'Nothing to do with Travis': Taylor Swift brushes off claims she turned down Super Bowl halftime show

It seems that sourdough 'Easter egg' from a couple months ago was really just Taylor Swift declaring her love of bread, after all.

In a new interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the singer has cleared up rumours she rejected an offer to headline next year's Super Bowl halftime show.

When Fallon asked Swift about the claims she had turned down the gig "because of performance footage" – referring to ownership rights – Swift said that wasn't the case.

Watch the video above.

"Here's the thing. Jay Z has always been very good to me," she began.

The rapper is the Super Bowl's 'live music entertainment strategist' and makes the final call about who performs at the event, thanks to a deal between his entertainment company Roc Nation and the NFL.

"Our [business] teams are very close. They sometimes will call and say, 'How does she feel about...?'," Swift, who has just released her 12th album, continued.

"That's not an official offer or a conference room conversation ... [just] 'How does she feel about it in general?'

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"We're always able to tell him the truth, which is that I am in love with a guy who does that sport on that actual field."

As we all know, Swift is now engaged to Kansas City Chiefs star and past Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, whom she met in 2023.

Due to their relationship, the singer says she's found herself too "locked in" to the sport to consider taking the stage at its biggest event.

"[NFL] is violent chess. That is gladiators without swords. That is dangerous," she said.

"The whole season I am locked in on what that man is doing on the field.

"Can you imagine if he's out there every single week putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high-pressure, high-intensity sport, and I'm like, 'I wonder what my choreo should be. I think we should do two verses of Shake It Off into Blank Space into Cruel Summer...'?"

It seems the reluctance over performing at the Super Bowl is entirely on Swift's side of the equation.

"This is nothing to do with Travis, he would love for me to do it. I'm just too locked in," she added.

It's been confirmed Grammy winner Bad Bunny will dominate the stage at the 2026 Super Bowl on February 8 – but for several weeks, Swifties were convinced their favourite singer had landed the gig.

It's mostly thanks to some curious comments Swift made in her interview with the Kelce brothers on their podcast New Heights.

When the Fate of Ophelia singer mentioned the number 47 more than once, fans did some sleuthing and figured out the 47th stop on the Eras Tour was at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California – the same venue that will host the Super Bowl.

Then there was the aforementioned sourdough bread reference; Swift discussed her newfound love of baking, saying she thinks about sourdough "60 per cent of the day".

While the casual Swift observer would never assume this statement could have deeper meaning, fans put their heads together and came up with a surprisingly plausible theory.

The 2026 Super Bowl will be the 60th, and the San Francisco 49ers will be the hosts. If you can believe it, their mascot just so happens to be called... Sourdough Sam.

Yes, this might sound ridiculous, but Swift is famous for dropping cryptic 'Easter eggs' and hints about her upcoming work, and often they are as subtle as a choice of phrasing or the repetition of a certain number or word.

While at the time this Super Bowl theory seemed like it could be legit, it seems you sleuthed a little too close to the sun this time, Swifties.

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