Taylor Swift Is Ready for an 'Encore.' Plus, Miley Cyrus's 'Bass Persuades'

Key takeaways

• Taylor Swift announced a four-song "encore" to The Life of a Showgirl (out Friday), including tracks titled "Cleveland!", "Patient Zero," "Pink Clouds," and "Babylon," recorded during what she called a gratitude trip to Sweden with Max Martin and Shellback shortly after the album's release—less than a day after the hosts had recorded an entire episode speculating the new single "Patient Zero" was an unrelated standalone project.
• The hosts argue Showgirl has been a quantitative success (huge streaming numbers, especially "Fate of Ophelia" and "Opalite") but a comparative cultural disappointment relative to Swift's catalog, with only two songs really breaking through and the rest underperforming; they suspect the bonus tracks are Swift's attempt to extend the album's relevance heading into Grammy voting season.
• Nathan makes the case that "Patient Zero" likely references a Los Angeles Times line calling Swift and Travis Kelce "patient zero for an emotional contagion," suggesting it could be her first song written from a settled "us" perspective on the relationship rather than early infatuation songs like "So High School" or "Wood."
• The pair debate what Swift still has left to prove artistically, landing on two goals: writing another top-20-caliber career song (they cite "But Daddy I Love Him" as her last one, prized especially for how directly it addresses her fanbase and critics) and writing a Travis Kelce song with more depth than the early "giddy" era tracks.
• On Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades, both hosts feel the album, despite its title, is surprisingly light on actual bass and doesn't cohere behind its lead single; they single out "Neon Signs" (featuring Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow, with audible moaning on the track) as a track Nora found jarring, while Nathan was largely unbothered.
• They note a recurring pattern where Cyrus publicly disowns each album right after release rather than revisiting older material (unlike Swift's re-recording project), and connect this to her stated preference for staying home over touring; she's doing only two Hollywood Bowl shows in October, partly because touring threatens her sobriety routine, even though demand for a full tour would reportedly be enormous.

Notable moments

• "We have to rerecord. What we have now is stale ass milk."
• Nathan's breakdown of the "third letter" Easter-egg theory failing because "north" and "south" don't fit as clues, prompting his own "poll theory."
• "Unfortunately, you can never trust a Taylor Swift song with a single exclamation point"; followed by the "Florida!!!" callback for three exclamation points.
• Nora naming "But Daddy I Love Him" as Swift's last true pantheon-level song, calling out its "wine moms" and "the fuck you and the horse you rode in on" energy.
• Discussion of the "pink cloud syndrome" reference in the new tracklist, tying the title to early-recovery euphoria terminology.
• Nathan comparing Miley's over-enunciated delivery on "Red Lights" to late-career Madonna trying to make sure a message lands.
• The joking fantasy of Miley opening her Hollywood Bowl shows with a full performance of "Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz," including "Pablo the Blowfish."
• Miley's Zane Lowe interview comment about not needing to tour because fans will "drive to her" and she can keep going to "the same nail place."

Time saved: 55 minutes.