For fans of Taylor Swift, the countdown to a new album can never come soon enough, as they eagerly await the chance to decode the meaning behind each track.
And in a world where early leaks and piracy are rife in the industry, the hitmaker goes to extreme lengths in a bid to keep her music under wraps.
Ahead of the release of her latest album The Life Of A Showgirl, Taylor recorded an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, and to viewers, it seemed like the panel got an early listen to the album as they played part of her track The Fate Of Ophelia.
Footage showed the guests Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie-Turner Smith, Domhnall Gleeson and Lewis Capaldi appearing to bop along to the track.
However, an eagle-eyed member of the audience has revealed that this was not the case, as in reality, everyone was sat in silence.
In a video she shared on TikTok, which has since gone viral, Sammie Nicole said she and other guests were told that they had to ‘fake’ their reaction, as the show was filmed on Wednesday, two days before the album was officially released.
The extreme lengths Taylor Swift uses to prevent her music being leaked have been revealed after the star released her new album The Life Of A Showgirl
Footage has emerged that shows the star filming one of her music videos without a backing track, in a bid to prevent any onlookers from leaking a song early
She said: ‘Another one was where they said ”here’s a clip of Taylor’s song”, and they’re like ”mmm this is really good, hmm” and they’re like bopping.
‘There was silence in the studio, we were all told to pretend we were hearing it, because obviously they couldn’t play it because it hasn’t come out yet, and they didn’t want it to leak anywhere.
‘So everyone was faking that. All the guests, Graham Norton, they were all faking that.’
Another viral clip also shows that Taylor even avoids playing her songs while filming the music videos, in case an onlooker or member of her team tries to cash in by leaking the track.
In a video posted on Instagram, the star is seen filming part of the video for her song ME in 2019, but she and her dancers are performing the moves to pure silence.
The post was captioned: ‘Taylor Swift films her videos without playing the actual music to prevent them from leaking before the release!!’
During her Graham Norton appearance, Taylor endured an awkward line of questioning from actress Jodie, which was cut from the episode when it aired.
This was also revealed by Sammie in her TikTok video, where she revealed what happened behind-the-scenes and funny moments that viewers didn’t get to see.
Ahead of the release of her latest album The Life Of A Showgirl, Taylor recorded an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, where the guests appeared to bop along to a clip of her new song
However, an eagle-eyed member of the audience has revealed that this was not the case, as in reality, both the star-studded sofa, and the audience, were sat in pure silence
She claimed that things became ‘uncomfortable’ at one point after Jodie, 39, began asking Taylor about her and Travis’ baby plans, causing host Graham to step in.
She explained: ‘This is a big one. When I was watching it I was like “Oh, they cut that out!” Which I’m not surprised that they did.
‘There was a part when Graham was talking to Taylor about the upcoming wedding and planning it, and one of the other guests, Jodie, said to Taylor, “And what about babies?”
‘Now I know what she meant, she was asking Taylor, “Are you going to have babies soon?” But Taylor thought she was asking if babies were coming to the wedding, so Taylor went, “Oh no under-18s are coming, just adults!”
‘I feel that should have been the end of it, but it wasn’t, because Jodie then said, “No, no I mean are you going to have babies?”‘
Sammie was quick to criticise the alleged question, saying it was inappropriate especially in front of an audience and cameras.
She said: ‘I was like girl? First of all you don’t ask someone that, you should know better than to ask that. Especially on a television show, like she’s not going to answer that for you.
‘I just felt really uncomfortable when she said that. A, she might not want kids; B, she might not be able to have kids; and C even if she can and will, it’s none of your business. Don’t ask someone that.’
Another viral clip also shows that Taylor even avoids playing her songs while filming the music videos, as was shown when she recorded the video for her song ME in 2019
However, she claimed that Graham was the consummate professional, quickly interrupting to steer the conversation on.
Taylor has already broken multiple streaming records on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon with her latest album The Life Of A Showgirl.
The American pop icon released her new project on Friday with a fresh set of bouncy songs about love, sex, and success, leaving fans to analyse every lyric.
On Spotify and Apple Music, the album became the most streamed in one day in 2025, and on Amazon Music it broke an all-time record – surpassing her own previous album The Tortured Poets Department.
As the new album holds the record for Apple Music’s biggest album of 2025 by first-day streams worldwide, her single The Fate of Ophelia reached Apple Music’s biggest song of 2025 by first-day streams globally.
The Cruel Summer hitmaker has also climbed up iTunes’ charts, earning the spot of biggest album of 2025, also based on first-day sales worldwide.
