Blank Plate: A Podcast for Swifties with an Appetite

For another installment of “Swiftie Sessions,” we have Sara’s friend Katie joining us today. We discuss how Katie met Taylor (!!!) during the 1989 era, how basically everyone has a Matty Healy, and her honest thoughts on Showgirl. We also go down a rabbit hole about the song “ivy,” speculate on what Taylor actually meant by the “paternity test” comment during her NYT interview, go on some tangents about Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, and we even touch a bit on the craziness of the Karlie Kloss conspiracy. Enjoy!
Chapters
(0:00) intro
(1:28) Katie’s Swiftie origin story / meeting Taylor Swift
(19:37) sun, moon and rising albums
(21:57) favorite / least favorite albums
(22:28) top 5 songs
(23:57) hated songs
(25:27) a Taylor song that feels uniquely personal to you
(27:51) honest thoughts on Showgirl
(35:41) Swiftie “hot takes”
(46:24) defending “Jump Then Fall”
(49:29) adding “ivy” to the Eras Tour set list
(55:36) What song do you want a 10-minute version of?
(56:24) hopes for TS13
(58:17) the “paternity test” comment from the NYT interview
(1:05:02) the Karlie Kloss conspiracy
(1:13:57) chit-chatting about Noah Kahan, Heated Rivalry and Off Campus
(1:21:34) signing off / thank you Katie!
SUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We’d be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!
Links Referenced
Katie’s TikTok account
Please make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you’d like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:
email blankplatepod@gmail.com
leave a voicemail at (717) 382-831
Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
You can also follow Sara and Laura individually:
• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok
• Sara: Instagram
Listen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza

Calling all Swifties who are also Noah Kahan fans, or who are Noah-curious! Today Sara is joined by her friend Stef (again) to dive into Noah’s newest album, “The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs” while Laura is still on maternity leave. They reacted to the whole album for YouTube (linked below), and loved it so much they knew they had to come on here and break it down. Laura even shares her two cents in a few places via some voice memos, which is really fun. They begin by talking about how Noah’s songwriting is similar to Taylor’s before diving more deeply into the album with specific tracks, and then ending with favorite songs, lyrics and ratings, etc.
A couple notes: we goofed and didn’t realize that evermore was INDEED nominated for Album of the Year in 2022. Our bad! Also, we forgot to play Laura’s voice memo about her top 3 songs from the album, so her 3 favorites are: End of August, Orbiter and Willing and Able.
We hope you enjoy this one, and please let us know if you’d like us to do more of this kind of episode in the future.
Chapters
(00:00) Intro
(1:35) Taylor Updates
(11:37) Our backgrounds with Noah
(18:18) Noah’s similarities to Taylor
(34:22) Introducing “The Great Divide” - overall thoughts and themes
(50:46) End of August
(56:51) Doors
(1:03:56) American Cars
(1:09:21) Downfall
(1:14:23) Paid Time Off
(1:17:43) Staying Still
(1:20:23) Haircut
(1:22:56) Willing and Able
(1:27:14) Dashboard
(1:28:30) 23
(1:32:01) All Them Horses + A Few Of Your Own
(1:33:58) Orbiter
(1:39:21) Dan
(1:45:20) Top 3 Favorite Songs
(1:46:54) Skips
(1:51:07) Best Bridge
(1:59:58) Song for Taylor to be featured on
(2:07:18) Favorite Lyrics
(2:10:33) Rating the album
(2:16:05) Signing off / outro
SUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We’d be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!
Links Referenced
NYT - 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters
National Recording Registry Inducts Sounds of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, The Go-Go’s, Vince Gill, Weezer, Reba McEntire and More
Chats and Reacts girls react to “Stick Season”
Sara and Stef react to “The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs”
Please make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you’d like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:
email blankplatepod@gmail.com
leave a voicemail at (717) 382-831
Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
You can also follow Sara and Laura individually:
• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok
• Sara: Instagram
Listen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza

