choice

7
00:00:25.309 --> 00:00:28.050
about her priorities. Step out in a gorgeous new look,

8
00:00:28.390 --> 00:00:30.739
get honored by actual scientists in the most unexpected way,

9
00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.649
and get to know the world. and have a rock

10
00:00:33.689 --> 00:00:37.619
legend come to her defense. So settle in. This is

11
00:00:37.659 --> 00:00:38.530
a cozy one.

12
00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:39.329
Let's get into it.

13
00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.240
Let's start with a little story that tells you everything

14
00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.140
about where Taylor's head is right now. You might remember

15
00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:49.200
that her concert film, The Heiress Tour, the final show,

16
00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:54.229
picked up five Emmy nominations. Well, this week, those awards

17
00:00:54.250 --> 00:00:57.609
were handed out at the Creative Arts Ceremony in Los Angeles,

18
00:00:57.850 --> 00:01:00.429
and I will give it to you straight. The film

19
00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:03.990
did not win in any of its five categories. Now,

20
00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:08.040
before you feel too sad, remember, a nomination is still

21
00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:12.500
a genuine honor. This was only Taylor's second Emmy nomination ever,

22
00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:15.159
recognizing her as both a performer and a producer on

23
00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:18.840
the biggest concert film in history. Not every nomination ends

24
00:01:18.909 --> 00:01:22.430
in a trophy, and that is completely okay. But here

25
00:01:22.689 --> 00:01:25.920
is the part I love. Taylor did not even go

26
00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:29.140
to the ceremony. Instead of flying to L.A. to sit

27
00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.980
in that audience, she chose to spend the weekend on

28
00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:34.780
the East Coast having a cozy date night with her husband.

29
00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.900
On September 6th, she and Travis were spotted out for

30
00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:41.620
dinner at a lovely Indian restaurant in New York City

31
00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:45.680
called Ambassador's Clubhouse, tucked into a quiet dining room just

32
00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:46.530
enjoying each other.

33
00:01:47.329 --> 00:01:48.030
Think about that.

34
00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:50.849
She had every reason to go campaign and schmooze at

35
00:01:50.890 --> 00:01:52.849
an awards show and she picked a low-key dinner with

36
00:01:52.870 --> 00:01:56.700
Travis instead. Married life is clearly agreeing with her and

37
00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:58.200
she is choosing the simple stuff.

38
00:01:58.760 --> 00:01:59.280
Good for her.

39
00:02:00.340 --> 00:02:03.569
And do not count her out of awards season just

40
00:02:03.609 --> 00:02:06.650
yet because there is a genuinely exciting thread here.

41
00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.289
Taylor is expected to.

42
00:02:09.229 --> 00:02:11.810
Campaign for an Oscar for her song from the Toy

43
00:02:11.830 --> 00:02:14.330
Story 5 soundtrack, I Knew It, I Knew You. It

44
00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:18.280
is already being talked about as a real contender for

45
00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:22.400
Best Original Song. And here is the fun math that

46
00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:28.139
Swifties are already doing. Taylor has Grammys. If she ever

47
00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:31.259
landed an Oscar and an Emmy, she would be just

48
00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:34.550
one Tony away from the legendary EGOT, that rare club

49
00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:38.389
of people who have won all four major American entertainment awards.

50
00:02:39.409 --> 00:02:42.330
She is not there yet, not by a long shot,

51
00:02:42.629 --> 00:02:44.229
but the fact that it is even on the table

52
00:02:44.270 --> 00:02:48.009
tells you how expansive her career has become. From country

53
00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:55.599
songwriter to potential EGOT contender, what a journey. Now, about

54
00:02:55.659 --> 00:02:59.770
that date night, because it gave us two more sweet

55
00:02:59.810 --> 00:03:00.750
things to talk about.

56
00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:02.810
First, the fashion.

57
00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:05.909
For her dinner with Travis, Taylor wore a shimmering striped

58
00:03:05.930 --> 00:03:11.050
dress by the designer Stella McCartney. And Stella, who is

59
00:03:11.090 --> 00:03:13.750
a longtime friend of Taylor's, was so tickled that she

60
00:03:13.789 --> 00:03:17.060
posted about it saying she was, quote, so proud to

61
00:03:17.099 --> 00:03:19.719
see Taylor in the design and calling it an amazing

62
00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:23.780
early birthday gift. How lovely is that? And here is

63
00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.819
the full circle detail that gave me chills. Stella McCartney

64
00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:33.719
is the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney and who performed

65
00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:35.639
at Taylor and Travis's wedding.

66
00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:37.449
Back in July. Paul McCartney.

67
00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:42.009
So this whole family is woven right through Taylor's biggest moments.

68
00:03:42.509 --> 00:03:45.189
The Beatles sang at her wedding and now his daughter

69
00:03:45.270 --> 00:03:48.969
is dressing her for date night. These connections never stop

70
00:03:49.009 --> 00:03:53.400
delighting me. And second, Taylor debuted that new shorter haircut again,

71
00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:55.599
the one she first showed off at a friend's wedding

72
00:03:55.639 --> 00:04:01.340
last month. That softer swept style is clearly here to

73
00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:05.750
stay and it is giving fresh, happy, newlywed energy, a

74
00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:07.770
new chapter.

75
00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:08.729
A new look.

76
00:04:09.669 --> 00:04:13.270
When we come back, where on earth are these two

77
00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:16.490
going to actually live? And the honor Taylor received this

78
00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:18.730
week that I promise you did not see coming.

79
00:04:18.829 --> 00:04:32.750
Stay with me. Welcome back. So one of the funny

80
00:04:32.790 --> 00:04:36.649
little puzzles of this marriage is a very good problem.

81
00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:39.850
To have kind of question. Where are Taylor and Travis

82
00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:43.230
actually going to live? Because between the two of them,

83
00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:47.279
they have something like nine homes. And this week, sources

84
00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:49.389
gave us a peek into how they are thinking about it.

85
00:04:49.819 --> 00:04:52.540
The short answer is they are not picking just one.

86
00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:56.399
Right now, during football season, their main home base is

87
00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.339
Travis's house in Leawood, Kansas, so he can be close

88
00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.759
to the Chiefs. But that will shift throughout the year,

89
00:05:01.790 --> 00:05:03.670
depending on what they both have going on. New York

90
00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:06.449
is a huge base for them, too, since Taylor has

91
00:05:06.490 --> 00:05:11.050
her longtime Tribeca properties there. Then there is Nashville, Rhode Island,

92
00:05:11.170 --> 00:05:14.459
Beverly Hills, and of course, that beautiful new lakefront mansion

93
00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:17.579
near Cleveland that Travis bought, which they plan to enjoy,

94
00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:21.779
especially during his offseason. So instead of settling into one

95
00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:25.060
house like most newlyweds, they are going to move with

96
00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:28.740
the seasons of their lives, football in Kansas City, work

97
00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.290
in New York and LA, downtime by the lake.

98
00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:33.370
Honestly, when your.

99
00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:35.209
Life takes you all over the world, why would you

100
00:05:35.230 --> 00:05:37.649
tie yourself to one zip code? It is a lovely,

101
00:05:37.790 --> 00:05:42.430
flexible way to build a life together. Okay, now for

102
00:05:42.449 --> 00:05:44.610
the honor I teased, and this one made me laugh

103
00:05:44.649 --> 00:05:48.639
out loud with delight. Taylor Swift has officially been immortalized

104
00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:52.860
in science. This week, researchers announced the discovery of a

105
00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.160
brand new group of insects in Australia, and they named

106
00:05:56.279 --> 00:06:00.699
the entire genus after her. It is called Swiftie Phyllis.

107
00:06:01.620 --> 00:06:05.029
And it gets better, because they named four individual species

108
00:06:05.209 --> 00:06:09.370
after Taylor and her albums, with Latin names honoring Taylor herself,

109
00:06:09.850 --> 00:06:14.649
plus Lover, Fearless, and the Tortured Poets Department. So why

110
00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:18.180
did these little bugs earn a Taylor tribute? Well, the

111
00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.600
scientist who named them, a doctoral student and lifelong Swifty,

112
00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:25.519
explained that the insects are pale yellow with little accents

113
00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:29.259
of red, which reminded her of Taylor's blonde hair and

114
00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:30.420
signature red lipstick.

115
00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:32.560
She literally described them as blonde.

116
00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:37.160
But there is a genuinely meaningful message underneath the fun

117
00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:40.670
and The researcher pointed out that naming and describing species

118
00:06:40.769 --> 00:06:43.949
is the cornerstone of conservation, because if we do not

119
00:06:44.009 --> 00:06:47.759
know a species exists, we cannot protect it. So by

120
00:06:47.819 --> 00:06:51.079
attaching Taylor's name to this discovery, she is drawing attention

121
00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:54.500
to the millions of undiscovered insects out there that science

122
00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:58.379
has yet to catalog. Taylor's influence is so massive it

123
00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:02.100
is now helping shine a light on biodiversity, a pop

124
00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:05.860
star inspiring conservation awareness through a bug. I cannot think

125
00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:10.779
of anything more delightfully random and wonderful. And finally, I

126
00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.139
want to end on something a little more thoughtful because

127
00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:16.740
this week a true music legend spoke up about Taylor

128
00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:21.000
in a way that stuck with me. Alanis Morissette, the

129
00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:25.000
iconic singer behind Jagged Little Pill, went on a podcast

130
00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.550
and talked about the intense criticism she faced back at

131
00:07:28.589 --> 00:07:32.389
the peak of her fame in the 90s. And she

132
00:07:32.670 --> 00:07:35.980
drew a direct line from her experience to what Taylor

133
00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.029
goes through today. Because here is the thing we do

134
00:07:39.069 --> 00:07:43.089
not always talk about on this show. As beloved as

135
00:07:43.189 --> 00:07:49.300
Taylor is, she also gets a huge amount of criticism

136
00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:57.730
about her success, her wealth, her lifestyle, all of it. And... Alanis,

137
00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:00.949
who has been famous since she was 14, offered such

138
00:08:00.990 --> 00:08:05.779
a wise perspective on that. She called it a scarcity mindset,

139
00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:07.879
this idea that there can only be one person on

140
00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.220
the throne, so everyone else has to be torn down.

141
00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:14.550
She said, fame tends to go in a cycle, that

142
00:08:14.589 --> 00:08:17.529
you are loved, then you are hated, then you are

143
00:08:17.569 --> 00:08:20.750
loved again, and that Taylor talks about that pattern all

144
00:08:20.790 --> 00:08:25.100
the time. Coming from a woman who survived that exact

145
00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.720
storm decades ago and came out the other side celebrated

146
00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:33.070
as a trailblazer, that felt like a genuinely generous thing

147
00:08:33.129 --> 00:08:37.000
to say. It is one legend recognizing another and reminding

148
00:08:37.090 --> 00:08:38.750
all of us that the people who get the most

149
00:08:38.809 --> 00:08:41.169
love often catch the most criticism too.

150
00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:42.889
There is real grace in that.

151
00:08:43.490 --> 00:08:45.870
And of course, before we go, you know the drill,

152
00:08:45.889 --> 00:08:50.740
the dress, still no photos, still nothing. We are now

153
00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:55.179
well past the two month mark. And Taylor has kept

154
00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:58.700
that gown completely under wraps. At this point, I have

155
00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:01.470
made peace with the fact that she is going to

156
00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.850
reveal it exactly when she wants to and not a

157
00:09:03.909 --> 00:09:04.690
moment sooner.

158
00:09:05.250 --> 00:09:09.909
But when she does, we will be here for it, screaming.

159
00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:12.330
So there is your week.

160
00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:16.169
Taylor chose love over an award show, stepped out in

161
00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:18.710
a friend's design, got a bug named after her, and

162
00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:20.590
had a legend sing her praises.

163
00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.840
A quiet week, sure, but a really sweet one. That

164
00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:28.779
is our show. I'm Lila.

165
00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.639
Leave me a comment on Spotify and tell me if

166
00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:34.480
scientists named a species after you, what would you want

167
00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:34.840
it to be?

168
00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:35.919
I need to hear these.

169
00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.960
And do not forget the VMAs are coming up on

170
00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:44.440
September 27th, where Taylor is one win away from making history.

171
00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:48.360
So keep those votes in. Turn your notifications on because

172
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.659
you know that dress could drop at any moment. Find

173
00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:53.409
us on Facebook, too. Just search Taylor Swift today and

174
00:09:54.370 --> 00:09:57.009
share this with a friend who would absolutely want a

175
00:09:57.029 --> 00:09:59.470
bug named after them. Thanks so much for hanging out

176
00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.769
with me today. I'm Lila and I will see you

177
00:10:01.809 --> 00:10:02.250
next time.