Welcome to the second installment of our Swiftie Sessions series, with our friend Kelley! We chat about her sun, moon and rising albums, her love for the Lover album, her beef with the song “Timeless,” plus a lot of chatter about Showgirl and the Eras Tour. Of course we get into her Swiftie origin story as well, and she even recommends a Taylor Swift playlist for getting your child to sleep. Enjoy!
Chapters
(0:00) intro
(4:40) Kelley’s Swiftie origin story
(8:24) sun, moon and rising albums
(17:04) honest thoughts on Showgirl
(22:03) favorite album
(35:27) favorite songs
(40:50) Kelley’s beef with “Timeless”
(46:31) songs that hit a personal note
(51:14) Swiftie hot takes
(52:32) underrated songs
(55:12) adding to the Eras Tour set list
(59:10) 10-minute versions
(1:00:43) hopes for TS13
(1:03:36) other artists to enjoy
(1:09:11) goodbye + signing off
SUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We’d be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!
Links Referenced
“The Taylor Swift Method” sleep playlist
“taylor swift instrumental for studying” playlist
Please make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you’d like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:
email blankplatepod@gmail.com
leave a voicemail at (717) 382-831
Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
You can also follow Sara and Laura individually:
• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok
• Sara: Instagram
Listen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza

Welcome to the first installment of our new series titled “Swiftie Sessions,” where we chat with other Swifties to hear about what brought them to the fandom and what Swift-related things resonate with them most. First up is Sara’s friend Stef, who is a newer Swiftie. They chat about Stef’s Swiftie origin story, her favorite songs and albums, the importance of YOYOK, honest thoughts on The Life of a Showgirl, misconceptions about Taylor, some of Stef’s favorite lyrics from “peace,” hopes for TS13 and some other fun stuff. We hope you enjoy these conversations as we fill in some time while Laura’s on maternity leave from the podcast.
Chapters
(0:00) Intro and welcome
(6:11) Stef’s Swiftie origin story
(23:36) Stef’s favorite album and songs, etc.
(27:55) The song uniquely personal to Stef
(31:04) Honest thoughts about Showgirl
(36:12) Misconceptions about Taylor
(45:03) An underrated Taylor song to defend
(48:47) Adding to the Eras Tour setlist
(49:38) Stef’s “10-minute version” request
(50:38) Zooming in on “peace”
(59:56) Hopes for TS13
(1:05:14) An artist recommendation
(1:09:39) Signing off
SUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We’d be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!
Links Referenced
Sara’s food blog
“Swiftle” song-guessing game
“Wildest Dreams” at the Grammy Museum
Maggie Antone on Spotify
Please make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you’d like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:
email blankplatepod@gmail.com
leave a voicemail at (717) 382-831
Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
You can also follow Sara and Laura individually:
• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok
• Sara: Instagram
Listen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza

For the first episode of Laura’s maternity leave we are “unlocking” the “champagne problems” episode from our Patreon Vault. If you’d like more content like this from Taylor’s back catalogue, we’d love to have you join us over on Patreon for a monthly bonus episode. If you’d like to give Laura some love, you can leave her a sweet comment on her Instagram post announcing the birth of her son, Theo. We hope you enjoy!
Summary
We have an evermore track for you today, and it’s a doozy: champagne problems!! A fan favorite. We get deep into the lore of this song, chatting about Taylor singing this with Aaron Dessner while wearing a wedding dress, and go on a tangent about Gilmore Girls since some fans believe this song is inspired by Rory and Logan’s story. There are tie-ins to I Look in People’s Windows, Sara learns what “splashed out” means, we plan out what the music video should look and feel like, and just generally appreciate the incredible emotional storytelling and world-building of this song. Enjoy!
Chapters
(0:00) intro by Sara
(2:58) beginning of Patreon episode
(4:58) introducing song
(8:49) personal associations
(15:07) folk’lore’ of the song
(31:59) verse 1: the night train, ILIPW tie-ins
(36:11) chorus 1: dancing metaphors, crestfallen on the landing and familial ties
(45:03) verse 2: “splashing out” on the bottle
(49:45) chorus 2: hometown skeptics and forgotten speeches
(54:47) bridge: poetry, the group of friends, which word?! and she’s f*cked in the head
(1:10:25) chorus 3 and outro: all the champagne problems
(1:13:32) music theory analysis
(1:16:06) favorite lyrics and ratings
(1:17:32) this song as a recipe
(1:20:14) signing off
SUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We’d be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!
Links Referenced
Taylor's video of her singing champagne problems in a wedding dress
Death in the Afternoon cocktail
Elderflower 75 cocktail
Please make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you’d like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:
email blankplatepod@gmail.com
leave a voicemail at (717) 382-831
Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
You can also follow Sara and Laura individually:
• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok
• Sara: Instagram
Listen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza